For this Apéritif lecture, we welcome Bryn Davidson, Principal of Lanefab Design Build. Lanefab is an integrated design/build company that crafts custom homes and infill mini-homes (or “laneway houses”) with design quality & energy efficiency as core values. Bryn is a graduate of UBC SALA in architecture. In his talk he will focus on his efforts to promote affordable housing solutions for the homeless, solutions that foster independent living and safety for small groups of the homeless.
This solution, often called tiny homes villages, has been successfully deployed in many North American cities yet is unknown in Vancouver. The current crisis at Strathcona homeless encampment has generated new urgency for viable solutions. Partly due to his explorations, Vancouver City Council unanimously instructed staff to add tiny homes to their suite of proposed emergency solutions.
Designers should be most interested in this case because it highlights the complexities of operating in the public realm to solve social problems through urban design responses. The tiny homes drive reveals how institutional barriers such as building codes or status quo public policy must be attacked as an integral part of an urban design response.