A visual proposed by our group to help save Withington Baths. A core theme of our design is to soften the transition from the main road to the entrance of the centre

Presentation day of our concepts for Withington Baths, our idea; Multiple Rooms

Secondly I investigated how we could best occupy the unused space at the top of the building. There is currently an open roof top terrace space which we propose to turn into a urban garden for school children to use and learn from. Surrounding this a number of rooms which can be occupied in conjunction with the urban garden as well as a new staff room/storage space.

Our groups idea was to occupy some of the unused space as educational space for the local schools who already use the centre for swimming lessons and a creche. On top of this, to make the immediate outside space more engaging so that you start to experience the building before even entering it. The only structural redevelopment part to our design is to include a full length glass window/door following the natural arch of the building, to soften the transition of inside and outside and allow plenty of light to flood the space.

A site visit to Withington Baths allowed us to experience the unused and spatial qualities that we could occupy for our project. The eye catching glass roof flooding the pool area with light was certainly a focal point. It was refreshing to hear the views of community members who's ambitions are to take on the baths from the Council, to keep it running for the local people.

Situated behind many residential homes sits an urban farm, The Biospheric Foundation (Salford), is located inside a warehouse and has an aim to be completely self efficient. Their ideas and projects have been noticed by large companies such as Sainsburys, Waitrose and Costa. All headed and funded by Vincent Walsh, just goes to show how far passion and dedication can go!