ZERO HOUSING 1:1 Prototype + Process: Collaborative and Experiential Education in the Global Housing and Climate Crisis

Zero Hous[ing] is a recently built energy neutral midrise housing prototype that investigated alternative sites, and alternative forms of practice and production. It used prefabrication and a carbon sequestering palette to address the housing affordability and climate crisis. While it was produced and reads as a single family house — it was designed to work as housing for metropolitan areas. This project considers urban typology, architectural design for aesthetics, function, health and well-being, and innovative construction methodologies to look at this problem from the bottom-up and across sectors. This educational project integrated architecture, engineering, and business faculty and students at Ryerson University, Toronto Canada and an industry construction/education partner called The Endeavour Centre. We collaborated on this one-to-one scale prototype using Passive House principles, and prefabrication as an ethic.

Keywords: Prefabricated Housing, Zero-Carbon Design, Integrated Design, Experiential Learning, Design-Build