‘In-filling’ the Missing Middle of Spruce Avenue Neighbourhood
by Yolene Handabaka Ames, published 2025-02-03
In 2019, the competition had two objectives: (1) to fill the gap between Edmonton’s population growth and its housing stock with medium density or ‘missing middle’ new housing that are economically feasible and well designed, and (2) to infill five vacant city-owned parcels of land located at the corner of 112 avenue and 106 street in the Spruce Avenue neighborhood. The 2019 international Edmonton Missing Middle Infill Design Competition constitutes a second chapter of the Edmonton Infill Design (2016), which aimed at encouraging conversations about low-density residential infill design that improves aesthetics of the established neighborhoods. The prize: a unique opportunity to purchase the site and build their winning design, subject to rezoning approval.
The results of this competition would inspire innovative ‘missing middle’ infill developments in other areas of the city – as well as elsewhere in Canada – as part of the City of Edmonton’s future growth strategy for a city headed towards a metropolitan area of two million people. As stated in the Edmonton’s Infill Roadmap of 2018, residential infills are destined to play an important role in the way the city manages growth while ensuring its commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions (City of Edmonton, 2018).
This competition was also a good opportunity to talk about how ‘the new’ can fit within ‘the character’ of existing neighbourhoods in Edmonton. The question would then be: How do architectural projects honor the traditional Edmonton’s post-war Golden Home (note 1) typology while meeting contemporary needs of housing supply in the ‘missing middle’ range with quality, affordable, accessible and multigenerational units?
Twenty-five Missing Middle Infill Design projects passed the initial technical and financial screening. From them, we focus here on the three finalists’ teams and the People’s choice award.
The first team, winner of the third prize, RedBrick Group of Companies and SPECTACLE worked on the concept of SPECTRUM as the parti that guided their design process. Diverse living units and amenity spaces organized as a ‘checkerboard’ pattern create a vibrant, inclusive and mixed community. The spectrum is also expressed through the density that transitions from the low neighbouring houses to a landmark on the southwest corner. This innovative approach was valued by the jury because it “integrates varied housing typology, acknowledges the street and avenue and supports affordability and sustainability” (Jury Report, 2019). On a less successful aspect of the project, the jurors considered that further articulation of materials, better configuration of courtyards for winter and the absence of parking that supports active transportation could be improved.
Leckie Studio Architecture + Design, winners of the second prize, envisioned the project as a BRICOLAGE, an approach that has its origin in the French term that in this case refers to “construction or creation from a diverse range of 'available things’ (Competitor’s text, 2019)” that surround the site as well as the opportunities that users have in order to configurate housing units and community gardens. Materials used on housing units respond to the character of the detached single-family residential neighbourhood and massing is articulated to harmonize with neighborhood homes. The jury appreciated on the one hand the mix of durable materials and elegant forms, and on the other hand, the presence of community spaces, landscape design and its integration to the existing neighbourhood. However, the jurors were not convinced by the material sourcing as it represents a challenge to sustainability and by the accessibility of amenity spaces (Jury report, 2019).
The winning project, THE GOOD WEATHER by Part & Parcel, Studio North, Gravity Architecture aimed at bringing people from different stages of life together through affordable, accessible and intergenerational living units: 14 townhouses for young families, 21 loft dwellings for students and young professionals and 21 dwellings for seniors on ground level. Community areas with spaces for sitting, gathering, playing and gardening as well as simple forms that overlap create a dynamic and continuous façade. The jury considered that it is a “contextually respectful design” that responds to neighbourhood demographics, dynamics and urban context. Thanks to its high degree of construction viability, unique materials and replicable design elements, this project can be an inspiring prototype for other Missing Middle projects in Edmonton.
In conclusion, the jury favored projects that featured housing typologies that responded to the neighbourhood context, created a strong connection between buildings and public activities and used quality materials and rational planning techniques to create a simple and impactful design solution.
Going back to the original goal of this competition, which was “to test innovative new housing forms that will be integral to the future of Edmonton” (Competition Brief, 2019), the three winning projects stood out from the others by their qualities in terms of housing typologies, quality materials, thoughtful community amenity spaces, accessibility, affordability and sustainability. They were also ‘contextually appropriate’ in terms of their contemporary re-interpretation of the existing vernacular typology of houses of Edmonton’s post war neighborhoods, and the creation of open areas and ‘streets’ that connect the new neighborhood with the consolidated one. Furthermore, they provide potential future users with evolutive units that combine mixed types of apartments for a variety of users, accessibility features and community spaces that recreate the old neighborhoods.
