Kelowna

Who better to attract young people to a townhouse development than young people themselves.

Photo: Contributed

CATO Interior Design students are working with Momentum Interiors and the Mission Group in a unique collaboration project this month.

And, that's just what the Mission Group is doing with phase three of their Dwell development on Ambrosi Road in Kelowna.

Design students from the Centre for Arts and Technology Okanagan will design the showhomes.

"What we are doing is giving them two of them, unfurnished, and saying this is an opportunity for you to practice your skills in decorating and designing," says Mission Group President, Randall Shier.

"We've given them a budget and partnered with a merchant company who is contributing furniture. We are giving them pretty much a free hand to design these."

The students will be in charge of everything from paint colours to furniture and accessories..

Shier says the 13 three-storey townhouses are geared towards the younger housing market and feels a group of young people are ideally suited to design a home that will appeal to the young adult demographic.

"It's a way of celebrating their creativity and giving them a platform to display it."

The design students, working under the direction of Gisela Scholze, department head and practicum advisor for the pilot project, will be split into teams of four.

Each team has been given a differently configured home to design.

The first two phases of the 50 unit Dwell development have already been completed.

Construction on the final 12-unit phase is scheduled to break ground in March.

Phase three units are expected to be ready, including the show suites, by early April.

If all goes well with the collaboration, Shier says he wouldn't hesitate to engage students again for phase four or other projects under the direction of the Mission Group.