Waste Not, Want Not

A design studio from Canada is hoping to change the way we look at unused spaces along a lane or alley.

- Low Shi Ping

Have you ever walked down a side road of a city and found pockets of wasted space? Place it in the hands of Mark Erickson and he would convert it into a home at the drop of a hat.

Co-owner of design firm Studio North, Erickson has pioneered a new typology of dwelling together with his business partner Matthew Kennedy. They call it “laneway housing” and describe it as “fully independent, small-scale inner city dwellings that face on to an alley”.