SFU Affordable Housing

SFU Affordable Housing is a high-performance, community oriented housing project that strives to promote connection - people to one another, students to university, residents to neighborhood, and everyone to nature.

With 90 rental units, the SFU Affordable Housing project was completed in the summer of 2022, located on Burnaby Mountain directly adjacent to Simon Fraser University’s academic campus. Steps away from an elementary school and daycare, the project offers a majority of two-bedroom suites suitable for graduate students with children.

The site drops and twists, allowing for a three level public realm rising from the university up to the forest, with a community beacon in the elevated courtyard. In response to the site, the massing generates two distinct directionalities of public and private circulation while also framing the forest and opening up to the university.

A semi-public courtyard acts as a community hub, with its heart at the community pavilion. A wide variety of unique gathering spaces, from an outdoor natural playground to an indoor multi-purpose space, allow for all kinds of activities and reinforce connection between residents.

Community space doesn’t stop at the courtyard. Within the buildings, a more private scale of communal space enhances quality of life, from a bike workshop to laundry rooms, study rooms, social stairs, and waiting areas.

Designed with the idea of “getting to know your neighbours,” the project features smaller unit sizes as a trade off for more communal space.

Apartment typologies allow for a diverse community, with a range of unit types supporting a range of family structures. Units allow space for strollers, desks for studying, and flexible spaces to allow for varying family needs. Inclusion was also a primary design driver, with the project nearly doubling the minimum required number of accessible suites and going above and beyond the required adaptable suites.

Façade finishes define a unique identity for each block and its residents. The pavilion building, in blue, is the jewel of the space available for all to use. Wayfinding points of colour highlight building entries.

The project achieves high-performance buildings at no cost premium over a conventional design. Shading provides passive cooling and a very thick façade requires little energy usage for heating and cooling. The cost of these thicker walls was offset by the simple building forms, no traditional air conditioning, reduced parking, and smaller suites.

The Passive House design approach also includes an entirely exterior air barrier system, protected by exterior insulation and with no risk of punctures during the installation of interior finishes.

SFU Affordable Housing is a high-performance, community oriented housing project that strives to promote connection - people to one another, students to university, residents to neighborhood, and everyone to nature

Client: SFU Community Trust
Location: Burnaby, BC
Completion: 2022
Team: Local Practice (Architecture), space2place (Landscape Architecture), Associated Engineering (Structural & Electrical Engineering), Rocky Point Engineering (Mechanical Engineering), MFPE Engineering (Fire Protection), H.Y. Engineering (Civil Engineering), RDH Building Science (Envelope), Tandem Architecture Écologique (Energy Modeling), Jensen Hughes (Code), RWDI (Acoustics), Heatherbrae Builders (Costing & Constructability), JLL (Project Manager), Peak Construction (General Contractor)
Photography: Andrew Latreille
Awards: 2019 CleanBC Net-Zero Energy-Ready Challenge Winner, 2023 SABMag Green Building Awards