Residential [Small]

Compact design a rethink on housing and retirement

By Maegan Murrins and Rayleen Hill

Sitting on a small lot of a tight urban street on the outskirts of downtown Halifax, the (s)efficient house overlooks a south-facing garden while keeping the east views of the industrial lands to a minimum.

The retired homeowners wanted to downsize in retirement. With 960 sq. ft. of living space on one level, the house has minimal upkeep and future accessibility potential. An additional 300 sq ft of garage space allows for the storage of cars and other items. The living space has the opposite “gull wing” roof shape allowing the main living spaces to have high, vaulted ceilings which make the compact interior feel voluminous.

The house is efficient, but the (S) in the name of the house stands for sufficient. It is not a large house, and the clients wanted a house that was just enough, no extras. It is about having not only less to heat and cool, but less to maintain. We think it is a great precedent because our culture always sells the idea of the “dream home” which tends to have lots of extras and be very expensive. It was a delight to have a client looking for elevated living that was not about excess.

The foyer area between the separate garage and living space creates the entry point to the house. The small footprint was purposely designed with a “divider” closet/dining servery creating a threshold between the front entry hall and the mudroom before meandering and opening into the main public areas of the house.

An important factor for wellness is occupant comfort related to natural daylighting and a comfortable room temperature. The large, south-facing feature window ensures adequate solar gain and natural light in winter. The home’s heat pump is set at 18c and stays at 19c to 23c depending on where it’s measured and the time of day. With windows in every room, oftentimes with dual aspects, the house requires little lighting, except at night.

Water strategies needed only simple measures involving water-conserving fixtures, thus saving the budget for more pressing issues of envelope design and the photovoltaic array. The water use in the first nine months of operating has been 14 CM for three months, or roughly 140l/day.

MAEGAN MURRINS AND RAYLEEN HILL ARE WITH RHAD ARCHITECTS.

PROJECT CREDITS

ARCHITECT RHAD Architects
STRUCTURAL ENGINEER SANI Engineering
MECHANICAL ENGINEER Tate Engineering
CONSTRUCTION Kildare Construction
PHOTOS Julian Parkinson, jp@formatfilms.ca

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Prototype targets gentle density and sustainable living

By LGA Architectural Partners

Completed in the spring of 2025, Ulster House, Toronto’s first multiplex condominium, exemplifies gentle density, market affordability, thoughtful design, and environmental responsibility. The infill project comprises four condominium units with a total floor area of 377 m² and a 56 m² laneway suite.

A self-initiated project by LGA principals Janna Levitt and Dean Goodman, the development challenges policies and perceptions, paving the way for a new housing typology. It presents a viable, sustainable infill strategy to introduce medium-density housing into established neighbourhoods.

To maximize natural light and take advantage of walkable services and amenities, Levitt and Goodman purchased a corner lot in Harbord Village, a mature Toronto neighbourhood. They replaced a deteriorating two-storey single-family home and rear garage with a three-storey multiplex and a laneway suite, creating five condominium units. Their goal was to design homes that are as desirable—and in many ways superior—to conventional Toronto condominiums in terms of cost, livability, and long-term value.

High-Performance Design with Lower Environmental Impact

The cornerstone of the project is its commitment to the environment, adhering to passive design principles, with sustainability integrated from the outset. Collaborating with Juliette Cook, at that time a University of Toronto graduate student and now a partner at Ha/f Climate Design, the team analyzed embodied and operational carbon emissions, benchmarking the building’s Global Warming Potential (GWP) against the Architecture 2030 Challenge,

As a result, the complex meets the sustainability metrics set by the Passive House standard as well as the Architecture 2030 Challenge, which initially calls for a 40% reduction in carbon emissions compared to current industry standards, and ultimately the elimination of fossil fuels for energy generation altogether.

This rigorous approach led to strategic material choices: including replacing steel framing with light wood framing and decreasing the quantity of cement in concrete components. Such decisions reduced the building’s GWP by almost half, surpassing the targeted benchmark. In addition, Ulster House has no gas line and operates entirely on an all-electric HVAC system supplemented by a rooftop photovoltaic array, further enhancing energy efficiency.

The authors are the LGA Project Team: Dean Goodman (Partner-in-Charge), Janna Levitt (Partner-in-Charge), Kara Burman, Andria Fong, Megan Cassidy and Joshua Giovinazzo.

PROJECT TEAM

Architecture and Interior Design
LGA Architectural Partners
Structural Blackwell Engineering
Mechanical and Electrical RDZ Engineers
Civil Blue Grove Engineering Group Inc.
Landscape Designer Lorraine Johnson, Native Plant Consultant
Code Consultant David Hine Engineering Inc.
Building Science RDH
General Contracting Desar Construction Studio inc.
Acoustics Thornton Tomasetti (TT)
Photos Doublespace Photography

Most of the cladding on the main building is Petersen Cover™ TEGL, a handmade tile product for roofs and facades which lends a distinctive, modern look while offering all the advantages of tile. The project uses compact RenewAire SL Series energy recovery ventilators designed for multi-family units and with a CFM range of 30–130, and the RenewAire BR130 ERV for single-family homes.

The authors are the LGA Project Team: Dean Goodman (Partner-in-Charge), Janna Levitt (Partner-in-Charge), Kara Burman, Andria Fong, Megan Cassidy and Joshua Giovinazzo.

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