The federal government has unveiled dozens of house designs – including seven specifically for Alberta – as it works to combat Canada’s housing crisis.
The Housing Design Catalogue, an initiative under Canada’s Housing Plan, was created in an effort to help build more across the country, and takes inspiration from post-war housing design catalogues developed between the 1940s and 1970s.
The government says use of the standardized designs will speed up construction as the homes are confirmed to be created in compliance with the building codes.
“These standardized designs will help smaller homebuilders cut through the complexity, speeding up the time between concept and construction and lowering costs of building,” explained Erskine-Smith, minister of housing, infrastructure and communities, in a March 7 news release.
The catalogue has 50 standardized housing designs for rowhouses, townhouses, fourplexes, sixplexes and detached accessory dwelling units.

The designs are specifically tailored to seven regions, including Alberta, and were developed by regionally based architecture and engineering teams to align with local climate zones, regulations, construction methods and materials.
As such, each design is intended for use within their designated region – and using a design outside of a designated region might requre additional modifications to meet local requirements.
The designs were created with several principles in mind, the feds said, including accessibility, energy efficiency, financial feasibility and use of regional construction methods and materials.
The final architectural design packages will be released this spring, including estimated construction costs.
Here are the seven designs created for Alberta:
Sixplex
Gross Building Area: 492 sq. m. (5296 sq. ft)

Rowhouse 01
Gross Building Area: 74 sq. m. (794 sq. ft)

Rowhouse 02
Gross Building Area: 131 sq. m. (1415 sq. ft)

Fourplex 01
Gross Building Area: 306 sq. m. (3293 sq. ft)

Fourplex 02
Gross Building Area: 431 sq. m. (4635 sq. ft)

Accessory Dwelling Unit 01
Gross Building Area: 73 sq. m. (784 sq. ft)

Accessory Dwelling Unit 02
Gross Building Area: 128 sq. m. (1374 sq. ft)
