McGill University was invited to the 2018 China competition and later teamed up with multiple departments from Concordia to form TeamMTL. Combining technology and concepts of sustainable building practices, teams design and build one or two-story, 1290-2150 square-foot, fully functional, comfortable, energy generating and conserving homes. Each home is to fully facilitate all necessary household appliances and include an electric vehicle and accompanying charging station.
“This project has been nothing short of inspirational” explains Michael Jemtrud, Associate Professor, School of Architecture, McGill University. “We are witnessing the collaboration of diverse talents, together with new age materials and technology as it gives shape to the future of housing."
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TeamMTL’s design takes into consideration the evolution of the modern family unit and what their social dynamics will entail. Flexibility and adaptability, energy efficiency, environmental sustainability and ecological awareness are among the top factors driving their passive house-inspired design. TeamMTL has coined this project as Deep-Performance Dwelling to reflect this comprehensive understanding of sustainability and resilience inclusive of energy performance as well as the socio-cultural. Multiple prefabricated housing designs were proposed to facilitate the scenarios surrounding the new urban family dynamics of work, play, live, intergenerational cohabitation and extended families.
The in-kind contributions from ROXUL extended to include products from the stone wool insulation and roofing lines. Comfortbatt®, Safe’n’Sound®, Monoboard® and Cavityrock® products were used in prefabricated wall and roof panels helping the team achieve highly insulated and air tight designs synonymous with that of passive housing.
Taking it one step further than contributing product to the sponsorship, The ROXUL Specifications Team and Building Science Team have worked directly with TeamMTL to identify the best possible solutions, optimal product applications and consultations to perform thermal bridging and hygrothermal modelling of the wall and roof assemblies. This modelling will help ensure an energy efficient building envelope and durability suitable for China’s northern climate. “ROXUL Insulation, prefab construction and passive housing go very well together. With so much insulation and very little heat loss, there will be very little space cooling or heating required to maintain comfortable temperatures.” says Vincent Chiu, Building Science Specialist at ROXUL Inc.
TeamMTL is the only Canadian team to compete in the 2018 Decathlon. They will dismantle the home currently housed at Concordia’s Loyola campus and ship to China where they will have only 18 days to successfully reassemble. Entries will be judged on 10 criteria of architecture, market appeal, engineering, communications, innovation, comfort zone, appliances, home life, commuting and energy performance. To learn more about TeamMTL, visit www.teammtl.ca.