Project Coordinator, Naomi MacKenzie shares how living in a Canadian suburb shaped her understanding of architecture’s role in local communities and everyday life.
When I told friends and family that I was going to do my exchange at the University of Waterloo, located in a small Canadian town called Cambridge, I was met with blank faces. ‘Waterloo? Like the song? Where even is that?’
The truth is- I didn’t choose to go to Cambridge.
Options for master’s exchanges in Canada are limited, but Cambridge offered a cheaper alternative to Toronto while still being close to Niagara Falls, Toronto, New York and other big cities.
Living in a regular suburban town, rather than a city, gives you a much more realistic experience of how most Canadians live their lives. For three months, I picked apart the differences between Brisbane and Cambridge.
What’s the local community like?
What counts as their vernacular homes?
What about the way they like their shopping centres set up? (The answers to these questions were inevitably affected by Canada’s climate, of course).
For me, exchange wasn’t just an opportunity to travel. I wanted to live somewhere outside of the city where I grew up, and experience those little cultural differences for myself. While the similarities outweighed the differences, it was the small quirks I loved finding the most- the grey local stone that made it’s way into the local buildings, or experiencing the way that the community revolved around it’s library.
Even if I didn’t go to a flashy city, my biggest takeaway was a greater understanding about architecture’s role in the world, in local communities, and in my own life.
