This text is part of the special Real Estate section
What will our homes look like tomorrow? Several experts in architecture and construction are trying to define what viable homes will be for humans and the environment.
When considering the house of the future, Francis Martel Labrecque, architect at L’abri, believes that we must first and foremost think about the challenges caused by the climate crisis. “Now we need to build stronger, more resilient climate-ready homes to cope with the extreme weather conditions that we will increasingly face,” he warns. He recalls in this regard that the construction sector is largely responsible for greenhouse gas emissions. Nearly 30% of GHG emissions in Quebec are, in fact, due to heavy industries, such as concrete, steel and aluminum, which are found in buildings.
According to Mr. Labrecque, two essential elements must be taken into account to mitigate this pollution: “The best house has a very low manufacturing carbon footprint thanks to the use of biosourced building materials – without plastic foam, without rock wool, etc — as well as exemplary energy performance, which therefore consumes little. Consequently, its operating balance sheet is low. »
Adaptability
Wood, one of the main raw materials available in Quebec, is, according to him, a very effective solution. Marie-Hélène Nollet, architect in Rimouski, agrees. “I want there to be wood, which is much more noble than you think, everywhere and that you learn to live with its natural aging,” she says. The use of materials such as wood also contribute to the local economy. To further reduce our footprint, she believes we must also learn to reduce the size of our homes. “Building smaller surfaces is always the best solution,” adds Francis Martel Labrecque. To do this, he suggests optimizing our needs by creating flexible spaces.
In this regard, the last two years of the pandemic have prompted us to redefine our vision of the home sweet home. “After observing the habits of our privileged clientele, we realized that classic houses might not lend themselves to the COVID exercise,” explains Marc-André Bovet, founding president of Bone Structure, who designed a constructive system technology, “like a Lego game”, made of 100% Quebec steel and 90% recycled. Its range of energy-efficient homes from the MT collection, which was recently launched, offers a volume and spaces that ensure conviviality and a family spirit with an open kitchen, in particular, but also one or more spaces that allow teleworking and which can be converted into a guest bedroom or a yoga room.
While interior spaces are modernizing and less and less strictly partitioned, Marie-Hélène Nollet is nevertheless convinced that the housing of the future should be inspired by traditional Quebec architecture and incorporate some of its principles. “We have a lot of snow here and it’s not for nothing that historically there are gables on our houses… it’s very useful! The architect sees even further and considers that the neighborhoods that have a future are made up of small houses on small lots, but with lots of community green spaces.
Societal vision
For Emmanuel B. Cosgrove, co-founder, general manager and spokesperson for Écohabitation, a non-profit organization that facilitates access to healthy, economical, sustainable and affordable housing, going back to basics must also be done with bigenerational homes. . “We are already living in our houses of the future! When we think of the urban housing of yesteryear in Quebec, it was often duplexes or triplexes occupied by the same family. The parents were on the ground floor while the children occupied the floors above,” he notes.
The construction and development of residential annexes and accessory dwellings, i.e. a “gentle densification” of backyards, is also another way of bringing together several generations of the same family and of repatriating so many his children than his parents. “Instead of sending our seniors to CHSLDs, we can provide semi-autonomous housing on their land. It’s immediately more affordable and more humane for a household,” he notes.
The architect Francis Martel Labrecque finally advocates a balance between the quality of construction, ecology and a human architectural approach with pleasant, bright houses adapted to all these new realities. “All of this will make the building last,” he concludes.
This special content was produced by the Special Publications team of the To have to, pertaining to marketing. The drafting of To have to did not take part.