Design: Design Guidelines

Small Housing stock image: ADU

Launched by the Community Planning Collaborative (CPC) in August 2024, the California ADU Plans Gallery is an innovative web application showcasing an array of prefabricated and traditional site-built designs. While tailored to U.S. jurisdictions, this gallery offers valuable insights for Canadian audiences, particularly for municipalities and planners exploring accessory dwelling units (ADUs) as a way to expand housing supply. Examples such as prefabricated designs and statewide pre-approvals can serve as inspiration for Canadian local governments considering ADU implementation in their communities. The site also includes a demo, offering local governments a preview for launching a similar custom tool.

“The California ADU Plans Gallery gives local governments a place to demonstrate what’s possible for their communities while providing a publicly accessible database of prefabricated plans approved for use statewide,” said David Driskell, principal at CPC, in a press release announcing the launch. “Digital tools like the ADU Plans Gallery help local governments assist their residents through the challenging ADU process and expand housing supply in their existing neighborhoods.”

Explore the California ADU Plans Gallery here.

Our friends at Happy Cities have crafted a one-of-a-kind toolkit designed to enhance social well-being through thoughtful multi-unit housing designs, supporting diverse individuals of all ages, backgrounds, abilities, household sizes, and incomes. As they describe it:

“Over 2023 and 2024, Happy Cities, Hey Neighbour Collective, and researchers from Simon Fraser University worked together with five local municipalities and one First Nation to co-create new policies to encourage sociable multi-unit housing design.

“Building on the learnings from this project—and nearly a decade of prior research—Happy Cities and Hey Neighbour Collective have published a new design toolkit of evidence-based strategies to nurture social wellbeing multi-unit housing. The design principles and actions equip policy makers, planners, designers, and community members to build and advocate for more socially connected, inclusive communities, drawing on long-term research and engagement with residents and housing industry actors—including non-profit housing providers, city planners, architects, and market developers.

“In the face of growing challenges—including an acute housing affordability crisis, extreme weather, social isolation, and an aging population—our social connections are one of the strongest resources we have to chart a more sustainable, resilient path forward.”

Download the Toolkit.

Discover the New Standardized Designs for Gentle Density Homes in B.C.

In September 2024, the Government of British Columbia released a series of free, standardized designs to help facilitate the development of gentle density homes. These designs are versatile, using a “building blocks” approach that allows for customization. You can mix and match elements to add features like garages or additional bedrooms and stack up to three storeys high. The collection includes a range of options from duplexes and triplexes to quadplexes and townhouses, with various roof shapes and exterior finishes to blend seamlessly into existing neighborhoods. There are also designs for accessory dwelling units, like laneway homes, and adaptable cottages perfect for aging in place.

All designs comply with the 2024 B.C. Building Code and can be tailored to fit different lot sizes and site conditions across the province. The design files are available for free download and have been compiled into a convenient catalogue for easy browsing.

These standardized designs are expected to save time and reduce costs for local governments and builders, speeding up approvals and construction. This initiative is a key component of the Homes for People action plan, aimed at unlocking more homes faster by creating favorable conditions for rapid housing development.

Click the image to view the designs and access the full document.

ReHousing is a pioneering research initiative focused on converting single-family homes into multi-unit housing. Their approach emphasizes affordable, common-sense design to create high-quality, well-designed living spaces. Explore more about their work on their profile page on the Gentle Density Toolbox.

ReHousing leads numerous innovative projects, including a design catalogue featuring cost-effective, gentle density designs. This catalogue offers unique insights into the challenges and opportunities presented by various house configurations and lot sizes.

The designs in this catalogue have been categorized based on the relative cost and complexity of construction. Each design is mindful of future phasing, so you can move from one level to the next without having to redo work that you have already done. Each drawing represents one of the thirteen common house types found throughout Toronto, where ReHousing is based.

The full catalogue can be accessed here.

As Vancouver grows and evolves, we need to ensure that there are housing options that meet the needs of the diverse households that live and work here, including more “missing middle” housing options. With the help of Quickviz, the City of Vancouver developed this useful video that illustrates the changes proposed to allow more of this type housing in low density neighbourhoods across the city as part of the implementation of the Vancouver Plan. The animation depicts a standard block with a variety of housing options, including multiplexes (buildings with up to 6 units on a single lot).

Discover organizations from across Canada, and the rest of the world, who are contributing towards the gentle density movement and the delivery of homes that people want, need & deserve.

Name: ReHousing

About: ReHousing is a research initiative that explores how to convert single-family homes into multi-unit housing, using affordable, common-sense design to yield high-quality, well-designed space.

ReHousing is a collaboration between the University of Toronto, Tuf Lab and LGA Architectural Partners. This partnership brings together structured design research methods with practice-based knowledge to address real-world problems.

For more information: https://rehousing.ca/

Key insights:

In November of 2023, the province of British Columbia released their “Homes for People Plan” that drastically reduced zoning and municipal barriers to the creation of gentle density homes. In summary, new legislation requires all local governments in British Columbia to update their zoning bylaws to allow up to three to four units in all single-family zones and up to six units for properties with frequent bus service.

This resource, developed by the province, is intended to help local governments and their community members understand the legislative changes introduced related to small-scale, multi-unit housing (SSMUH).

Note: The information in this tool kit is for guidance only and is not a substitute for provincial
legislation. It is not legal advice and should not be relied on for that purpose.

Discover organizations from across Canada, and the rest of the world, who are contributing towards the gentle density movement and the delivery of homes that people want, need & deserve.

Name: Smallworks

About: For the last 16 years, Smallworks has been the heart of laneway housing in North America and we have operated with a simple mission, to empower homeowners to create housing solutions that work for them.

The organisation strongly believe in this form of housing; infill housing provides gentle density, while preserving the neighbourhoods we’ve come to know and love.

Having built nearly 400 homes, they take pride in being able to use experience to accurately project both cost and timeline, ensuring that their homes are built on time, on budget, and with no surprises.

For more information: Head to their dedicated website.

The Infill Challenge Best Practices Summary from the City of Kelowna provides an analysis of leading edge policies, processes and projects in infill housing, and gives us the opportunity to learn from them.

Key insights:

The Best Practices Guide is intended to provide leading edge examples of infill housing from across Canada in the areas of process, development, and policy and regulations. The key lessons from each of these areas can be used to inform the Infill Challenge project as it unfolds in Kelowna.

Samples include:

Process:

  • Engage stakeholders early
  • Follow an objective, transparent process
  • Use data and research to clarify needs and objectives

Development:

  • Encourage the use of place-based design
  • Ensure that lane access and a grid network are in place
  • Require that front doors face the street, where possible

Policy & Development:

  • Use clear language (no jargon)
  • Support the process with strong visuals
  • Consider context-based zoning regulations and guidelines

Based out of Melbourne, Future Homes offers a useful blueprint to consider in the delivery of pre-approved designs.

Facilitating the construction of enhanced gentle density dwellings, Future Homes was developed by the Department of Transport & Planning in Victoria and offers four distinct sets of site-less designs available for purchase, each boasting unique styles, layouts, and designs.

Key insights:

  • Pre-approved designs simplifies & streamlines the planning process for citizen developers and related actors
  • Pre-approved designs provide a versatile and customizable approach to apartment construction
  • Can play a central role in fostering better and more adaptable living spaces for diverse communities.

Image to the left shows Design Strategy Architecture with IncluDesign‘s “Future Homes Design A”.