The National Low-rise Housing Design Catalogue is a Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) and Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada initiative aimed at widening access to affordable housing.

Selected as the Quebec regional team for this project, KANVA has developed a series of housing units inspired by local culture, materials, forms, and construction methods so as to join harmoniously with our urban fabrics. These are low-rise constructions – townhouses, plexes and accessory dwellings to be built in the backyard of an existing residence – that can be integrated into neighborhoods as a tool for gentle densification. The catalog simplifies, accelerates and makes more affordable the construction of homes in a context of housing crisis, providing for broader access to quality architecture.

These open source designs are modular and adaptable: they are devised to be combined or adjusted to suit a range of standard plot sizes, and to accommodate various municipalities’ regulations. By virtue of this adaptability, and of their simplicity of construction, the units are exemplary in terms of universal access and sustainability. To account for change in the needs of its occupants and to allow for multigenerational living, units can be subdivided with great flexibility.