The Village Canadian Housing Co-op is one of Winnipeg’s largest cooperative communities. The Co-op began in the 1970’s with the construction of 27 - 2 storey townhouse buildings in a park-like setting bordering on the Red River.  In recent years, the building envelope of most of the the town house buildings have been renewed.  With the intent to provide the opportunity for Co-op members to ‘age in place’, a few of the original townhouses will be demolished and replaced with this new apartment building designed with older people in mind. 

This new addition to the Co-op will be a six-storey wood frame and mass timber building designed and constructed to the Passive House standard.  The compact plan is a rhomboid shape with two sides running parallel to St.Mary’s Road.  This approach promotes thermal efficiency by minimizing exterior surface area, while maximizing the number of residential units possible on the available land.  The apartments are arrayed around the outside of the ‘do-nut’ plan, while the central core is filled with amenity spaces that foster connection and encourage community life.  Windows on the top of the ‘hole’ allow sunlight to enter to the centre of the building.

The entrance to the new building is positioned on the north west corner away from the noise of the busy street, and providing a welcoming public forecourt.  With the co-op’s administrative offices located in the core and a large meeting space on the ground floor, the new building will serve the entire Co-op community.  

As long-term building owners, Village Canadien Housing Co-op could readily understand the long-term value of energy savings, lower operating costs, increased comfort, and climate change resilience that will all result from implementing the Passive House approach.  When completed in the Fall of 2027, this project will support the Co-op’s mission to provide affordable housing that is sustainable and people-centred; an architecture rooted in the pursuit of a hopeful, shared future.