The Robot Labyrinth of Castlefield Part 1 Project 2014 Christia Angelidou Manchester School of Architecture Manchester | UK The project is based on the rhetorical argument that many of us are addicted to screens which can breed generations dependent on useless, throw-away, new discoveries which in turn result in a malfunctioning society – one which lacks morals and ethics. The chosen site for the project is one rich in industrial heritage - Castlefield, Manchester. The project posed many questions. What if the disposed uselessness could be reclaimed to transform the site into a place for machinery and robotic production? What if a proposed ‘underground’ robot factory/network were to share this transformative energy with the public? What if the chaotic state of the disposed uselessness could be recycled to form well-oiled work places – such as a robot-producing factory with a logic of its own? What if a collaborative network could dynamically organize and reorganize around social issues and political actions, in turn disassembling and reassembling? To address these questions, a dialect was formed. The thesis stated that the Factory spaces would operate like a robot and provide Power-To achieve desired ends. Their forms utilized the in-between spaces underneath the site’s Viaducts and were generated according to the flow of the production process. In order to camouflage and conceal them, the forms were clad with re-appropriated materials acquired from a partial demolition of the Viaducts.The antithesis related to the Auditorium where social and political issues could be discussed; therefore looking into ideas of a solid, sculptural form representing Power-Over the site.A synthesis brought the previous two extremes together under a large Canopy, supporting a Circulation Labyrinth with observation rooms. People could feed ideas into the process, thus Empowering the public to see a desire for power as positive and productive at a micro-political operational level.The design contained built-in flexibility allowing development to occur in layers over time. This was achieved by using a modular super-structure - with a limited range of components - consequently allowing for the future re-appropriation of spaces. Taking into account the anticipated evolution of the user and assuming material needs in the future would be reduced, the formal and spatial scheme is thus, ever-changing. Tutor(s) George Epolito Daniel Farshi