The Ardwick Built exhibition saw Pool Arts and our Associates creating an open studio show that explored the local area around our new studio. Work looked at aspects of the social history, architectural and historical context. We visited the Ardwick Archive at GMCVO, based at Ardwick Green and this gave us lots of additional information. Visitors from as far afield as Korea saw the show which coincided with Manchester International Festival #MIF17 and was part of #ManifestArts17, which is an artist led initiative to showcase contemporary arts spaces and studios in the city every two years. One of the highlights of the weekend was a table top interactive model of the area, where visitors could take part in creating buildings made of scrap materials. Some of the iconic buildings that they crafted were 1930s modernist The Apollo and the castle-like Ardwick Barracks. On the Sunday, urban geographer Morag Rose led an alternative tour of Ardwick Green , one of the first suburbs of the city.