Condo Design that Reduces Residents' Ecological Footprint
| Region(s) | Montreal, QC, Canada |
|---|---|
| In domains | Construction / Engineering / Building Materials, Energy Conservation, Environmental Regeneration, Reduction of Greenhouse Gases |
| Participants | Produktif |
Maison Productive House (MpH), a condominium project conceived and executed by Produktif, re-builds 5 condemned city apartments and adds 3 new townhouses in Pointe St-Charles, a post-industrial, inner-city Montreal neighborhood. MpH offers efficient housing solutions based on the principles of Zero Emissions Design (ZED), that is, that the building’s green value be measured not only by the materials and energy used but the eventual ecological footprint of the residents who make use of the living spaces.
MpH is designed to enable residents to cut their individual ecological footprint by 60% or more compared to the current Canadian average, combining energy-efficient housing design with accommodations for alternative transportation and local food production.
Enabling Alternative Transport
The Productive House site was chosen for its access to Montreal’s principal walking, public transport and cycling circuits. It is walking distance from Canal Lachine and the Atwater farmer's market with its water-front recreational and green park area, half a block from the Charlevoix metro station and bike paths linking to downtown Montreal, Verdun and La Salle, and Lachine.
The condo provides sheltered bike racks for its residents and two parking spaces dedicated to carshare vehicles of Montreal’s Communauto carshare service.
Lowered energy consumption for each resident:
Maison Productive House uses a combination of renewable energy systems and specifies energy conservation measures both in building materials and permitted appliances.
* Geo-thermal radiant floor heating
* Solar panels (Convection-tube solar collectors, etc)
* Passive solar design through the overall orientation of building mass
* High R-value materials, and low U-value fenestration
* Energy-efficient lighting and appliances (Energy Star appliances specified, LED-lighting, etc.)
Enabling Local Food Production On-Site:
The MpH is designed for residents who enjoy growing their own vegetables in urban green spaces. Shared gardens on site include fruit orchards and an herb garden, plus a rooftop greenhouse and garden that will produce fresh edibles, year-round. Private gardens include kitchen gardens in the backyard as well as growing space on balconies and in indoor solar atriums or Sun Spaces in each apartment unit.
Through innovative use of temporary and seasonal covers as well as age-old technologies such as cold-frames, the Maison productive House introduces multiple solutions to extend growing seasons with both summer and winter harvests. This innovation takes advantage of the relatively southern latitude of Montreal and the generous number of sun-days in this location, while taking measures to trap heat and protect growing areas against extreme temperature drops.
Waste Reduction:
Maison Productive House’s principal innovations center around recuperation of runoff and waste water for irrigation purposes.
Runoff rainwater is redirected to irrigate the rooftop gardens. In addition, Maison productive House collects and filters domestic greywaters from showers and basins and reuses them for toilet flushing. This initiative, combined with the use of water-efficient appliances and fixtures aims to reduce water consumption by 50%. This eases the strain on already overburdened municipal infrastructure as well as minimizes our waste of potable water.
MpH is designed to save residents approximately 60-80% in heating costs.
- Aucun document disponible
MpH condo development
I really enjoyed the article on MpH. It is always heartening to read about
an example of such a well thought out socially, economically, and
environmentally responsible project in order to demonstrate to naysayers
that innovative housing is perfectly viable. Is there any information
available on cost per square foot, and of uptake in the market place? It
would be great to follow the project into the post-occupancy phase and see
how it measures up to the goals set out in the conception of the project. Thanks for this well written article, and I look forward to hearing more
about MpH.
Kathy Bergquist