Join us for a conversation with Johanna Hurme and Sasa Radulovic, who will discuss their ongoing practice and research on housing with contributors to the publication platform.MIDDLE.

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.

“platform.MIDDLE” began as a symposium that took place at IIT’s College of Architecture in 2019, exploring the current state of multi-family housing in North America and the architect’s role in shaping its future. The symposium offered a platform for engagement and a call to action, motivating the production of three additional volumes that expand on the process of working within challenging economic and environmental circumstances.

The book set constitutes a “toolkit” of strategies for multi-family housing, focusing on the “missing middle” and midrise housing in its many forms and ownership models, from refugee and social housing to market-rate condominiums.

On this occasion, Johanna Hurme and Sasa Radulovic will invite KANVA and photographer James Brittain to discuss their contributions to the project. David Theodore will comment on other aspects of local residential projects.

This event is open to the public, no reservation needed.

Johanna Hurme and Sasa Radulovic are co-founders and managing partners of 5468796 Architecture in Winnipeg. For the past 16 years, 546 has been pursuing a critical architectural response to contemporary issues in multi-family housing and urban design, grounded in real-life practice-based experience and a tandem investigation into worldwide housing research and built work.

Rami Bebawi and Tudor Radulescu co-founded KANVA in 2003. KANVA is a Montreal-based multidisciplinary architectural firm whose work is at the forefront of thinking, imagining, drawing and constructing collective space. KANVA has an approach that seeks to re-question and transform the built environment. The firm approaches each project as an opportunity to tell a story, to imagine a place and to expand the scope and dialogue between art and architecture.

James Brittain has been the principal photographer for numerous books about architecture. He regularly provides talks about photography and architecture, most recently at the School of Architecture at McGill University and for the London, UK, lecture series Building on the Built.

David Theodore is Director of the Peter Guo-hua Fu School of Architecture at McGill and Canada Research Chair in Architecture, Health, and Computation. He is also a design journalist and critic, serving as regional correspondent for Canadian Architect and a contributing editor at Azure.