Low Hammond Rowe Architects are pleased to collaborate with M’akola Development Services, which is an Indigenous-led housing and development company based in British Columbia, to help develop affordable housing solutions for Indigenous communities. Ma’akola work with First Nations, Métis, and Inuit organizations to address the unique housing needs of their communities, focusing on projects that are culturally appropriate and sustainable.

The building is arranged as two three-storey single-loaded wings in an L-shape with a central entry and elevator core. A conventional double-loaded interior corridor was rejected as overly institutional for the community in favour of the exterior corridor approach. This allows the building to be arranged on the site with a central open space and allows for the provision of a site for a future 5-uit townhouse development addressing the cul-de-sac. This single-loaded design has the additional benefit of increasing daylight and natural ventilation to each unit, and reducing operatioal costs for heating, cleaning, and maintaining interior spaces.

The exterior corridors are designed to minimize any institutional or ‘motel-like’ character. They have a zig-zag shape which provides widened semi-public social spaces near each front door. The corridors are partially open to views and partially weather screened with a combination of timber slats and translucent polycarbonate panels. Each apartment also has a generously-sized south-facing exterior deck facing into the interior of the site.