Jacques Lachetta

In an age of fences, security gates and checkpoints, how is the essential element of place maintained and exploited?  Cycling is a means of transport, but it is much more than that.  Cycling is both an individual and a collective pursuit, for some a way of life.  We have aimed to create a cycle hub for healing, both of bikes and the cyclist.  There are both internal and external bike racks, and a bike repair workshop.  Alongside this is a spa, for sports massage, health and wellness, with plants that are grown for their specific healing properties.  The cycle hub looks out onto the city of Sheffield, with the train station dividing the two.

The theatre was once the heart of every community.  The catharsis of the theatrical experience has been part of our society for centuries, having the power to bring communities together.  Manchester Drag Theatre works as a central space for the Manchester drag community to work and perform in an adaptive underground space, alluding to the once underground roots of drag performance.  The building’s design takes from the buildings of the Northern Quarter, allowing for the drag itself to provide the extravagance in the spaces.

 

My housing scheme is situated in Burngreave, surrounded by industrial and retail buildings. I designed for families, young professionals and the elderly, to create an intergenerational housing scheme, focused around the central allotments and growth, which lead back out into the community of Burngreave through a community kitchen and greengrocers, selling the produce of the allotment. By having an allotment as the private garden space for residents, it helped benefit the wider community, whilst also being a private place for the residents of the scheme to enjoy.