In places like Labrador, Canada, housing is surprisingly in high-demand. Land is abundant in the provinces of Newfoundland and Labrador, but not many sites are easily developable due to myriad factors like steepness, flooding, and permafrost thaw.
BIOSIS, a Copenhagen-based studio, thrives in such conditions. After it was founded in 2018, the office built what it calls “gentle low-rise multi-unit density” on difficult sites in Denmark, Greenland, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, and across Scandinavia. These buildings, according to BIOSIS cofounders Morten Vedelsbøl and Mikkel Thams Olsen, are better, more ecological alternatives to the traditional detached single-family homes so common in these areas.
The Danish studio now has a presence in Canada. Together with local studio UnArchitecture.ltd, BIOSIS is conducting a feasibility study for the Nunatsiavut Government in Labrador. There, BIOSIS will explore opportunities for the government to build housing. Their goal is to utilize what are considered undesirable, overlooked, and constrained sites for housing projects.
The feasibility study will incorporate insights and knowledge BIOSIS accrued from having built modular and prefabricated multifamily housing on tricky sites in Nuuk, Greenland’s fast growing capital (albeit with a population just under 20,000 people). Mikkel Thams Olsen said the same process BIOSIS employed in Nuuk can be replicated in Labrador.
“By thoroughly analysing factors such as the natural landscape, construction methodology, and climatic conditions, we successfully unlocked available land for more than 200 housing units in Nuuk that would otherwise have been dismissed,” Olsen shared in a statement. “We can make the most of the resources we have available including the sun, rain, wind, and landscape.”
“Modular and prefabricated construction is commonplace in Scandinavia and should definitely be considered as part of the solution in Canada,” Olsen elaborated. “We draw from our experience in adopting the most feasible solutions for each project. However, we maintain a steadfast focus on identity, durability, longevity and beauty in our work so that the buildings can withstand time, natural elements and extreme conditions, and provide architectural quality and good urban spaces for years to come.”
BIOSIS cofounder Morten Vedelsbøl also pointed to the firm’s Qullilerfik and Nuukullak 10 projects as good case studies. “We always aim to preserve and respect the natural terrain, habitat, and biotopes, so we kept rock blasting to an absolute minimum,” Vedelsbøl said. “This means that the building respectfully follows the natural topography and progressively gains elevation from street level to the ridge’s point.”
Vedelsbøl continued: “By carefully studying on-site wind patterns and daylight hours, we created a horseshoe-shaped building that responds and submits to the local micro-climate as it breaks down the forceful northern winds, shelters the balconies and opens towards the south to optimise the daylight hours in winter.”
