Rod Nadeau of Innovation Building Group tells Treehugger they “build high-performance apartment buildings at a discount to Code Minimum buildings.” Getting to high performance is a learning exercise, and there was a lot to learn from their 2015 project in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada—The Solara—which has many features we have been talking about recently on Treehugger, particularly in terms of post-pandemic design.
The Solara is certainly not built at a discount to code: It is a luxury building for seniors in the ski resort town, designed for people downsizing from homes. What immediately caught my eye was the exterior corridor.
When you look at the plan, the benefits of this are immediately obvious: You can have bedrooms and dens with windows on the corridor side. The exterior corridor is extra wide. Nadeau explains:
And if you want more social interaction, there’s “the rooftop patio and garden boxes that are the best and most appreciated amenity we have ever put in a building.”
If you are an introvert, the other striking feature of the plan is the vast balconies, as much as 14 feet deep—these are serious outdoor rooms.
This building may not be cheap, but it is certainly high performance. On the exterior of the 2x6 walls, there are 8-foot structural insulated panels (SIPs). Nadeau says, “It worked but was too difficult and expensive.” There are also individual heat recovery ventilators (HRVs) and hot water heaters in each suite, which is more expensive than central systems but gives owners of the units more control.
The project won the Multi-Residential BC Wood Design Award in 2017: “The jury felt this project provided the best example of the effective use of wood products for multiple applications. Traditional lumber materials and techniques were complemented by the addition of mass timber LVL panels, beams and posts for both structural and finishing purposes.”
The laminated veneer lumber (LVL) is used for the exterior walkways and framing, where it can be seen, giving the building its woody charm. Nadeau tells Treehugger:
It also won a WoodWorks Award, that described the construction in greater detail:
The award citation continues:
We noted earlier that Nadeau’s company builds high-performance apartment buildings at a discount to Code Minimum buildings. This isn’t one of them, but I am starting with it because there is so much to like here, especially since we hear so often in comments that many of our readers can’t imagine living in apartments. These have balconies as big as some backyards, it’s low enough that you never need to use the elevator if you don’t want to; the units have cross-ventilation and fresh air.
In my earlier post—“How do you sell a green apartment building today?"—I suggested building with exterior walkways, but also to market the building as Passivhaus because today it’s all about health, resilience, air quality, and safety. Nadeau offers all of this, telling Treehugger: “We size the ventilation rates for heating and cooling giving us even better ventilation than the minimums that Passive House strategies employ.”
However, he continues: “We have not certified our buildings as we spend all our money on the building and systems rather than consultants. Our electricity bills show us it is working, as well as no complaints from anyone living in our buildings.”
It’s an interesting approach. Most people don’t know what Passivhaus is and probably don’t care if they get their granite counter and mountain view. Back in my days as a developer, there was an unwritten rule that you should never live in one of your own buildings because other owners will be complaining to you about something every time they see you. Nadeau is living in this building and appears to be speaking to everyone without complaints, so it’s clearly working for him.
