Showing posts with label sustainability. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sustainability. Show all posts

Monday, September 20, 2010

Habitat for Humanity Montreal Unveils First "Green" Home

Front view of 5096-5098 Ste. Clotilde/ 
UPDATE   I forgot to mention that this is the ninth home Habitat Montreal has built since the chapter was formed in 1998. All the houses have been built in either Hochelaga-Maisonneuve or the Sud-Ouest borough (St. Henri, Point St. Charles and Ville Émard-Côte St. Paul). The new homeowners, include a mom, a dad and two kids, ages 8 and 5. They've lived in a small apartment in St. Henri for 8 years.

Habitat for Humanity is putting the finishing touches on its latest Montreal venture, a St. Henri duplex featuring two three-bedroom units. The address is 5096-5098 Ste. Clotilde St.
The build is a milestone for the local Habitat chapter because the property was built according to LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) standards for energy efficiency and environmental sustainability.
To celebrate, H4H will be hosting a community party in Gadbois Park on Saturday, Sept. 25th,  between noon and 3 p.m. There will be food and drink, games for the kids, a DJ and special musical guests. (I'm not allowed to say who, but trust me, if you like good music, you won't be disappointed.)
Visitors will also have a chance to tour the new building and get an idea of what makes it "green". You might be surprised by how doable many of the elements are.
The team behind the St. Henri project is hoping to win LEED Silver certification, meaning they hope to collect at least 60 points out of a possible 136 on an environmental scorecard. They won't know the score until the building undergoes a third-party audit once the house has been up and running for a few months.
Rob Miners, an architect and co-founder of the architecture firm Studio MMA, was the brains behind the design. Instead of fighting nature, he worked with what he had.
The day rooms and kids bedrooms are located at the back of the building to make the most of natural light from the south and southeast. Big old trees in the back lane will help shade and cool the building in summer. In winter, their leafless branches will let the sun in, providing passive solar heat.
The building has high-efficiency windows and doors that will reduce heat loss by 12 per cent. The building was built according to Novoclimat standards, which means that superior insulation will reduce energy consumption by 25 to 30 per cent.
Low-flow toilets will use 4.9 litres of water per flush, compared to the 10 to 14 litres a standard toilet uses. Water-saving showerheads will use 6.6 litres per minute, versus 14.

Rear view of 5096-5098 Ste. Clotilde. 
 The membrane roof has a reflective coating that will bounce sunlight in an effort to reduce the so-called "heat island effect" found in urban areas with a lot of black tar roofs and asphalt paving. There are other cool elements. Why not drop by and check them out for yourself?
Architect Rob Miners said his goal was to show that it is possible to build green while also building affordably. His is the firm behind Montreal's innovative Mountain Equipment Co-op store in Marché Central as well as Abondance Montréal, a "green" condo project in Verdun.
All this to say that the official unveling will be a proud day in local H4H history. We'll all be very happy to hand over the keys to the Aabid-Ezzerouali family. They've put a ton of sweat equity into helping to build their new home. They are over moon about their H4H experience and with the knowledge that they will soon be the owners of a decent, well built house that they could never have dreamed of buying without Habitat's help.
So, come on down to the party and have a hot dog with me and the rest of the Habitat crew. The organization is always looking for volunteers. You don't even have to know how to use a hammer. Trust me. I've never lifted a hammer for Habitat, though I have laid down a coat of paint or two.

Habitat for Humanity Family Day in Gadbois Park
5845 Chemin de la Côte St. Paul
Buses 36 and 37.
Saturday, September 25,
Noon to 3 p.m.
Rain or Shine.
(If it rains, we're heading into the community centre.)

