Land.Arch.Infra: Synergies between teaching and research

This paper will introduce the intricate links between multidisciplinary teaching and research at the Manchester School of Architecture (MSA)’s post-graduate architecture and landscape architecture programmes. The presentation will focus on the Land.Arch.Infra Research Method module and its links with the UKRI/AHRC supported research project ‘Landscapes of Post-War Infrastructure: Culture, Amenity, Heritage and Industry’ funded under the Landscape Decisions Framework. Land.Arch.Infra is a post-graduate elective unit of the Research Methods (RM) module at MSA. The overarching aim of the RM unit is to provide various approaches towards understanding, interrogating and researching the built environment. Within this framework, Land.Arch.Infra focuses on the post-war (1945-1980) histories of the various intersections between architecture and landscape architecture to introduce students to various methodologies of historical research. The project is taught in a multidisciplinary group for architecture and landscape architecture students. Methodologies, such as archival research, analysis of primary and secondary sources and oral history interviews are combined in the course delivery with design-research methodologies and the techniques of research through making. Land.Arch.Infra sits in context of the live research project the ‘Landscapes of Post-War Infrastructure’ research network led by Dr Richard Brook and Dr Luca Csepely-Knorr, and feed into the public engagement and impact activities of the network. This presentation will explore how the impact activities of the research project benefitted from the pedagogical approach of the unit, and how students gain valuable experience in a live research and impact project, that not just enhances their academic knowledge and research skills, but also equips them with important skills for their professional practices as architect and landscape architects