This fall, SALA will join architecture schools across Canada in a unique Superstudio initiative. Over the course of the school year, design studios at 14 institutions will focus on a shared goal: Ending housing alienation. Their aim is to prepare the next generation of designers to meaningfully contribute to improving housing for all.
The Superstudio is a coordinated pedagogical effort that recognizes Canada’s housing crisis cannot be solved by individual schools or architects working in isolation. Instead, it harnesses the strength of numbers, bringing together hundreds of students and dozens of faculty to confront one of the most urgent challenges facing Canadian cities.
The initiative is organized by Architects Against Housing Alienation (AAHA), a collective formed in 2021 to challenge the treatment of housing as a commodity and campaign to end housing alienation. At SALA, Professor Matthew Soules and Associate Professor and Chair of Urban Design Sara Stevens are founding members of AAHA’s organizing committee.
Each participating school is developing a studio unique to its faculty and curriculum. At SALA, the Superstudio will be offered through Associate Professor Inge Roecker’s course Home Otherwise: Architecture, Agency, and Collective Housing Futures. The course tackles a key demand: Redistribute Power in the Housing Process and Legitimize and Support Incremental, Self-Directed Building. Students will explore how architecture can support community-led housing without positioning design as the sole solution, engaging with models such as co-operatives, land trusts, and self-build settlements. Through case studies, collaborative work, and speculative projects, they will critically rethink the role of the architect and contribute to a collective guide for self-building and incremental housing rooted in care, autonomy, and long-term stewardship.
At the heart of the Superstudio is the belief that big challenges require collective action. By aligning studios nationwide, the project creates a shared network of shared resources that students can draw from, including lectures, readings, media, and more. Participants will exchange ideas, test new design methods, and contribute to a growing movement for change.
The Superstudio will launch with a nationwide kickoff event on September 6, bringing students and instructors together to share ideas and introduce course themes. Throughout the semester, lectures and events will be hosted online and recorded for broad access. By the end of the term, student work from across the country will be gathered into a national digital exhibition.
The Superstudio website provides a full project outline, including guiding principles, participating institutions, and course descriptions. AAHA’s Instagram will chronicle the activities of all the studios.
The Superstudio builds on AAHA’s ongoing work, which represented Canada at the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale. The collective includes Adrian Blackwell (Associate Professor, Waterloo School of Architecture), David Fortin (Professor, Waterloo School of Architecture), Matthew Soules (Professor, UBC School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture), Patrick Reid Stewart (Patrick Reid Stewart Architects), and Sara Stevens (Associate Professor, UBC School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture). The Superstudio is supported by sponsorship from the Canadian Council of University Schools of Architecture.