Monday, June 21, 2010

Montreal Eco Condos Make it Easy to Be Green

I finally got a chance to tour the Abondance Montréal condo development yesterday. The newly built triplex is a prize-winning example of sustainable housing, concieved by EcoCité Developments and located in my favorite neighborhood, Verdun. The first phase of development is known as Le Soleil, a nod to the building's solar energy features.
I've been following the Abondance Montréal story for years now, dating back to my days as The Gazette's real estate reporter.
The project is one of the winning entries in a Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. competition to build highly energy-efficient homes that have a low impact on the environment. The big idea behind the program was to find ways to build homes that create as much energy as they consume, so-called Net Zero homes.
Phase I of Abondance Montréal meets that goal beautifully. The three-unit building is topped by a very large solar panel array that serves as a sun shade on the shared roof terrace. The panels not only supply all the energy needed for the three units but also sends surplus energy back into the Hydro-Québec grid. At the end of the year, the condo project creates as much energy as it uses. Even better, the condo owners never have to worry about paying for electricity or hot water. They get it for free.

Christopher Holmes, the dynamic young entrepreneur behind Abondance Montréal, led the hour-long tour of the building yesterday. He explained that as amazing as the solar power system on the roof is, it is merely the crowning element to a carefully considered project.  The building consumes only 24 per cent of the energy a typical Canadian home would, largely because of the choices that were made during the design and construction phases.
The biggest energy savings come because of the highly efficient building envelope, which has an R-45 rating, nearly three times better than the usual stud, fiberglass and vapour barrier plus brick confection. The sprayed on urethane insulation is made from soy-bean oil and recycled plastic bottles. It requires less labour to get the job done.
The windows are triple glazed. The windows and transoms were installed to take advantage of natural light and passive solar energy. A geothermal pump uses the Earth's own heat to keep each unit comfortable. Recovery systems grab the heat out of hot water as it circles down the drain and from exhaust air before it is expelled through the ventilation system.
Water from the roof drain and from the French drain that keeps the foundation dry is redirected not into the municipal sewage system but into a holding tank, where the water is filtered and used to flush the toilets. Other elements like low-flow toilets and energy efficient appliances, a master control that allow you to cut the power when you leave home in the morning, all help make it much easier to be green. Holmes took pains to explain that all the green components used in the project are readily available through local or regional suppliers.                                                                                                                                                                                                       Rob Miners of Studio MMA was lead architect on the project. His firm has gained a solid reputation for its work in sustainable architecture. Their best known project is the Mountain Equipment Co-op store in Marché Central. Abondance Montréal is making just as much of a splash.
Holmes was asked by one of the people on the tour why his firm had chosen to build in Verdun. I beamed with pleasure as he talked about the area's many advantages, including proximity to the Métro (LaSalle station is about two blocks away) the nearness to downtown and the ease with which one can find services on nearby Wellington St.
"It's an up and coming neighborhood and one we believe in," Holmes said.
Two of the three eco condos have already been sold. The third will remain open to visitors for another few months but it is for sale  though, sadly, not by me. Asking price is $299,000 for 1,040 square feet of living space.
EcoCité has broken ground for a second phase of development, to be called La Terre. It will be a four-storey project with many of the same features, with one important difference. While it will be built to be be solar-panel ready, it will not initially feature solar energy. That's because Phase I Abondance was built as a demonstration project and benefitted from grants and subsidies from partners like Hydro-Québec. That aid won't be available for the second phase, putting the cost of a big solar package out of bounds, for now.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Montreal Making a Green Turn?

Gazette municipal affairs reporter Linda Gyulai is frantically tweeting about green promises coming out of city hall today.
Executive committee memeber Alan DeSousa (St. Laurent) says that from now on municipal renovation projects will aim for LEED gold certification. Also, the city is going to seek BOMA 1 or 2 ratings for existing buildings and plans to reduce energy use in existing municipal buildings by 15 per cent.
This news comes on the heels of the much ballyhooed launch of the downtown Bixi bike sharing network.
Sustainable development, energy efficiency and non-profit bikes, wow! Can it be that the Tremblay administration is worried about Louise Harel's entry into the municipal fray?

Monday, June 8, 2009

Thinking Inside the MuvBox

If you are a semi-regular reader of this blog you might suspect that I have a thing for compact homes. It has a little to do my belief in the need to reduce consumption of all kinds. A good way to start is by not building big-ass houses that needlessly consume precious resources.
An equal part of it, though, is a deeply ingrained love of treehouses and best of all childhood pleasures, the packing crate hideout.
So imagine how delighted I was to disover MuvBox, the shipping container snack bar designed by local entreprenneur Daniel Noiseux.
Noiseux has taken a basic reinforced steel maritime container and with a tweek here and there, created a turn-key resto. The sides flip down, to create a deck, tables are screwed in, counters folded out and, voìla, a working lobster shack is ready for action in about 90 seconds. Did I mention that it is solar powered?

