Habitations Carillon is a new-build affordable housing project in Gatineau for Habitations de l’Outaouais Métropolitan (HOM), an independent non-profit organization. With this project, in the heart of Gatineau, close to the highway and an urban boulevard, HOM set out to change the vision of social housing. The 10-storey brick building will have 150 affordable housing units, all of which are designed to be adaptable for accessibility needs. Currently out for tender, the project has applied for the Novoclimat certification – a provincial incentive program that encourages the construction of energy-efficient housing using best practice construction methods and materials. The project has also applied for a grant request for ‘’Projet Novateur’’ (Innovative Project) funding from the SHQ (Société d’Habitation du Québec), for integrating innovative energy and comfort measures.

As pioneers in Integrated Design Process (IDP) more than 30 years ago, L’OEUF carefully considers the specific context of a project from all angles. For Habitations Carillon, we carried out an IDP with multiple local stakeholders, including members of the Gatineau’s urban services and neighborhood community groups, to bring about a project that exceeds expectations – a project capable of catalyzing an entire neighborhood and its community.

Following this collaborative work, the group established the following value proposition which summarized our client’s vision: “ To offer high-quality, comfortable, and secure affordable housing that can support user-friendly modes of transit in a green and catalytic shared environment, and inspiring human activity throughout the year.”

The project proposes a large landscaped public space on the ground floor to offer a green, community-friendly, and secure respite for all in a highly impermeable neighborhood otherwise dominated by vast outdoor parking lots. The ground floor will also include a multi-purpose community space, with the possibility of renting a portion to a local business that meets the community needs of the neighbourhood. The daily lives of users received special attention and care, particularly in the common and circulation spaces, both indoors and outdoors, to promote mutual aid, sharing, and equity.

Les Habitations Carillon is a project rooted in a rapidly changing neighborhood, and helps create the social connections and happy citizens that make a resilient community.