Passive House delivers affordable living
By Peter Ng and Irene Rivera
Meadowbrook Lane is the first multi-unit residential high-rise building to be built by Windsor Essex Community Housing Corporation (WECHC) in 30 years. The 10-storey multi-unit residential building brings much needed affordable housing to the City of Windsor.
The building includes 145 affordable housing units, from bachelor to three-bedroom suites, with shared amenity space on each residential floor. The ground floor of the building has offices, a multipurpose room, laundry room and a four-bedroom community special care unit.
The WECHC wanted the building to be energy efficient and designed to meet Passive House standards for certification by the Passivhaus Institute (PHI) in Germany. In adhering to the principles of Passive House Design, rigorous effort was exercised to uphold a robust continuous airtight thermal envelope, prioritizing the continuity of the air barrier membrane by managing service penetrations.
The design was guided by the Passive House Planning Package (PHPP) model, with all consultants involved in designing the systems to meet Passive House Classic Certification. Beyond the design phase and during construction, the installation of the air membrane was monitored and documented regularly to ensure its integrity and continuity were not compromised and would meet the 0.6ACH or below air change per hour at 50Pa as required by PHI. The building achieved an impressive final result of 0.123ACH.
The project won the Grand Prize & Finalist Prize Award at the 2024 EIFS Council of Canada Architecture Design Awards. Within the building, ‘vertical’ community neighbourhoods are facilitated by one amenity room on every residential floor with a view to the nearby golf course.
The multi-purpose ground floor amenity room provides a venue for both residents and external functions and opens to a community garden furnished with a barbeque, seating areas, a bike shelter with charging stations for 10 e-bikes, and four EV parking stalls with chargers in the parking area.
The landscaping integrates the building to the site using native and drought tolerant species in keeping with the natural flora of the area. The HVAC system incorporates fan coils and roof-mounted units by Mitsubishi Electric Sales Canada.
Project Performance
- Energy Intensity, base building = 10.69KWh/m2/year
- Energy Intensity, process energy = 135.70KWh/m2/year
- Reduction in energy intensity relative to reference
- building under ASHRAE 90.1, SB-10 and OBC 2017
- ASHRAE 90.1-2010 = 87%
Project Credits
- Owner/Developer Windsor Essex Community Housing
- Corporation (CHC)
- Architect Kearns Mancini Architects
- General Contractor Amico
- Landscape Architect Fleisher Ridout Partnership
- Building envelope consultant Pretium Engineering
- Civil Engineer Morrison Hershfield
- Electrical/Mechanical Engineer Integral Group – Introba
- Structural Engineer RJC Engineering
- Commissioning Agent JLSR Engineering Inc
- Passive House Certification Peel Passive House
- Photos Craft Architecture Photography & Video
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