Manchester is a city of constant change. Everyday the city is different, new places appear, new people and new ideas.and it’s not always raining!
The landscape department at MMU is based on the fourth floor of the Chatham building, 10 minutes walk from the city centre. From the studios inspiration can be found in glimpses of places such as The City of Manchester Stadium, Liebskinds War Museum North, the regeneration of Hulme, industrial buildings currently being converted into bars and apartments and the edges of the Pennine hills.
The studios at MMU are redesigned each year to meet the needs and specifications of the current students. Areas are dedicated to help immersion into ideas, individual and group work, presentation, review and relaxation. The department has a computer suite purely for landscape students with facilities for downloading photos, scanners, cd writers and zip drives. Programmes such as Photoshop, AutoCAD and Viz along with Office and internet access are on every PC. We have a space purely for life drawing, a plant studio resource room and a model workshop.
Landscape at MMU has a great sense of community. The relative smallness of the course compared to others in the art and design faculty and the focus on studio work has led to lots of interaction between year groups. This mixed studio atmosphere is great for sharing ideas and experience, if you�re stuck with your work there is always someone about who can help. The tutors have quite different backgrounds and approach to landscape with their own specialist viewpoints.
Each year in the autumn term there is a study tour for all students. In the last few years we have visited London, Amsterdam and Paris and made the most of being away. Whilst in Paris last autumn we visited Versailles, Parc de landscape architecture Villette, Parc Andre Citroen and Parc Bercy.
The students at Manchester have different backgrounds; there is a good mix of locals and southerners plus international students from Europe, Hong Kong, Africa and the States. Although most students come from an �A level� background, students have also come with practical experience from other built environment subjects, art and design courses and sometimes even quite unrelated courses such as languages. Many of the mature students have come to MMU to do the conversion course to become landscape architects and their input and experience is very welcome.
Creativity and ideas are important and there is lots of inspiration in Manchester. There are many galleries and museums including the City Art Gallery, The Whitworth and Manchester Museum, Cornerhouse and Cube, the architecture gallery. All these are 10 minutes walk from the studio and are free!