1+3
Location Kitchener, ON, Canada
Program High-rise Residential Adaptive Reuse
Course 2A Design Studio (Fall 2021)
Supervisor Rick Haldenby
Sociologist Ray Oldenburg describes the first place as the home, the second place as the workplace and the third place as public gathering space. With several campuses and corporate offices, downtown Kitchener has become a hub of students and young professionals searching for housing that promotes community and a good quality of life. The brief assigned each student two half floors of 53 Water St. North, a post-war tower, to adaptively reuse the building and increase its capacity from 15 to 22 residents. 1+3 blurs the line between the first and third place by bringing the third place as close as possible to the home. As digitization and individualization increase in our society, we musn’t forget that people thrive in community. Through programmatic distribution, light quality, materiality and more, 1+3 encourages co-living- it’s a place where residents can meet constantly, share ideas, and grow creatively.
The approach is to keep as much of the structure as possible while reinventing the plan to prioritize density and community, all while giving the building a new, yet familiar look
Original Floorplan
Stacked Class Models
