Through our ongoing partnership with Spencer House seniors community centre,, we engaged the community to reimagine their program spaces. The inability to host indoor programming for the majority of the pandemic highlighted the critical need for outdoor community space, where the most vulnerable and isolated can gather safely. In order to re-establish Spencer House as a welcoming place for everyone in the neighbourhood, the front outdoor space was an ideal starting point for the transformation.

​

We designed an accessible deck with built-in seating and planters carefully nestled into existing old growth trees. The community deck building day was a testament to the level of community interest in active outdoor programming, and to the importance of social, community-facing activities that create connections between spaces like Spencer House and the broader neighbourhood. Since the deck was completed, it has been in constant use for special events and weekly barbecues.