Drawing Every Line for Every Consciousness

Factory International is a new performing arts complex in central Manchester, consisting of a sprawling, industrial warehouse space and a performance hall that will seat upward of 1600 people. Marking the building’s soft opening for this summer’s Manchester International Festival, its lead architect, OMA partner Ellen van Loon, reflects on being the firm’s first woman employee, the downsides of digital rendering, and always trying to design for the next generation.