Designers, housing consultants, and experienced builders are invited to a Lego workshop at The Owen Sound and North Grey Union Public Library on Friday.
Tim Nicholls Harrison, CEO and Chief Librarian says the goal is to use different Lego scenes to spark conversation, encourage innovative thinking, and use play to create serious solutions.
The workshop will run from 10 am to noon.
Nicholls Harrison says the project is being lead by Housing Consultant Christy Hempel, who works collaboratively with municipalities and developers to design sustainable communities,
He says Hempel also discovered Lego as a creative communication tool for planning and design.
"Can we do something locally to involve builders and planners and and people interested in understanding some of the housing issues, and can we do some simulations using Lego to help people do some problem solving?" he said.
Hempel's exhibition “Design With Nature; Design With LEGO” will be on display at the Owen Sound North Grey Union Public Library during July.
Hempel will by joined at the workshop by affordable housing professional Krystal Valencia. She is the founder of Rental Rescue, a non-profit company who empowers Canadian non-profits to compete in the real estate market at market speed through multi-family building acquisition, retention of affordable rental rates, and safeguarding tenants.
The workshop will look at using building sites creatively, and how to access funding streams. the lego scenes will help spark conversation. Participants will break out into working groups following an introductory presentation and an overview of workshop themes.
Workshop themes include:
• Is there a realistic path to transforming brownfield sites to multi-family housing?
• Can rural or peri-urban sites support creative clustered housing approaches?
• Can Mixed Use zoning support rapid solutions for underused institutional properties, commercial or industrial lands?
• The co-operative solutions: CMHC has announced generous new funding – but the deadline for applications is September 15th. Can local sites become “Shovel Ready” in time to take advantage of new funding for non-profit rental housing?
• Adapting Federal Properties: The Federal Government has announced that surplus lands – such as post offices and armouries – might become available for housing. What can we propose for our area?
• Gentle Density: Creating “Missing Middle” housing types to increase the number of housing units on existing sites
Pre-registration is required by e-mail at info@library.osngupl.ca or chempel@christinehempel.com. You can also call 519-376-6623 ext. 3.