The Minimum Cost Housing Group is a research unit with an international focus on human settlement problems related to housing affordability, grassroots community building, energy conservation, and food security. The group has conducted research on various innovative construction materials, developed building components, low-cost sanitation and servicing systems as well as urban agriculture. In the 1970s, the group published a series of publications known as "The Problem is" series which detailed some of the groups’ project work at the time, including the Ecol House project (1972), a self-sufficient habitable low-cost house in Montréal, a research project about sulphur concrete for low-cost housing in the mid 1970s, the development of roofgardens in Montréal, and the development of water atomizer devices for water conservation. The Minimum Cost Housing Group has recieved numerous accolocades for their work related t human settlement, and have presented their work at in seminars and exhibitions. The Ecol House project was presented at the Canadian Centre for Architecture, in Montréal, for the exhibition "1973: Sorry, Out of Gas" (November 2007 to April 2008), an exhibition about the architectural innovation on the field of sustainable architecture during the 1973 oil crisis.
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National Urban Design Awards Ceremony and Presentations
Jan 7th, 2019
Members of the 2017 Kuujjuaq Hackathon team attend the RAIC Awards ceremony in Ottawa.
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WATCH
CBC Radio Interview
Jan 7th, 2019
Tunu Napartuk & David Harlander discuss the 2017 Kuujjuq Hackathon on CBC radio Ottawa
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LISTEN
"Reading Aranya" Final studio Reviews
Dec 4th, 2018
A prestigious jury including BV Doshi (via Skype), Robert Mellin, Peter Guo hua Fu, Mirko Zardini and Vikram Bhatt gave feedback on studio work.
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From Trash to Treasure article in the McGill Reporter
Oct 22nd, 2018
New article about the 2017 Kuujjuaq Hackathon released in the McGill Reporter.
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Minimum Cost Housing / Hackathon Group wins 2018 National Urban Design Award
Oct 18th, 2019
Bringing together an interdisciplinary design team from southern Quebec with more than 60 residents, the Kuujjuaq Hackathon, a five-day event
Organized by the Minimum Cost Housing / Hackathon Group and the northern village of Kuujjuaq, the event repurposed found materials from the village dump to enhance a variety of public spaces including construction of an all season, outdoor sports pavilion. Hacks are a response to institutionalized inadequacy and are found in every culture. They advance the notion that the reuse and recycling of defunct parts and existing technologies can radically transform everyday life.
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