The Porch

Congratulation to Carlo Rosel, recipient of the SOPREMA Award.

A co-housing residence located on the south-west corner of Blair Road and Grand Avenue North (Cambridge) explores the transitionary process of healing for COVID-19 long-hauler patients. The building is designed with affordable long-term residential units, community clinic and a combine space for community hall and kitchen. The Porch integrates clinical medicine with indigenous holistic remedy through the cultivation of medicinal plants.

The Porch aims to heal its site from being a gravel parking lot to an ecologically-diverse habitat, and to heal its residents from the stigma and isolation caused by COVID-19. Medicine wheel gardens along Trinity Park in conjunction with the community kitchen provide residents a source of enjoyment, social interaction, income revenue, and an inter-generational platform where senior residents can share stories, indigenous land-based knowledge, and local crafts to the wider community.

The residential units’ ceramic floor tile with radiant heating, and exposed CLT walls and ceiling create an intimate atmosphere to live. Its private terraces overlook Trinity Park. And the 2-storey community hall opens into a plaza- where residents and visitors can celebrate safely, and convivially.

The Porch mediates between interior and exterior; private and communal. Reconciling between the hygienic function of a clinical laboratory and the warmth of a home.