Sustainable development, architecture and design were abuzz at a Carleton presentation Jan. 6, as professors Stephen Fai and Sheryl Boyle of the Azrieli School of Architecture and Urbanism presented the innovative Batawa project’s progress since it began last summer.
Partnered with the Batawa Development Corporation, 27 architecture and industrial design students have been working on development plans and new designs for a shut-down shoe factory and new housing plans in Batawa, Ont.
The Carleton students lived in the town for six weeks as part of an intensive 1.5-credit course, some camping outside in army tents, and got to know the community as they worked on plans to improve it. At the end of their stay, students displayed their ideas and digital models of the town at an open house inside the factory, which hadn’t been opened since it shut down in 1999, Boyle said.
Batawa is just north of Trenton, Ont. and was founded by Czech Thomas J. Bata in 1939 in the hopes of creating a small community around his shoe factory. He believed in “benevolent capitalism,” said Fai, which is based on the concept that providing for workers and giving them a community will make them more productive in the workplace.
This model had been successful in several towns in the Czech Republic, including the town of Zlin where Bata’s shoe company took flight.
Bata’s wife, Sonja, reached out to Carleton students to come up with fresh ideas for the development of the town.
The collapse of small communities is “an epidemic in the Western world,” Fai said.
The reason Batawa may be saved and thousands of other small towns will not is because of the presence of Sonja Bata, a patron to her community and a warrior in promoting its development. “She energized the troops,” he said of her motivational talents. “She challenged the students to think outside the box.”
Bata wants the town to become “a model for other small towns in Canada,” Boyle said.
Today, there are only a hundred houses in Batawa, along with the defunct factory, a community centre, a school and a ski hill that attracts thousands of skiers each year, in spite of the fact that there are no stores, restaurants or hotels.
The Development Corporation plans to build 500 new houses in the next 10 years, and eventually up to 1,000.
Carleton students came up with about 45 different proposals for developing the town, Boyle said. A primary initiative will be renovating the old factory to include residential areas, a research facility or “housing factory” that would build prototypes and put them up for sale, and commercial areas for small businesses.
Students also suggested collecting rainwater, exploring green roof technologies like planting rooftop gardens, and using durable materials such as heavy masonry and adobe brick. In their proposals were community areas such as fire pits, skating rinks, marketplaces and even dog runs.
Carleton plans to expand its collaboration with Batawa, with students from other faculties such as life sciences, journalism, business and public affairs joining the initiative, Fai said.
“It’s become quite an interdisciplinary project.”
Wednesday’s presentation also included a showing of the National Film Board documentary No Place like Home. The event was sponsored by Carleton’s Student Experience Office, with participants’ donations going towards the Alternative Spring Break program.