Views of the award-winning Bloc_10 low rise condo
The three-storey Winnipeg condo called Bloc_10 designed by 5468796 Architecture won one of the most prestigious prizes in Canadian design, a Governor-General’s Medal for Architecture, for its smart and unexpected twist on a familiar form: the walkup apartment building.James Brittain
The 10 units in Bloc_10 are all different in size, shape and configuration.James Brittain
Ken Borton and Colin Neufeld describe the project as blending matter-of-fact construction and intellectual ambition. ‘We said, let’s take a box and make something interesting on the inside,’ says Mr. Borton.James Brittain
From the outside Bloc_10 appears as an irregular stack of boxes – a sophisticated sculpture in glass, black-stained wood and creamy cement-board panels, the hunks of structure caroming their way from roof to ground.James Brittain
‘Architects that want to push the edge a little usually start with theoretical work and publications – but we’ve been doing it in the built world,’ says Mr. Neufeld.James Brittain
Each unit has at at least two levels; each has windows on the north and south sides, and eight boast an east or west exposure as well. Eight of them touch a corner of the building.James Brittain
A typical two-bedroom suite starts with a north-facing kitchen, steps up to a second-floor living room on the south side of the building, and then third-floor bedrooms on the north side – and it's got outdoor decks facing north.5468796 Architecture
At Bloc_10, corridors and walk-up entrances are on the outside, eliminating the need for a lobby or interior hallways, and lowering unit prices by lowering construction costs.Lisa Stinner
Breakaway diagram of Bloc House showing the independent units that comprise the building.5468796 Architecture