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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The New Plex
Author’s Note
I’ve been following the progression of Canada’s
housing crisis intently for years. Like most
Canadians, this is out of necessity, as most of us
have had our lives affected in one way or another
by the runaway costs of living and the raw nerves it
has brought to our political and economic life. But
partly it is due to the fact that long before housing
became the national scandal it is now, I knew what
it meant to be ‘housing insecure.’
I grew up in a single-parent household in relative
poverty by Canadian standards, and despite living
in a small town we were constantly moving, rarely
staying the same place for more than two years at a
time. At various times we lived in city-run housing
among addicts and pests, or with friends and relatives
who had spare rooms, sleeping in basements and on
couches. For some time we opened our apartment
to a friend who had been forced out of her own
home. I also watched one of my close relatives
descend into homelessness. Unlike the majority
of Canadian households who are homeowners, we
never took the ‘Canadian dream’ of single-family
detached homeownership for granted: shared
accommodations and multifamily living were the
norm, and the notion of owning an entire
house for ourselves seemed a far away luxury.
Later when I went out in the world and began to
work in big cities like Toronto, New York and
Vancouver, the state of the market shocked me. In
Toronto finding ‘affordable’ rent meant tolerating
bed bugs. In Vancouver it meant breaking some
rules: I was stuffed behind a bookshelf in the
living room of a two bedroom condo with three
other people, and instructed to move out in the
middle of the night without alerting building
management. In New York it meant hanging a
sheet from some wire to sleep on a bed facing the
kitchen, in an AirBnB shared with two others. Now I
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