Urbanarium Missing Middle Competition
Awards
Winner, Grand Prize and Planner's Prize
May 2018
The Brief
In 2018, the Urbanarium held an open design competition to develop and present exciting options for addressing Metro Vancouver’s affordability and social health challenges, with outstanding design and social innovation. There were four study areas, one each in Vancouver, Port Coquitlam, Burnaby and Surrey. Applicants were assigned one of the study areas randomly. Each study area was around four blocks in size and competitors selected one or two single-family lots to design and provide some contextual assessment based on the study area and municipal plans and by-laws.
Thanks
Dale McClanaghan, Theunis Snyman & Desmond Cooper
Download High Resolution PDF
Urbanarium Competition Website
Press Globe and Mail
The Micro-Op Concept
Increasing affordable housing in Metro Vancouver requires the provision of additional units that break away from existing models of development and financing, while shifting the culture around tenure and ownership.
We propose a zoning amendment for the ‘buffer zones’ - the first three blocks flanking arterials - between mixed use / commercial zones and single family neighbourhoods.
Signalling the residential renewal that will help affordably house future generations, zone “R5-R” would specifically address the land value speculation that has arisen along with densification. In order to ease the transition of R5 zones, guidelines would cultivate a new typology that can both co-exist with detached homes, and form a cohesive community after propagation.