As for the People’s Choice Award, and interestingly enough, citizens of Edmonton chose a radically opposite type of project. Instead of The Good Weather, the TREE HOUSE COMMUNITY by Postmark Development Co., Holo Blok Architecture Inc., Ground3 Inc., Design Works Engineering & Inspections Ltd. and Rahmaan Hameed Studios Inc. got the favor of the public. Contrary to the winning scheme, this project proposed prefabricated units made of mass timber that could be stacked into a sloping structure, much like a hill in the middle of the site. A fan favourite because of its originality, pragmatic and unusual design approach, this project incorporates community gathering spaces and amenities, and balance between nature and modern architecture.
Finally, if we then take up the question proposed by the jurors: “Do contemporary designs in fact celebrate the old, by providing stark contrast of what is seen today and what was built yesterday? (Jury Report, 2019), and judge by the choice of Edmonton’s citizens, the answer regarding this project would be affirmative. This leads us to reflect upon built environments as tangible manifestations of a city’s values and cultures and upon the concept of Lived Experience in architecture to translate people’s experiences of spaces and places into improved ways of defining a competition’s desired outcomes and evaluation criteria. As much as cities are measured according to their attractiveness in a global context, at an architectural scale, spaces and places should allow users to experience them and evolve with and within them. The Tree House Community represents, by its overlapping massing and units that step back to the center of the building (central spine), a dynamic tree-evolving way of ‘infilling’ the missing middle of this neighborhood through horizontal and vertical connections that promote a community atmosphere.
Links and references:
Infill Roadmad 2018, City of Edmonton, 2018
https://www.edmonton.ca/public-files/assets/document?path=meetings/Attachment_1_Infill_Roadmap_2018.pdf
Homes of Golden Opportunity, City of Edmonton
https://www.edmonton.ca/city_government/edmonton_archives/homes-of-golden-opportunity
Missing Middle Infill Design Competition, Competition Brief, Jury Report and Competitor’s Text, Canadian Competitions Catalogue, 2019
https://www.ccc.umontreal.ca/fiche_concours.php?lang=en&cId=517
(1) Golden Homes, built in the 1950s and the 1960s in Edmonton by a general contracting company owned by George W. Golden, featured similar base plans that were customized to accommodate the shifting needs of homebuyers of those decades. The floor plans were spacious while maintaining a modest built area and a big yard, mostly on a one floor basis.
Source: https://www.edmonton.ca/city_government/edmonton_archives/homes-of-golden-opportunity
The results of this competition would inspire innovative ‘missing middle’ infill developments in other areas of the city – as well as elsewhere in Canada – as part of the City of Edmonton’s future growth strategy for a city headed towards a metropolitan area of two million people. As stated in the Edmonton’s Infill Roadmap of 2018, residential infills are destined to play an important role in the way the city manages growth while ensuring its commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions (City of Edmonton, 2018).
This competition was also a good opportunity to talk about how ‘the new’ can fit within ‘the character’ of existing neighbourhoods in Edmonton. The question would then be: How do architectural projects honor the traditional Edmonton’s post-war Golden Home (note 1) typology while meeting contemporary needs of housing supply in the ‘missing middle’ range with quality, affordable, accessible and multigenerational units?
Twenty-five Missing Middle Infill Design projects passed the initial technical and financial screening. From them, we focus here on the three finalists’ teams and the People’s choice award.
The first team, winner of the third prize, RedBrick Group of Companies and SPECTACLE worked on the concept of SPECTRUM as the parti that guided their design process. Diverse living units and amenity spaces organized as a ‘checkerboard’ pattern create a vibrant, inclusive and mixed community. The spectrum is also expressed through the density that transitions from the low neighbouring houses to a landmark on the southwest corner. This innovative approach was valued by the jury because it “integrates varied housing typology, acknowledges the street and avenue and supports affordability and sustainability” (Jury Report, 2019). On a less successful aspect of the project, the jurors considered that further articulation of materials, better configuration of courtyards for winter and the absence of parking that supports active transportation could be improved.
