The book 'Many Norths. Spatial Practice in a Polar Territory' by LATERAL OFFICE charts the unique spatial realities of Canada’s Arctic region, an immense territory populated with small, dispersed communities.

Lateral Office has been pursuing research and design work on the role of architecture in the Arctic since 2008. Recognizing that the challenges for Arctic habitation extend beyond merely more infrastructure or new technologies, Lateral Office’s work in the North tests the potential for architecture and infrastructure to be adaptable, multi-purpose, and responsive to the region’s present-day dynamism, along with its unique geography, climate, and cultures.

The region has undergone dramatic transformations in the name of sovereignty, aboriginal affairs management, resources, and trade, among others. For most of the Arctic’s modern history, architecture, infrastructure, and settlements have been the tools of colonialism. Today, tradition and modernity are intertwined. Northerners have demonstrated remarkable adaptation and resilience as powerful climatic, social, and economic pressures collide.

This unprecedented book documents - through the themes of urbanism, architecture, mobility, monitoring, and resources - the multiplicity of norths that appear and the spatial practices employed to negotiate it. Using innovative drawings, maps, timelines, as well as essays and interviews, Many Norths reveals a distinct northern vernacular.


This publication was developed in parallel with the exhibition Arctic Adaptations: Nunavut at 15, which represented Canada at the 2014 Venice Biennale in Architecture.

The book 'Many Norths. Spatial Practice in a Polar Territory' by LATERAL OFFICE charts the unique spatial realities of Canada’s Arctic region, an immense territory populated with small, dispersed communities.

Lateral Office has been pursuing research and design work on the role of architecture in the Arctic since 2008. Recognizing that the challenges for Arctic habitation extend beyond merely more infrastructure or new technologies, Lateral Office’s work in the North tests the potential for architecture and infrastructure to be adaptable, multi-purpose, and responsive to the region’s present-day dynamism, along with its unique geography, climate, and cultures.

The region has undergone dramatic transformations in the name of sovereignty, aboriginal affairs management, resources, and trade, among others. For most of the Arctic’s modern history, architecture, infrastructure, and settlements have been the tools of colonialism. Today, tradition and modernity are intertwined. Northerners have demonstrated remarkable adaptation and resilience as powerful climatic, social, and economic pressures collide.

This unprecedented book documents - through the themes of urbanism, architecture, mobility, monitoring, and resources - the multiplicity of norths that appear and the spatial practices employed to negotiate it. Using innovative drawings, maps, timelines, as well as essays and interviews, Many Norths reveals a distinct northern vernacular.


This publication was developed in parallel with the exhibition Arctic Adaptations: Nunavut at 15, which represented Canada at the 2014 Venice Biennale in Architecture.