The Living Home

Mission Statement

Mission Statement:

“A study to improve residential home design to reduce environmental impact and enhance life-quality”

Enhance quality of life in the home and community, while minimizing the environmental impact of the construction, maintenance, and operation of a single-family residential home using proven, economic, and accessible construction practices and technologies. The project will be an inter-disciplinary effort within Lethbridge College that will allow integration with student projects and applied research opportunities.

Project Description

Project Description:

Statistics suggest that 50% of the world’s energy is consumed in the construction and operation of buildings. An improvement in the design could have a significant impact on the environment and our economy.

The goal of the project is to design and construct a home that will enhance quality of life both within the home and in the community. Design will minimize the environmental impact of the construction, maintenance, and operation of a single-family residential home using proven (sustainable), economic, and accessible construction practices and technologies. The project will be an inter-disciplinary effort within Lethbridge College that will allow integration with student projects and applied research opportunities.

What’s in it for me?

The Living Home Project is a collaborative effort to educate, demonstrate, validate and promote “good” home design. Through this website, public forums and educational sessions, we hope that every interested party will have the opportunity to benefit from this project. Listed below are some of the benefits of the project.

Alberta Awards of Excellence in Housing Winners

Tuesday, 20 October 2009

The Canadian Home Builders' Association announced on Septeber 19th the recipients of the 2009 Awards of Excellence in Housing. The Living Home was acknowledged as a finalist in the Green Vision category, and was the recipient of an Award of Merit for the Lethbridge Region.

The City of Lethbridge and Lethbridge College would like to congratulate Cedar Ridge Quality Homes on being acknowledged for their innovation and expertise, their support of student research, and their promotion of green building practices in Alberta. For more information see Alberta Awards of Excellence in Housing Winners.

Summer Update

Thursday, 13 August 2009

Construction on the Living Home was completed at the end of January of 2009. The home is now in the research phase and is collecting data continuously. The Living Home is a project that has been student based from the beginning of the conceptual stage and has involved more than 200 students. Students will continue to collect data, perform research and analyze the research over the next year. Students are now out for the summer, so the data is being stored until their return in September. One student is doing a number of small research projects and caring for the green roof over the garage throughout the summer. We are expecting to learn many things from the house that can be incorporated into home construction throughtout the country. All the results and data from the home will be published on this website as it becomes available. As always we welcome comments and questions about the home in the forum of this website.

The home is also open to the public for viewing Tuesday through Thursday from 4:00 to 7:00 PM and on weekends from 1:00 to 5:00 PM. We are also very excited to be a part of the Parade of Homes beginning at the end of September.

The Living Home Open House

Friday, 31 July 2009

Lethbridge College, Cedar Ridge Quality Homes and the City of Lethbridge hosted an open house for the Living Home project, March 26 at 609 Sunridge Crescent W.

The event marked the completion of construction on the environmentally sustainable house, designed, in part, through research done by Lethbridge College students in the Engineering Design and Drafting Technology program. Students from other disciplines also brought their talents to bear on the project. The home will be open to the public until the fall while additional tests are conducted.

More...