The federal housing agency just opened a public database of approved home designs. Supposedly it’s to “cut red tape” and make affordable builds faster. Are they worth the price tag? The cost estimate for Accessory Dwelling Unit 01 in Ontario is 250k for 634 sq. ft.

  • chrizzowski@lemmy.ca
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    10 days ago

    Some thoughts on these:

    The “oversized triangle cantilevered over a smaller box” minimalist modern look can be cool, and I do like some of the smaller, proportional designs. The way that design language scales to the larger four and six plex units looks kinda silly. Too focused on a cohesive design language across all the designs, even when it doesn’t suit.

    Why no overhangs? Canada has weather. Overhangs shade our windows, keeps rain off the walls, provide soffits that vent our roof assemblies. Unvented roofs are expensive to detail well and generally don’t perform as well. Going to look a lot less sleek and minimal when you slap some cheap aluminum eavestroughs on there, or was that omitted deliberately to turn all the rain cascading down the walls into a water feature?

    These are supposed to be affordable homes. I dig the attempt at a clean Scandinavian aesthetic. Looks really good with hidden gutter details, heat treated wood siding or shou sugi ban or something, with nice metal tilt and turn glazing. Something tells me that won’t translate well to being slapped together as a budget friendly, beige and off white Hardie clad, white vinyl casement, giant upvote arrow of a house.