Architects Paul Brassard and Jean-Marie Lavoie didn't want to spend their retirement years on the golf course, so they decided to invest their personal savings into building a new residential development that would redefine the concept of neighborhood.
Nestled in the forest outside of Quebec City, Canada, the development is called Foret de Marie-Victorin and is surrounded by pine trees that will not be bulldozed or blasted to make room for huge sprawling lots. Instead, smaller "Next Homes" (flexible and affordable housing developed by Professor Avi Friedman of McGill University) will sit unobtrusively among the tall trees.
The developers took extreme measures to protect the forest, such as eliminating sidewalks, making roads 20 feet wide in compared to the convention 40 feet, eliminating basements, and utilizing passive solar energy.
Guests Avi Friedman
Director, Graduate Program in Affordable Homes
McGill University School of Architecture
815 Sherbrooke St. W.
Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3A 2K6
Phone: 514-398-6700
E-mail:
avi.friedman@mcgill.ca
Website:
www.mcgill.ca/homes
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