(CS3.1) Retrofit and Affordable Housing: The Deep Retrofit of Canada's Legacy of Modern Residential Towers

The backbone of rental housing in cities across Canada is legacy purpose-built rental apartment towers, the bulk of which were constructed in the 1960s and 1970s. Designed and planned during the modernist era, they characterise much of the urban and suburban landscapes.

These apartments are home to hundreds of thousands of Canadians with lower and moderate incomes. They resulted from targeted public policy, government incentives, and private initiatives that led to a massive investment in rental homes from the 1960s through the mid-1980s. As we tackle current challenges of the housing system, climate resilience, and meeting Canada’s growth targets through expanded immigration, we must ensure that these legacy towers and their surrounding neighbourhoods are resilient; affordable; and welcoming.

Tower Renewal is an initiative to revisit and leverage this critical legacy in achieving these goals. This presentation will review efforts by ERA Architects, and their affiliate research not for profit – the Tower Renewal Partnership – in advancing building rehabilitation and community impact through research, policy and action. The presentation will include case studies of built projects with primary focus on the Ken Soble Tower in Hamilton Ontario – North America’s first Passive House certified retrofit of a modern high-rise residential tower; as well as a series of landscape interventions enabled through community-led design and action.

The presentation Case Studies will be focus on the both the policy and technical aspects of modern housing rehabilitation – particularly the means of achieving Passive House certification through retrofit, while enhancing the value of these historic structures and their modern landscapes.