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1: View uphill from Ainslie Street 2 & 3: Hillside views towards Ainslie Street, the Grand River, and downtown Cambridge 4: View along Roseview Ave and downhill Underlay: Cross-section of the Grand House site
Laura Knap is a Master’s student at the University of Waterloo School of Architecture. While not gazing at the river which flows past the school, her nose is buried in books about landscapes and inbetweens. Zero Energy Healthy Housing com- petition. A multi-disciplinary design charette, early this fall, will aid in the selection of six winners who will receive grants of $50,000 to $100,000 toward project construction. Steven Chodoriwsky is a recent graduate from the University of Waterloo School of Architecture, a current intern at Levitt Goodman Architects in Toronto, and an upcoming Monbukagakusho scholarship recipient for research studies in Japan. The Grand House has been short-listed as one of 20 finalists for the CMHC Net
This student residence co-operative thus leads the first generation of bona fide architectural work directly attributable to the school’s arrival. The persistent architectural challenge is the site itself. Irregularly shaped, steeply sloped, and overrun by brush, debris and disuse, the site is nonetheless eligible for incentives because of its downtown core location. Once an impossibly steep road allowance, the site used to have a staircase connecting the residential neighbourhood at the top of the hill with the downtown that spilled below. Much to the neighbours’ relief and delight the public path up and down the site is in the plans. The property is a wholly original, perfect fit for the Grand House; it is an opportunity for innovative construction and a new idea for the downtown. The personality of the design arises out of the unique condition of its context: three large, conjoined structures with a series of platforms, terraces and a necessary tangle of staircases and ramps. The new residence will hover over the slope with a beautiful view of Cambridge’s river valley and downtown, the School of Architecture. c
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