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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1.3
Yes in My Back Yard
The Case for the Plex
Densification
Figure 11: Canadian City Densities vs Global Cities
I argue multiplexes should be the baseline density
floors for ‘as of right’ construction in most practical
circumstances in North America. In addition to
expanding housing supply, multiplexes have many
advantages as a housing type which make them
uniquely timely, resilient, environmentally sensitive
and adapatable to many different urban contexts.
This is not an argument against permitting higher
‘as-of-right’ densities, nor against advancing
more aggressive zoning reforms, which should
be welcomed. Rather, this is simply to illustrate
that in form and scale, multiplexes already
conform to the established built character of most
suburban neighborhoods. Since multiplexes can
be built at a similar scale to single family houses,
they can greatly increase the density of existing
neighborhoods without significantly changing the
established built character. This helps pre-empt
NIMBY challenges while preserving the sense of
stability that motivates much community activism
against neighborhood changes. Some may question
if multiplexes can achieve unit counts demanded
of the scale of the housing crisis, or the densities
required for cities to maintain good fiscal health
and efficient infrastructure delivery. We can
look to a famous neighborhood dominated by
muliplexes as a case study: Le Plateau Mont Royal
in Montreal. A primarily residential neighborhood,
most of the building stock consists of old attached
multiplexes ranging two-five stories in height.
Local zoning forbids buildings above five stories
in height on most of the land in the neighborhood,
yet the neighborhood is among the most densely
populated in North America, and even more densely
populated than major global cities like New York
and Singapore.
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