Order up! Now serving Surplus Properties, with a side of Housing Justice

The Old Halifax Memorial Library is centrally located and within a 10-minute walk to many Halifax institutions and services, making it apt for a public housing retrofit for Dalhousie University students, newcomers to the city, and individuals seeking a co-housing living experience. The site's central location provides residents with improved access to employment opportunities, and the possibility to join the entrepreneur networks in the city through the building's proposed food incubator program.   Working within the existing form and surrounding context, the proposed design stacks volumes clad in precast concrete panels reminiscent of the details designed for the existing structure. Through carefully considered co-living and incubator kitchen programmatic strategies, people housed within the current footprint are maximized and a mosaic relationship emerges.  Referencing typical Canadian University Dormitories, the structure’s heart is in the canteen. The twist is that this canteen doubles as a food incubator kitchen, for newcomer residents to establish a family-owned business in Halifax. The canteen is a kit of parts, housing 6 kitchen stations which are oriented in two directions, with a window connecting passersby’s to good food through a vendor window. The program benefits both the students through the range of meal options as well as the future of the city, where an opportunity to partner with other local organizations and establish a Gastronomy District in Halifax's downtown core.