5468796 Architecture | platform.MIDDLE: Architecture for Housing the 99%

Image of James Avenue Pumphouse project showing ground floor glass walls.

5468796 Architecture | platform.MIDDLE: Architecture for Housing the 99%

Housing affordability in North America has reached a crisis point. Against the backdrop of rapid urbanization and an accelerating environmental emergency, we need solutions for city building that are more socially and economically sustainable, as well as multi-family housing that is more equitable and livable. Working within a context where the vast majority of the housing stock is produced by the private sector and designed by architects, now more than ever the profession can position itself as an indispensable creative resource, shaping communities and positively affecting the lives of millions of residents. 

5468796 Architecture hosted a housing symposium in 2019 at the Illinois Institute of Technology College of Architecture to discuss working in the ‘missing middle’, evolving into a critical review of their own work and its contributions to the conversation on housing. This research compromises the four-volume publication platform.MIDDLE: Architecture for Housing the 99%, published by Arquine and released in fall 2023, providing a blueprint on how to engage with multi-family housing and city-building.  

The presentation will expand on two of the topics of focus in this publication: Practice Ecosystem, redefining the architect’s role in challenging contexts, intersecting with politics, economics, civic governance, social activism, and other forms of cultural and scholarly research; and Toolkit, looking at a selection of 546 projects, uncovering a series of design and planning strategies developed over 16 years of experience working in this typology.

Johanna Hurme and Sasa Radulovic are co-founders of the Winnipeg-based design studio 5468796 Architecture.

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