This project was part of the Laneway Housing series featured on the Spacing Toronto website in March 2012.

The Super Narrow Student Housing project was inspired by a Toronto Police house-bust that took place at Yonge St. x Wellesley St. in September 2011. Police discovered 90 international students illegally living under one roof, and all of the students were evicted immediately. However, the occurrence raised the issue of a lack of housing options in the downtown area, a dire need for the city of Toronto given the growing number of international students seeking economical and efficient housing for long term stay.

Can we design a purposefully-narrow house for these international students? Will this provide some function to the abandoned laneway spaces in the city, and also establish a new typology of architecture in Toronto? The laneway housing proposal sought to address the issue of urban densification for a specific clientele, with the hope of spurring more interaction between visitors and locals.