The New Plex
© Philippe Fournier 2023. All rights reserved. Reproduction prohibited unless advanced written permission is granted by the author. Final self-directed research project completed in fulfilment of the requirements for the Master of Architecture degree at McGill University. Summary: A multiplex is a low-rise multifamily residential building with two or more separately accessed dwelling units, built at a similar scale to a traditional house. To address severe housing shortages, many jurisdictions across North America and around the globe are reforming long-standing zoning laws to permit multiplex construction across vast areas of land which formerly only permitted building single-family houses. This opens up a new frontier of design possibilities for builders: how should these buildings be designed? Though well established across the province of Quebec and once historically common in many other places, multiplexes are rare in the rest of postwar North America, with the majority of private households now dwelling in single-family detached houses. The scale of the housing crisis demands a radical expansion of denser building stock, but the carbon intensity of large-scale new construction poses environmental problems. As an example of ‘missing middle’ housing, multiplexes have many advantages which make them opportune for addressing both the housing and climate crises simultaneously. While increasing density and housing options, plexes have the advantage of being small enough to construct in light wood frame, embodying low carbon and employing local materials and trades. Their human scale and adaptability can allow them to blend unobtrusively within the built character of many established suburban neighborhoods. Their low capital requirements would permit a competitive market to emerge among small builders, while their rapid constructability lends itself well to prefabrication and other efficient construction techniques. This project revisits historical North American multiplex designs, makes the argument for streamlining multiplex construction in contemporary infill suburban contexts, investigates their regulatory and practical constraints, and explores ways of designing the typology in order to improve its environmental performance, cost effectiveness, and above all the quality of life for residents.
© Philippe Fournier 2023. All rights reserved.
Reproduction prohibited unless advanced written permission is granted by the author.
Final self-directed research project completed in fulfilment of the requirements for the Master of Architecture degree at McGill University.
Summary:
A multiplex is a low-rise multifamily residential building with two or more separately accessed dwelling units, built at a similar scale to a traditional house. To address severe housing shortages, many jurisdictions across North America and around the globe are reforming long-standing zoning laws to permit multiplex construction across vast areas of land which formerly only permitted building single-family houses. This opens up a new frontier of design possibilities for builders: how should these buildings be designed? Though well established across the province of Quebec and once historically common in many other places, multiplexes are rare in the rest of postwar North America, with the majority of private households now dwelling in single-family detached houses. The scale of the housing crisis demands a radical expansion of denser building stock, but the carbon intensity of large-scale new construction poses environmental problems.
As an example of ‘missing middle’ housing, multiplexes have many advantages which make them opportune for addressing both the housing and climate crises simultaneously. While increasing density and housing options, plexes have the advantage of being small enough to construct in light wood frame, embodying low carbon and employing local materials and trades. Their human scale and adaptability can allow them to blend unobtrusively within the built character of many established suburban neighborhoods. Their low capital requirements would permit a competitive market to emerge among small builders, while their rapid constructability lends itself well to prefabrication and other efficient construction techniques. This project revisits historical North American multiplex designs, makes the argument for streamlining multiplex construction in contemporary infill suburban contexts, investigates their regulatory and practical constraints, and explores ways of designing the typology in order to improve its environmental performance, cost effectiveness, and above all the quality of life for residents.
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This project barely scratches the surface of
architectural possibilities for multiplexes and other
‘missing middle’ housing typologies, but as a design
exercise it is an opportunity to walk through some
of the most important considerations impacting
their form and quality. In the coming years as
more zoning reforms progress, we will see more
architectural experimentation with multiplexes, the
proliferation of new vernacular and regional types,
and more radical innovations. The era of singlefamily
Euclidian zoning as the ‘norm’ pattern
for city planning is reaching an inevitable and
necessary conclusion as more awareness is raised
of its disastrous consequences for affordability,
sustainability, muncipal solvency, health and social
dynamics.
Abundant supply is a critical ingredient of housing
affordability, and this includes supply of many
diverse types of housing to meet the needs of
many diverse buyers. A dynamic market which
permits experimentation, adaptation over time
and even niche housing styles allows the overall
housing market to better absorb demand shocks
from population and demographic changes. In this
regard, restrictive planning practices like single
family zoning imposed a top-down ‘one-sizefits-all’
style of housing, which also happens to
require consuming a disprortionate amount of a
city’s intrinsically limited and valuable land. People
should be allowed to build and buy such dwellings,
if they choose; but forbidding the development and
denser, more efficient housing is a regressive and
outdated policy.
Much of the present day cultural aversion to
densification can probably be attributed to
memory of times when cities were indeed much
dirtier, more polluted, less hygenic, less pleasant,
less safe and even much denser than today, and
some vestigial regulatory structures that encumber
current efforts to expand housing supply likely
reflect these realities. Even the most enthusiastic
urbanist must admit that there are still downsides
to city life. However, technological and educational
advancements in planning, engineering, design, fire
safety, public health, crime prevention, and so on
have enormously improved the quality of dense city
living and rendered many laws outdated.
Where does architectural agency fit into this
discussion? Architects rarely have the choice of what
site they can design on, let alone the laws governing
what can be built on the land. But as these laws
loosen to permit more multifamily construction and
more such projects fall into our lap, the success of
these dwellings to overcome negative stereotypes
and become intrinsically desirable places to live
in their own right will be squarely in our purview
as designers. We can also influence how these
reforms take place by understanding the practical
architectural considerations of their construction.
As a building type, the multiplex demonstrates that
density need not always be achieved at the expense
of comfort, family sized dwellings, human scale,
privacy, greenery, environmental sustainability and
other quality of life metrics that people have come
to associate with the suburban single family ideal.
Through these designs, I am throwing my hat into
what will be a much longer conversation in the
coming years about how designers can improve
the quality of multifamily homes in North America.
The multiplex is only one housing form of many,
but a uniquely timely and interesting one given
contemporary challenges.
--Philippe Fournier
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