these cities are drawn to individual hous-
es, which adds to urban sprawl. Virtually
nonexistent in this picture is what Lang
and others termed ‘the missing middle’.
The solution LWPAC has devised is a mid-
dle ground that gives people the same
livability of a house but in a vertical ar-
rangement. The product of this innovative
philosophy was the ROAR_one project, a
mixed-use building that incorporates com-
mercial space and multiple stacked hous-
es. Built to resemble individual houses,
these double-storey units coexist in an in-
terlocking way.
Historically, there are many good exam-
ples of this middle ground in a number of
classical European cities. In Barcelona, for
example, buildings are consistently eight
or nine stories tall. In Paris, medium-densi-
ty habitation blocks encircling a courtyard
have worked well to offer a space for both
living and communal interaction. Other
places have used an integrated design
that combines housing with commercial
“Our buildings are a platform where our everyday culture can unfold.”
Oliver Lang, principal
SEPTEMBER 2016
H
business elite canada
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