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Mecanoo designs residential development as a melting pot in the historic canal street of Manchester

United Kingdom Architecture News - Oct 17, 2019 - 11:34   10281 views

Mecanoo designs residential development as a melting pot in the historic canal street of Manchester

Mecanoo has unveiled design for a new residential development in the historic Canal Street of Manchester in the UK. Dubbed KAMPUS, the new development - currently under construction at the site - is designed as a new neighbourhood located at the former Manchester Metropolitan University campus in the heart of the city. 

The studio utilizes the qualities of the existing built structures – Victorian brick canal-side warehouses and the 1964 concrete tower – presents the opportunity to develop at the city block scale, creating new connections and a new destination. 

Mecanoo designs residential development as a melting pot in the historic canal street of Manchester

Mecanoo's design scheme, encompassing a total of 44,000-square-metre area, will be a melting pot of buildings and spaces, KAMPUS will celebrate the vibrancy and diversity of the city with respect to the historic quality of Canal Street. 

The program of the development will include 533 apartments and leisure/retail spaces across five unique buildings, as well as public realm and gardens.

Mecanoo designs residential development as a melting pot in the historic canal street of Manchester

The architecture expresses the individual building blocks with variations in height to make each facade legible. The alternating positions of accentuated apertures in the facade work to reduce the scale of the brick mass while the light pixel elements add relief and balance to the facades. 

The buildings are horizontally divided into three distinct elements: a podium with dark profiled metal cladding, a mid-section with rough textured red brickwork, and a roofscape characterised by Dutch houses also clad in profiled metal.

Mecanoo designs residential development as a melting pot in the historic canal street of Manchester

The design will feature a secret garden. The podium anchors the new build and tower elements in a consistent base while creating a defined edge to the street. A transparent plinth will provide views into a variety of independent bars, cafes, shops and restaurants that will breathe life into the scheme and create a unique sense of place. 

Mecanoo designs residential development as a melting pot in the historic canal street of Manchester

Image © Greg Holmes

The newly landscaped entrances provide access to KAMPUS and the interesting spaces between the buildings will draw people into the heart of the scheme; a unique ‘secret garden’ that forms the perfect backdrop for afternoon and early evening social events. 

Mecanoo designs residential development as a melting pot in the historic canal street of Manchester

Image © Greg Holmes

Project facts

Programme: 533 apartments and leisure/retail spaces across five unique buildings, totalling 44,000 m2; public realm and gardens
Design: 2016
Realisation: 2017-2020
Client/ Property Developer: Capital & Centric and Henry Boot Developments
Design Team: Mecanoo (design architect/landscape), Shed KM (architect of the listed canal warehouse buildings), Exterior Architecture (landscape architect for the new build), Chapman Taylor (delivery architect for the new build).

All images © Uniform, courtesy of Mecanoo unless otherwise stated.

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