U of M architecture students bring home second place

Students win second place in social-housing design competition

VERONICA CARR STAFF

As a popular topic in the recent mayoral elections and the centre of much debate — not only in Winnipeg, but throughout Canada — social housing is an evergrowing concern.

A recent architectural competition held in Montreal provides evidence that increasing numbers of people are starting to take the topic seriously.

Over the summer, Tom Alston, Jennifer Reynolds and Rebecca Loewen, three first-year architecture master’s students from the University of Manitoba, created a project to enter in the first Laboratoire d’etude de l’architecture (L.e.a.p.) competition held from April 2006 through October.

“It’s not about the bricks of a building; it’s about the people within the walls,” said Alston.

Rethinking and redefining social housing in the city centre was the topic of the competition held at the University of Montreal — in a city where government-funded construction contributes to affordable rental costs. The competition aimed to design socially inclusive and sustainable urban living quarters for low- to middle-income earners.

There were more than 50 applications, but only 15 made it to the second stage where a $2,000 grant was awarded and participants would pull up their socks for a chance at one of the top three placements.

Dalhousie University’s team took first place home with $5,000 while Alston, Reynolds and Loewen went on to receive second place — a $3,000 prize.

“We had this amazing opportunity to be the parents of a new idea. We were lucky enough to watch it develop and grow up,” Alston proudly stated. The plan the U of M students took was to add innovative housing above and around Winnipeg’s Skywalk, a downtown walkway system that connects a major portion of the city centre through skywalks and tunnels. Unlike most of the contributions made to L.e.a.p., the group took advantage of something that already existed and tried to change a negative facade into potential.

“I think we have stronger connection with Winnipeg now and a better appreciation of our downtown,” commented Loewen.

An architecture professor at the U of M, and guru of the winning trio, Neil Minuk was more then pleased with the efforts the project reflected. “It was great to see the group really come together and produce something worth being proud of.”

Minuk wasn’t the only individual impressed with the project. Ian Macburnie, a professor in the department of agriculture at Ryerson University and one of six members of the international jury committee commented on the “amount of imagination and maturity the project reflected.”

“It’s interesting to see how the winning projects might be able to be accomplished. Of course there are some alterations that would need to be done, but the main frameworks aren’t implausible,” Macburnie said.

According to Macburnie, the theory behind competitions like L.e.a.p. is that it will allow students to graduate and immediately begin to contribute to the city’s needs because they have the knowledge and experiences their field requires.

According to Peter Sampson, an architect with Prairie Architecture, this is good news for expanding cities like Winnipeg that need help providing adequate social housing.

“We are nowhere near where we need to be with social housing initiatives right now in Winnipeg. There is a lot of work to be done and a lot of things to take into consideration while planning for the change,” commented Sampson.

Although Sampson has just recently moved to Winnipeg from Toronto, he brings hope for Winnipeg’s future.

“I graduated top of my class and won many awards — I could go anywhere I wanted to be an architect but I chose to come here to Winnipeg. There is so much potential and all it needs is a little effort,” said Sampson.

“New proposals for change should be welcomed in a city that can’t keep up with the demand of public housing and shelters for people who are of low income.”