Sustainable Design

What do we do about Suburbia?

The Challenge
The Archetype for the Living City began as a national architectural design competition to find a prototype for leading edge sustainable design – specifically targeted at the production home-building market and the suburban home buyer.

The Solution
Building Blocks was our answer to the problem and was awarded 1st Prize.

Twenty-six modular blocks, from A to Z, give the homeowner real options, not just fixtures and finishes. By choosing which nine blocks comprise their home, they decide the number of bedrooms (from 2 to 7), size of kitchen and livingroom, configuration of master bedroom and bathrooms, etc. At the same time, modular design adapts to pre-fabrication, creates efficiencies of construction and waste management and improves affordability and quality control.

The same 26 blocks combine to form semi-detached, detached, row and stacked townhouses, thus creating neighbourhood diversity and allowing planners to cluster development of differing densities.

Built to stringent standards of sustainable design, the homes have met the standard for LEED-platinum (the highest possible rating in the LEED green building rating system) and Energystar for Homes, thanks to a range of conservation strategies such as passive solar design, snug air-tight and super well-insulated building envelope, high recycled content materials, durable materials, low off-gas materials, renewable energy, right-sized - not oversized - heating equipment, waste heat recovery, water efficiency, innovative wastewater treatment and drought tolerant native plants.