Quartier Jardins

8/10/2019 Quartier Jardins

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A Walkable Neighborhood

Developer: Immobiliere du chemin du GolfLtee

Architects: Avi Friedman and jean -pierrelagaceLocation: Lassomption , Quebec,canadaSite area: 102 acres

Number of units: 889Project type: New medium-high-densitycommunity

Density: gross 9.66 units per acre (23.88 units


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Road area: 1,245,000 square feet (28% of thetotal area)Parking: outdoor group lots , individual interiorgarages, outdoor frontUnit type: single family 80, semidetached 284,triplexes 48, duplex 60 row houses 297 other 120Unit size: (85-185 square meters)

Cost: $90,000-$100,000 for single familyCladding material: Masonry, sidingUsers: Varied, majority expected to be first timehome buyers


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typ ca ng e- am y, ow ouse un t.


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Floor Plans of atypical Single-family, Rowhouse unit.


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LAssomption is a town, with population of 16,000,east of Montreal Island.The Assumption River forms a loop that surroundsthe community.From its founding in the middle of the nineteenthcentury, the town provided commercial andadministrative services to the surrounding farms.

With a steady shift away from an agriculturallifestyle and as a result of increased demand forhousing in neighboring cities, many, primarilyyoung, first-time homebuyers are looking to settlein LAssomption.


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A Walkable Neighborhood A local private developer who owned a large plot decided to build anew community, where the majority of buyers, it was assumed,would be young house-holds.They would be joined by retirees who in the coming years might sella large single-family home in town and move into a condominiumapartment.The need to lower housing cost required increased density.Yet the rural character of neighborhood and the surroundingenvironment. The size of the development and its ultimate numberof occupants permitted design of a self-contained community withits own services and amenities, such as school, shopping facilities,

play area, and library.The design of the Quartier Jardins embodies and alternative totypical suburban design.In fact the impetus for the project was a private builders desire for awalkable, market-friendly alternative to traditional suburbandevelopment.

This project is an attempt to demonstrate that affordable housingneeds not only respond to economic necessity but can also


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Planning Considerations

The creation of an efficient and attractive circulation systemproved crucial in the design of Quartier Jardins.Several strategies were used to minimize the presence of theautomobile and ameliorate the roads appearance andefficiency.The most noticeable departure from a traditional street layoutwas a series of looped cul-de-sacs along the northwestportion of the project.These cul-de-sacs are designed to separate a majority ofdwellings from through-traffic in order to create a safer and

more attractive environment. A small green space that can function as a garden or a playarea for children occupies the center of each of these loops.This arrangement allows vehicles to enter and to exit thehousing clusters safely without having a large paved areathat detracts from the communitys curb appeal.


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The roads along the southern portion of the site weredesigned to point the important features of theneighborhood.On their south end, the roads lead to LAssomption

River and a proposed commercial center.To the north, the roads leads to a large open spacethat will serve as a community park and, ultimately, alocal school.Many of the cul-de-sacs in the plan also point to thiscentral open space, establishing its importance withinthe community.This centralized park and school location also ensuresthat they will be within walking distance for allresidents.

A path running east to west, through the southern


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The proposed plan also reduces the presence of theautomobile by using a variety of parking alternatives thatsuccessfully hide the car while maintaining the projectsaffordability.Indoor parking was designed in many of the semidetachedhouses, as occupants would be expected to own at least onecar and able to afford the extra cost of an interior garage.Some semidetached houses have outdoor front parking forfamilies who cannot afford interior garages, similarly, in atypical group of four row houses, some interior garages wereoffered.When front access to parking was provided, proportion of thepaving in the front setback was reduced, making the sidewalksafer and increasing curb appeal.


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Multifamily dwellings, duplexes, and triplexeshave exterior group parking, which correspondingto the lower unit costs of the multifamily dwellings.The solution was carefully arranged to ensure thatdwelling looked onto a parking lot. Additionally, group lots were located out of sightfrom the streets, preserving an attractivestreetscape and maintaining the projects curbappeal.The lots were distributed with enough frequencyto ensure practical walking distance from cars todwellings while preventing paved areas fromdominating the landscape.


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Due to its rural location, only a limited amount ofpublic transportation exists outside of the townscenter of LAssomption.The major roads that surround the proposed site are

serviced by local bus routes. Which providetransportation into town several times daily.Once in town, transit hubs provide more extensive busroutes within the town and the surrounding area. Asthe project develops, it is assumed that higher

frequency bus services will be integrated into thecommunity.The project also seeks to ease general reliance on theautomobile. The unit designs facilities home offices,largely allowing more people to work from home. The

layout of the project places important destinationscentrally in the plan and puts key spaces within


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Two types of open spaces were designed in Quartier Jardins: A large communal park And the open spaces close to the housing clusters.

The central open space serves as a large park; ultimately a

school will be built on a portion of the area, along with playingfields. This space serves as a focal point for the community and

facilities activation that requires a large open area, such aschildrens sports and games.

