Middleport Self-Build Newport Lane This is a collaborative scheme with Patrick Redmond of CTD Architects and peter Wilshaw of Greenbuilt and the Middleport Community Forum The design is for 14 dwellings infill site. These are proposed as Self-build . The design was a response to a community consultation and workshop with the Middleport Forum at Middle Potteries on Date. The design process considered by the group and a communal housing scheme developed with shared facilities including a cafe main piazza at the rear and a gallery/community space. The design responded to the existing massing on the site connecting between the tall Pharmacy buildings at the corner of Newcastle Street and reducing the height and scale towards Maddock Street. The site is on a slope from Lucas to Newport Road which is approximately one storey height in difference. The idea was to encompass a progression of housing typology in a continuous homogenous structure. This was considered to enable a mixed community with family houses, town houses and Flats. The town house model in the centre is designed with a flexible ground floor space which could be used as a home office or workshop for artists and crafts start up cottage industry. The community spaces for community interaction. There are a series of flats for first time buyers and a more affordable option. The flats are contained in a homogenous form reminiscent of the bottle kilns. This local indent is also reinforced by a choice of local materials. It was considered at the community design workshop at Middleport Potteries to clad part of the building in ceramics. The folding forms of the architecture create individual identities for the self-builders and the junctions between the properties are blurred enforcing the sense of community and collaboration in this project. The idea that the junctions rather lap then abut allows for a greater level of tolerance for the self-builder.