Maison SaSe aims for Quebec’s first Living Building Challenge certification

Atelier Urbain is volunteering on the very first house project to aim for Living Building Challenge certification in Quebec: the Maison SaSe located in Laval’s Sainte-Rose district. Today, this certification is the most demanding in terms of sustainable development. For example, to obtain Living Building certification, a building must produce more energy than it consumes and be self-sufficient in water, in addition to other imperatives of fairness and beauty. The aim of this certification is to implement the most advanced measures in terms of the built environment, and to act quickly to reduce the gap between current limits and the ecologically sustainable end in view. The aim of this approach is not to make things worse, but to make good projects that have less impact than the planet can bear. In this way, positive spin-offs can be created that make up for past situations.

The certification is managed by the International Living Futur Institute, an organization founded by the Cascadia chapter of the United State Green Building Concil in the American Northwest. The certification is divided into 7 themes called petals. These are site, water, energy, health, materials, equity and beauty. For each petal, there are criteria to be met, called imperatives, all of which must be respected. A project can be recognized for a single petal (Petal certification) or for all seven petals (Living building certification).

House owners and project leaders Carolyn Kelly-Dorais and Maxime Brosseau held the first co-design charrette on the theme of biophilia, inviting Louis-Michel Fournier as facilitator. The SaSe house project is ambitious, aiming for full Living Building certification. Visit the SaSe House Facebook page to find out more about the project.