ARCH 392
Design Studio
About
WINTER 2023
3A Design Studio
Teaching Team:
David Fortin
Rick Haldenby
Marie Paule Macdonald
Di Tang
Samantha Eby
Shiyu Wei
By 2051 the Waterloo region is projected to reach just under a million residents with growing pressure to prepare for enough affordable housing and improved public transit in advance. As stated by Grand River Transit and the Waterloo Region, “Over the next 20 years, growth will continue as we expect 200,000 new residents to move to our community…Where will these 200,000 new residents live and how will they travel in and around our community?”
This studio studied the possible trajectories for future housing along this transit line between Kitchener’s Central Station and Downtown Cambridge. The densification around each station had a unique urban context that required its own response in terms of housing typologies and planned urban amenities and services. Most importantly, beyond adding an adequate number of units to fulfill critical housing needs, the studio asked how this can be done in a way that ensures there is equitable opportunity for all demographics of residents to live within walking distance of the stations, including affordable housing that provides for a high quality of life and dignity. To guide these studies, students explored Equitable Transit-Oriented Design (ETOD), which is described by the City of Chicago as the following: “…development that enables all people regardless of income, race, ethnicity, age, gender, immigration status or ability to experience the benefits of dense, mixed-use, pedestrian-oriented development near transit hubs.”
Student Projects
