Whitefish Lake Innovative Housing
Location: Whitefish Lake #128, AB
Date: 2020-2021
Role: Design Architect, Prime Consultant
Area: 1000-1250 sq ft
David T Fortin Architect is developing in collaboration, with MASS Studio, a 36 home subdivision in the community that includes two super-insulated housing prototypes. These homes are highly energy-efficient and employ local labor that will help build trades capacity and reduce economic leakage within the community. Community members will be mentored and trained during the construction of the first two housing prototypes and will be left with capacity in trades to develop the rest of the subdivision independently and future housing projects. These two housing prototypes are slated to be built during the 2021 construction season. The first home is a one-story single pitch shed roof house with an open living floorplan to facilitate a very social space. The second version is a two-story salt box-style home with a large shared common area. Both homes stack all the private programs on the north side and have expansive windows to the south to take advantage of passive solar heat gain and create a large open space for feasting, storytelling and family time. These houses are highly energy-efficient while remaining relatively low cost as compared to other high-performance single-family homes.
