swedish we are you architects won first prize for their proposal 'have a nice day', in the REZ
student housing competition in toronto, canada.

the 'have a nice day' building consists of mainly two parts. a public area with access for everyone
and housing for students. rather than making a conventional student housing project with the floors
isolated from each other they chose to create a single space flowing from level to level
throughout the student housing, the 'vertical living room'. creating diversity in the spaces provided
and emphasizes the connections between floors. the private sleeping units are minimized in order
to give space to the large vertical living room. the public ground floors holds computers,
rooms for group activities, gym, and a swimming pool. these are public spaces free for
everyone to use and will serve as an important part of the surrounding neighbourhoods.











the public part includes a 'public living room' at street level, training facilities and a public bath,
and a rooftop terrace with a restaurant. the private student house consist of bedroom units
and a 'vertical living room' for the students.







the ryerson campus is situated in the heart of toronto. this requires a dense campus with higher
buildings and more space efficient solutions. the traditional campus has lots of green surfaces
and facilities. the new urban campus has acces to everything the city has to offer and can
incorporate the city’s functions in its own system.











the h.a.n.d. student house is situated along one of the major bicycling paths in toronto.
on a bike you can reach all the central parts of toronto within minutes. the h.a.n.d. student
house is actually just a node in a brand new public transport system based on bicycling where
500 of the new bikes are available in the h.a.n.d. bicycle garage. public transport using bikes
are allready in use in many cities in europe and provide an environment friendly, cheap and easy
way of getting around town.


















when entering the vertical living room you leave your shoes in your own locker.







the recycling arcade is a recycling bin on each floor that encourages a higher rate of returns
by rewarding recyclers with musical notes and recycling points. that way each floor can compete
with each other for the highscore of the week.







the single room has a communication part and a wall filled with functions. the wall holds
everything you need: your bed, a bathroom, a working desk and storage space. the entire opposite
wall is a big whiteboard on which you can make notes and stick photos to. 375 units.







the buddy room is basically two single rooms with shared communication space, where one of
the toilettes is replaced with a closet. 75 units.


















staircases connecting to all levels



program: student housing
location: toronto, canada
year: 2009
area: 27300 sqm
supervised by: arctic studio