Oil, Land, People

Led by Edward P. Bass Distinguished Visiting Architecture Fellow Marc de La Bruyère and Claire Weisz, founding principal of WXY Architecture, students of the Yale School of Architecture sought to investigate and propose historyconscious proposals for housing in Edmonton, Canada, a city poised for future economic growth. The students assessed how climate, economic forces, and urban contexts impacted the composition of housing typologies over time in various contexts and then focused on “Gateway Sites” in Edmonton. The students created proposals that utilized innovative housing schemes and applied socially responsible real estate development to form solutions for local ecological, social, and marketing challenges.

The Edmonton studio at Yale identified several risk factors in residential rental development that pose a risk to the local economy, including those resulting from a global shift away from oil and gas toward renewable energy: the recent opportunity challenge posed by an unprecedented level of international and interprovincial immigration; the considerations of building sustainably in an economy where 􀀀40 degree weather is a regular occurrence in winter, and the impact of limited government support for private-sector rental housing development.