Fantastic! If it wasn't pouring out, I'd head right down to the Quai des Eclusiers in the Old Port for a lobster roll and look around.
Fire-proof, earthquake-proof, rustproof, what other proof do we need that this is an idea whose time has come? The typical shipping container is six metres long, and 2.5 metres in width and height. When are we going to see locally designed MuvBox style homes take shape?
Seriously, when?
Montreal is justifiably proud to have been designated a UNESCO Design City, the first in North America. The designation recognizes the effort both public and private sector players put into promoting and conserving good design in la belle ville. Why not sponsor a contest in which architects and designers create a model shipping container community. Lord knows we've got vacant land in the city core.
After all, some could argue that Montreal took a step forward in world consciousness in 1967 when Moshe Safdie's Habitat 67 was unveiled during the World's Fair. Maybe its time we made another splash with another modular housing concept. Why not erect a demonstration MuvBox City at the foot of Peel St., near the Old Port?
Think of the fun cutting-age architects like YH2, LOEUF or Sid Lee Architecture could have with these durable and adaptable boxes?
London has already done this with Container City in the London Docklands, but Montreal, anoher port city with a surplus of old containers, could put its own spin on the idea.
For another take, check out this story on the U.S. firm that is building $8,000 container homes for the working poor in Juarez, Mexico.

Friday, May 15, 2009

Living Large, Not.


The Los Angeles Times has a nice photo essay today on the movement to build "tiny" houses. Author Mimi Zeiger has just published a tiny art book on the topic. The movement is sparked by the laudable impulse to reduce the size of our carbon footprint and to pare homes down to the essential. Waste not, want not and all that. The houses featured are daring, beautiful and fanciful. I, for one, love the idea of living in a little cabin on stilts among the primeval treetops. Must check whether my neighborhood is zoned for that. . .
They aren't all practical, however. Horden Cherry Lee Architects' 76-square-foot micro-compact aluminum cube might have two double beds, a kitchen, bath and dining table, but who would want to live in it? It is the residential equivalent of a Smart car, cute as all get out, but really useless when there are three of you needing to get from Point A to Point B in a hurry.(Good luck if you blow a tire on the highway, btw. Smart cars don't come equipped with spare tires.) Tiny, when this small, is a parlor game.
Funny how tiny becomes chic when rich people and their architects adopt it. Tiny houses are just plain "too small" when poor people live in them. I'm still waiting for architects to devise beautiful. compact and architecturally daring small homes for the masses. Now that would be revolutionary.
But enough of my gassing on. Take a look at the LA Times' photo gallery here.

Friday, March 27, 2009

The Garbage Warrior


I missed the Colbert Report's recent interview with radical architect Michael Reynolds. Through the miracle of the internets you can watch it now.
Reynolds uses quote-unquote "garbage" to build self-sufficient, off-the-grid housing communities. Garbage like beer cans, water bottles and old tires.
This has put him on a collision course with the powers that be of the U.S. zoning and planning world but has made him a hero in places where people need safe, affordable places to live and where clean water and reliable sewage are not a given.
Reynolds is the subject of the documentary Garbage Warrior. You can watch the trailer here.
Watching him build houses with discarded water bottle "bricks" reminds me of Montreal architect Grant Genova, who converted an old lobster warehouse on Roy St. in the Plateau into a wildly original house/gallery and workshop. Genova set empty pop and wine bottles into the cement walls of his house to create beautiful honeycombed "stained glass windows."
To build the walls, he filled discarded plastic shopping bags with wet cement and stacked them, sandbaglike. As the cement hardened it took on the amorphous blobby shape of the bags. Once the cement dried, Genova tore the plastic bags away, leaving voluptuous and rounded walls. The pop bottle windows glowed like Chartres during midnight mass. Cool stuff.
Find out more about the documentary here