Leckie Studio Architecture + Design, winners of the second prize, envisioned the project as a BRICOLAGE, an approach that has its origin in the French term that in this case refers to “construction or creation from a diverse range of 'available things’ (Competitor’s text, 2019)” that surround the site as well as the opportunities that users have in order to configurate housing units and community gardens. Materials used on housing units respond to the character of the detached single-family residential neighbourhood and massing is articulated to harmonize with neighborhood homes. The jury appreciated on the one hand the mix of durable materials and elegant forms, and on the other hand, the presence of community spaces, landscape design and its integration to the existing neighbourhood. However, the jurors were not convinced by the material sourcing as it represents a challenge to sustainability and by the accessibility of amenity spaces (Jury report, 2019).
The winning project, THE GOOD WEATHER by Part & Parcel, Studio North, Gravity Architecture aimed at bringing people from different stages of life together through affordable, accessible and intergenerational living units: 14 townhouses for young families, 21 loft dwellings for students and young professionals and 21 dwellings for seniors on ground level. Community areas with spaces for sitting, gathering, playing and gardening as well as simple forms that overlap create a dynamic and continuous façade. The jury considered that it is a “contextually respectful design” that responds to neighbourhood demographics, dynamics and urban context. Thanks to its high degree of construction viability, unique materials and replicable design elements, this project can be an inspiring prototype for other Missing Middle projects in Edmonton.
In conclusion, the jury favored projects that featured housing typologies that responded to the neighbourhood context, created a strong connection between buildings and public activities and used quality materials and rational planning techniques to create a simple and impactful design solution.
Going back to the original goal of this competition, which was “to test innovative new housing forms that will be integral to the future of Edmonton” (Competition Brief, 2019), the three winning projects stood out from the others by their qualities in terms of housing typologies, quality materials, thoughtful community amenity spaces, accessibility, affordability and sustainability. They were also ‘contextually appropriate’ in terms of their contemporary re-interpretation of the existing vernacular typology of houses of Edmonton’s post war neighborhoods, and the creation of open areas and ‘streets’ that connect the new neighborhood with the consolidated one. Furthermore, they provide potential future users with evolutive units that combine mixed types of apartments for a variety of users, accessibility features and community spaces that recreate the old neighborhoods.
As for the People’s Choice Award, and interestingly enough, citizens of Edmonton chose a radically opposite type of project. Instead of The Good Weather, the TREE HOUSE COMMUNITY by Postmark Development Co., Holo Blok Architecture Inc., Ground3 Inc., Design Works Engineering & Inspections Ltd. and Rahmaan Hameed Studios Inc. got the favor of the public. Contrary to the winning scheme, this project proposed prefabricated units made of mass timber that could be stacked into a sloping structure, much like a hill in the middle of the site. A fan favourite because of its originality, pragmatic and unusual design approach, this project incorporates community gathering spaces and amenities, and balance between nature and modern architecture.
Finally, if we then take up the question proposed by the jurors: “Do contemporary designs in fact celebrate the old, by providing stark contrast of what is seen today and what was built yesterday? (Jury Report, 2019), and judge by the choice of Edmonton’s citizens, the answer regarding this project would be affirmative. This leads us to reflect upon built environments as tangible manifestations of a city’s values and cultures and upon the concept of Lived Experience in architecture to translate people’s experiences of spaces and places into improved ways of defining a competition’s desired outcomes and evaluation criteria. As much as cities are measured according to their attractiveness in a global context, at an architectural scale, spaces and places should allow users to experience them and evolve with and within them. The Tree House Community represents, by its overlapping massing and units that step back to the center of the building (central spine), a dynamic tree-evolving way of ‘infilling’ the missing middle of this neighborhood through horizontal and vertical connections that promote a community atmosphere.
Links and references:
Infill Roadmad 2018, City of Edmonton, 2018
https://www.edmonton.ca/public-files/assets/document?path=meetings/Attachment_1_Infill_Roadmap_2018.pdf
Homes of Golden Opportunity, City of Edmonton
https://www.edmonton.ca/city_government/edmonton_archives/homes-of-golden-opportunity
Missing Middle Infill Design Competition, Competition Brief, Jury Report and Competitor’s Text, Canadian Competitions Catalogue, 2019
https://www.ccc.umontreal.ca/fiche_concours.php?lang=en&cId=517
(1) Golden Homes, built in the 1950s and the 1960s in Edmonton by a general contracting company owned by George W. Golden, featured similar base plans that were customized to accommodate the shifting needs of homebuyers of those decades. The floor plans were spacious while maintaining a modest built area and a big yard, mostly on a one floor basis.
Source: https://www.edmonton.ca/city_government/edmonton_archives/homes-of-golden-opportunity
