This post is part of our winter 2019 blOAAg series, Housing Affordability: Built-Form Case Studies. The featured case studies are from the OAA’s 2019 report titled, Housing Affordability in Growing Urban Areas, produced by the OAA’s Housing Affordability Task Group and SvN Architects + Planners.
Case Study 05: Salus Clementine | Architect: CSV Architects
Location: Ottawa, ON | Year: 2016
Program: 42-Unit Residential Passive House | Size: 3,034 sq. m (GFA)
Salus Clementine is a 42-unit residence that provides housing to people with psychiatric illnesses. The residence was constructed in an established inner suburb of Ottawa, near public transport and local shopping. This project is ground-breaking because it is a community-based initiative to provide “housing first” to people who would otherwise be homeless and on the street. It has been proven that the most cost-effective way to solve homelessness is to provide safe, low-cost housing. This stabilizes the person’s life so that underlying causes of homelessness can be addressed.
Plan | Salus Clementine | CSV Architects
Interior | Salus Clementine | CSV Architects | Photography Credits: Gordon King and William McElligott
This apartment building is the first of its kind – multi-unit affordable housing in a cold climate – to meet the international Passive House standard for energy efficiency. A mix of conventional construction methods and imported materials were optimized to achieve a building with a heating demand of 15kW/m2*a, total primary energy demand of 120kW/m2*a, and a blower-door tested air leakage rate of 0.35AC/hr at 50Pa. These standards reduce energy consumption related to heating by up to 66% compared to the 2012 Ontario Building Code and best practice with cost premiums directly associated with this performance found to be less than 10% over standard construction. This is achieved by greatly increasing insulation, reducing air leakage, eliminating cold bridging while providing exceptional interior air quality. The demand for heat is reduced to such an extent that no furnace is required and cooling loads are minimized. The result is a building that sets a new standard for environmental stewardship.
Exterior | Salus Clementine | CSV Architects | Photography Credits: Gordon King and William McElligott
Further reading: http://www.csv.ca/salus-clementine
Photography Credits:
Gordon King | http://www.gordonkingphotography.com/
William McElligott | http://www.wpmcelligott.com/
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Official release date of the full report to be announced shortly.
The report, Housing Affordability in Growing Urban Areas, was prepared by SvN Architects + Planners Inc. (John van Nostrand, Liana Bresler and Blair Scorgie with the support of Eric Pitre and Jorge Quesada Davies), with the direction and assistance of the OAA Housing Affordability Task Group.