Colin Fowler lives at home.
He doesn’t necessarily want to live at home, but as a fourth-year student at SFU, he doesn’t really have a choice because he can’t afford to live on the Burnaby Mountain campus.
A lot of the housing at SFU is through rentals in the UniverCity community next to the campus. Those rentals are not affordable for many students, so they either live at home or live a long way from the campus where rents are cheaper.
There is residence housing on the campus, which Fowler calls a “bargain” compared to other options.
This is why he’s happy that SFU is working on the problem.
“It’s clear that SFU is working to get more housing underway, and is still working to keep things affordable even in this absolute disaster of a housing market,” Fowler said.
I wanted to share this view to give some context to why I’m so frustrated by a group of architecture elitists who are putting their idolism of Arthur Erickson before the dire need to build more affordable housing for students.
The NOW published a story on Thursday about a group of architects protesting the impending demolition of an building in favour of a new and much-larger student residence building on the far-north side of the campus.
The building is Madge Hogarth House and, according to our story, “tearing down one of SFU’s original buildings would disrespect the campus design devised by architects Arthur Erickson and Geoffrey Massey, Donald Luxton said.
Luxton, who sits on the Arthur Erickson Foundation’s stewardship council, said Madge Hogarth House is an important part of the “iconic, landmark, world-recognized, internationally famous design of Simon Fraser University.”
The chair of the Arthur Erickson Foundation council, Phyllis Lambert, wrote to SFU president Andrew Petter, demanding the school halt demolition, assess Madge Hogarth House for heritage designation and find an alternate site for new housing.
“It would be an international embarrassment to sanction the further erosion of the Erickson/Massey SFU legacy,” the Montreal architect wrote.
There are a few points I want to make here.
First, why now? According to Burnaby city Coun. Colleen Jordan, chair of the city’s heritage committee, SFU’s development plans have been in the works for years and the planned demolition did not come as a surprise to her.
“It was a surprise that these Arthur Erickson people didn’t seem to know about this,” Jordan told the NOW.
Like, this is really late in the process. A lot of money has been spent developing this housing project, including detailed design drawings. Any developer will tell you this is not cheap.
Second, attempting to block badly needed student housing during a housing crisis seems like a pretty terrible thing to do. The new building will house 369 students as part of SFU’s plan to double the number of residence beds to 3,250 by 2035.
Third, the people who are trying to block this project come from a much-older generation – a time when things like housing were far cheaper than when they went to university. They didn’t live during a housing crisis and are now using their privilege to ignore the current times as they stomp their blueprints on the table to stop this project. Remember, stopping the project and finding another location means redesigning the whole thing – adding a lot of money to the price tag - and that’s even if a new site could be found that can accommodate a new building.
“In 2006, SFU looked into the viability of a renovation-addition to the building and sadly, the findings from engineering studies showed significant seismic, life safety, fire safety and other deficiencies and complexities that were insurmountable,” Angela Wilson wrote in an email.
And, finally, let’s get to the big reason behind saving this building. It’s because these architects call it a “masterwork.”
Look, I’m biased because I’m not a big fan of Erickson. He has done some fine work, but has become overrated due to the exalted status he’s been given. Snobby people pop off that Erickson’s work is unquestionably great in an attempt to shut off any counter-arguments.
Yes, of course he’s had a great influence on the West Coast, but many of his designs have also aged badly.
The Eppich House 2 has been for sale for a reported $16.8 million. You can check it out here, but I think it looks like a discarded set from some bad 1970s science fiction TV show.
I like SFU’s academic quadrangle with the pond and park, but the rest of the campus is an ugly, dark, concrete nightmare.
I thought the entire purpose of the SFU campus was to be as depressing as possible. Those buildings are something straight out of a dystopian novel.
— Kat Arnett (@katarnett) August 1, 2019
“I thought the entire purpose of the SFU campus was to be as depressing as possible,” said Kat Arnett in a tweet after I posted our original story. “Those buildings are something straight out of a dystopian novel.”
Sure, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. These architects say Madge Hogarth House is a “masterwork” and I say it looks plain and rundown. And I’m not the only one who has scoffed at this building being called a “masterwork.”
These architects will, of course, scoff at me and say I don’t have their training and I just don’t get it. Well, I know what I like and I don’t like this building. That dislike intensifies through the lens of blocking important housing.
It is a complicated issue. For instance, I love Vancouver’s Marine Building, built in 1930. If someone decided to bulldoze it and replace it, I would be tempted to chain myself to it. So I’m not completely unsympathetic to the cause of preserving heritage.
But that’s a major Vancouver landmark. This is a building buried at the back of a campus on a mountain. Most people have never even seen Madge Hogarth House. And when they do see it, how many do anything other than shrug at it?
Normally, I wouldn’t even bother writing about this, but I’m truly worried this issue is going to balloon into something that significantly delays construction of housing our young people really need.
To SFU, I say keep your eyes focused on what’s really important. Let’s get on with it.
- With additional reporting by Kelvin Gawley
Follow Chris Campbell on Twitter @shinebox44.
