The Knowledge Corridor "We are concerned with the interaction of form and process; process which brings about environmental change; form, which results from these processes answers functional requirements. We seek to explore the boundary where function obliterates the inevitability of process." "Through exploring an urban transect the unit will develop critical responses to provide new opportunities for inhabitation of the city." "The area adjactent to Manchester (Ringway) Airport is currently one of the fastest growing economic nodes in England. Manchester University, UMIST and MMU together with Salford University form one of the most intense academic environments in Europe. There is strong movement between the academic strip of the University and the transport infrastructure of the airport and the motorway network. Each institution has a particular spatial and formal structure that differentiates one from another yet is recognisably academic. What defines the character of an academic precinct? where do its edges lie? What are the characteristics of an academic/intellectually driven urban form? What is the relationship between academic space and urabn space Can similar institutions be close to each other even when they are far apart? Associated activities such as Manchester Science Park have a recognisably different spatial structure from the universities belonging to an apparently univeral business park typology. What is the difference between a precint and an enclave? Can academic expansion be used as a generator for urban regeneration?" "The project intends to use appropriate forms of analysis of the urban matrix to generate new forms of that allow city and academy to produce reciprocal urban space." Tutors : Tom Jefferies, Neil Swanson, Dominic Wilkinson, Joe Ravetz