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Reclaim a Highway

Montréal, Canada

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located in Montréal, Canada
design proposal from 2024

This project tackles the housing crisis affecting many developed countries by consolidating multiple microhomes within urban cores, utilizing publicly owned land. These sites offer proximity to jobs, reduce transportation-related environmental impacts, and promote sustainable solutions to climate change and the rental shortage.

Community Integration
Built atop an existing highway, the project aims to reconnect the community while minimizing the highway’s negative impact. Microhomes are placed on upper floors for privacy, while the ground floor fosters neighborly interaction through multi-use spaces such as green courtyards, local shops supporting entrepreneurship, communal workspaces, workshops, meeting rooms, fitness centers, lounges, and community kitchens. The blend of residential, commercial, and recreational spaces ensures people can live, work, and play nearby, strengthening community bonds.

Affordability and Accessibility
The design employs mass timber and prefabricated components. Building above the highway optimizes land use and cuts costs by 20-40% by eliminating land acquisition expenses. Prefabrication reduces on-site deliveries by up to 90%, and mass timber—a lighter material than concrete—lowers foundation costs. Repetitive, cost-effective prefabricated elements, including built-in furniture, further reduce expenses and improve accessibility.
Each microhome incorporates green technologies like greywater filtration, solar panels with battery storage, rainwater retention tanks, and large folding windows for natural ventilation. Materials such as cross-laminated timber (CLT), plywood, and sustainable finishes (e.g., lime-hemp fiber plasterboard) reduce carbon footprints. Most materials are locally sourced or can be adapted to local regulations and availability. Bathrooms are designed for flexibility—able to operate independently from municipal infrastructure using composting toilets or local waste treatment systems when necessary.
Prefabrication ensures quality control, reduces seasonal delays, and lowers construction time and costs, making microhomes more affordable across income levels. Financial support through housing schemes and government subsidies can further improve economic feasibility.

Environmental Impact
The complex’s structure uses glued-laminated timber, with exterior walls and floors made from CLT panels, reducing embodied emissions by up to 25%. According to the Canadian Climate Institute, mass timber can cut floor system emissions by 27% and overall building structure emissions by 12-25%. Solar panels and energy storage systems power common areas and allow surplus energy to feed back into the grid. Rainwater harvesting and runoff management reduce ecological impact.
Pedestrian zones and rooftops collect rainwater, while filtered greywater irrigates green spaces planted with indigenous, drought-resistant perennials that enhance biodiversity, improve air quality, and mitigate urban heat island effects.

Education and Social Awareness
The project integrates sustainable materials, renewable energy, and water management practices while serving as an educational platform. Workshops and guided tours will promote sustainable living, renewable energy use, responsible water management, and the benefits of green spaces—encouraging community awareness and collective action toward a more sustainable future.