The Next Home: Affordability through Flexibility and Choice

Abstract

The Next Home, designed and constructed at the McGill University School of Architecture in 1996, responds to the fundamental demographic and economic changes that have recently heightened the need for a new housing alternative that appropriately integrates flexibility with affordability. A prospective buyer can purchase one, two, or all three of the floors in a three-story unit designed as a single-family home, a duplex, or a triplex for a cost of $50,000 (Cdn. $) per floor (including land) in Montreal. Further-more, in a departure from the conventional stacking approach, open-web floor joists and a horizontal chaser provide builders and buyers alike with the opportunity to locate functions (bathrooms, kitchens) at any desired position within each floor. The users of the Next Home will be able to choose from a catalogue of interior components to tailor the design to their individual lifestyles and budgets, and can easily modify these initial parameters as the need arises. Similarly, to ensure personalization and diversification of the facade, the user can choose from a range of fenestration and a menu of predesigned roof alternatives provided by the builder. The Next Home can be built in the same development as a detached or semi-detached house, or as part of a row, integrating the flexibility to accommodate mixed uses such as home offices and light commercial activities on the ground floor. Fundamentally, the evolutionary nature of the Next Home – the notion that housing be designed to evolve not only in configuration and appearance but also in use – responds to an explicit need to accommodate a wide diversity of users and household types. This paper examines the background research and design principles, and the resulting conclusions pertinent to integrating flexibility and affordability.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Avi Friedman

Dr. Avi Friedman is Director and David Krawitz is Research Associate of the Affordable Homes Program in the School of Architecture at McGill University, Montreal, PQ, Canada.

David Krawitz

Dr. Avi Friedman is Director and David Krawitz is Research Associate of the Affordable Homes Program in the School of Architecture at McGill University, Montreal, PQ, Canada.