The open spaces at the center of housing clusters and thegreen area of the cul-de-sacs provide more private openspaces that can be supervised from individual units.

These spaces were conceived as places for young childrensplay as well as the pleasure of older residents.

As construction of the project progresses, more public greenspaces will be developed.


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The public and semiprivate open spaces are augmented by privateoutdoor spaces for most of the dwellings.Units on the ground floor have access to private decks or backyardareas.

Some units without ground floor have access to private terraces orbalconies that provide outdoor space that is more appropriate forsmall households in an affordable housing project.The project incorporates several design features that ensure astrong sense of identity on both the community and units levels.

Most of the units, which vary in size and type, have facades ofmasonry cladding, giving a sense of cohesiveness to the project asa whole, within this material, however, buyers will be able to selectfrom a variety of colors, allowing for a degree of personalization thatadds visual interests to the streetscape without detracting from the

overall cohesion.


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The school and central park area will become a communalfocal point used by most of the residents whether throughrecreation at the park or attendance at schools. The smalleropen spaces particular to housing clusters, on the other hand,foster a local, more intimate sense of identity for the residence

of each cluster. With these spaces, residents can select theirlandscaping, allowing a greater sense of ownership andpersonalization to develop.Unlike common suburban housing typology and to increase the

projects potential market. Quartier Jardins was designed toaccommodate gracefully a variety of housing types. Unlike theneighboring suburban development that offered only single-family detached housing, this project strives to incorporatevarious unit types that appeal to the demographic compositionand budgets of todays diverse households. The housing typesrange from a small number of single-family detached andsemidetached houses to multifamily row houses, duplexes, andtriplexes.


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The Dwelling Units

The different housing types are distributed throughout theproject in a manner that ensures the intermixing of unit typesand a smooth transition between the project and the adjacentneighborhoods. The projects density is highest along the mainroads around the central school and park area. In the school

park area, the row houses and multiplexes frame the park in amanner that increases the parks appeal and provides the unitswith excellent views. Furthermore, the large open space of thepark reduces the visual impact of the higher-density buildings.Beyond the inner ring of high density unit types, the densitydecreases to semidetached houses. These units provide a

greater degree of autonomy that the row houses andmultiplexes, even as they share common areas with nearbymultifamily housing types. Along the western side of the projectthat abuts the existing development, single-family detached andsemidetached units provide a gradual decrease in density thatprevent visual tension between the new and the old from

developing.


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The Dwelling Units

The variety of unit types allows a greater demography diversityof buyers to live in the same community. Young couples wishingto start a family can purchase a semidetached house that offersthe same advantages as a typical suburban home e.g., interiorgarage, backyard, and basement while maintaining a greater

degree of affordability. More established households canupgrade to a detached house and enjoy the benefits of living ina more diverse community, and singles can begin theirexperience of homeownership with smaller, more affordableunits.The units were designed to allow for flexibility and adaptability,

and as a result, affordability. For each of the different unit types,a typical module was created. By creating a module thatfacilitated changes, adaptability could be maintained while thecost of customization was avoided.


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The design of Quartier Jardins also employsseveral energy-saving strategies. As with otheraffordable housing projects discussed above, theattached and semiattached nature of many of the

units results in a reduction of exposed exteriorwalls, which reduces heat loss and thereforeenergy consumption. Four blocks along thesouthern portion of the site capitalize on directsouthern exposure, which can increase their

passive solar gain potential. Additionally, thestreets in the portion of the development that runsnorth no south allow cool river breezes topenetrate into the community center, helping tomaintain a cooler microclimate within the

development in summertime.


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Strategies for Affordability

Although this project employs a variety of strategies toincrease affordability, its lower land cost and highdensity is more responsible for keeping units pricesdown. By utilizing long, narrow lots instead of moresquare ones, infrastructure costs should be sharedamong more dwellings, greatly reducing costs. Theselong, narrow lots lend themselves to narrow-front rowhouses and semidetached dwellings, which reducesthe need to spread out horizontally. This spatialconfiguration lowers foundation and roofing costs andmake the homes affordable. Within the individualunits, flexibility in layout and finishing permits agreater degree of buyer participation without raisingcosts and leads to dwellings that satisfy buyers, needswhile fitting comfortably within their budgets.


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Strategies for Affordability

The projects master plan also contributes to theoverall affordability of the project by keeping costslow and curb appeal high. Cost-efficient outdoorgroup parking lots are provided for many of the

units. By ensuring that no units face these lotsand that they are surrounded by vegetation,however, the group lots are able to provideaffordable parking without detracting from thequality of the projects open space. By preserving

existing trees and vegetation and placingmaintenance responsibilities into the hands of thecondominium associations, Quartier Jardins willreduce landscaping costs and achieve agardenlike quality.

Documents

Quartier Jardins