Blueprint for a Hack: Leveraging Informal Building Practices

Bys: Havelka, Susane, Bhatt, Vikram, Harlander, Dave

Over five days, some 60 residents of a northern village teamed with designers from southern Quebec to conceive and build an outdoor community pavilion that activates a central recreational area. "Blueprint for a Hack" aims to reimagine community spaces. Faced with extreme housing shortages, physical isolation, and a challenging climate, outdoor public spaces in northern communities remain largely undesigned and underused. These 'in-between' spaces are strewn with stuff. Most housing and civic buildings in the communities emerge from and stand like physical markers of Euro-Canadian values. The Royal Architectural Institute of Canada has begun a discourse on design in northern Canadian communities, but discussions continue to dwell on housing and civic buildings. A strong need exists to open conversations about design and the public realm in northern villages, which this project tries to address, creating a unique experience in which northern and southern groups could apply a "hacking mindset" to reimagine community spaces.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1948765411
• ISBN13: 9781948765411
• Release Date: November 2020
• Publisher: Actar
• Length: 160 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.5" x 9.4"