Meadowbrook Lane - Passive House Residence | Project Profile
Ontario FOCUS | Fall 2024
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.
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 building has two primary elevations: the west, facing the street, and the east, facing the golf course. The west and east elevations were, by intention, finished in two different colours to make the north and south ends of the building appear more slender and less intrusive to the neighbouring buildings.