House of Three Presents a New Webinar with LearnFormula: Designing Small Multi-Unit Residential Buildings
Live Webinar | Monday, August 24, 2026 | 12:00 – 1:00 PM EDT (+15 min live Q&A) | 1 CE Hour
We're excited to share that House of Three's President and Lead Designer, Lisa Henderson, will be presenting a new continuing education webinar this August through LearnFormula: Designing Small Multi-Unit Residential Buildings. If you're a designer, architect, technologist, real estate investor, or builder working on triplexes, fourplexes, converted houses, or other small multi-unit projects in Ontario, this session was built for you.
Why This Topic, and Why Now
Small multi-unit residential buildings — projects with three or more dwelling units — have become one of the most important building types in Ontario's housing conversation. Whether it's missing-middle housing, gentle density initiatives, or the adaptive reuse of older homes, these projects are increasingly how new housing actually gets delivered in our communities.
Here at House of Three, this is territory we live in every day. Our work in new home construction and Additional Residential Units means our team is constantly navigating the exact challenges this webinar addresses: how the Ontario Building Code's small building provisions apply, where fire separation and life safety requirements get complicated, and how existing buildings push back against even the best design intentions.
The tricky part is that these projects often look simple. They may fall within the small building provisions of the OBC, but the design work is anything but small. Converting a century home into a triplex raises questions about change of use, structural capacity, exiting, and accessibility that don't come up in a typical single-family project — and getting them wrong is expensive.
What the Session Covers
This one-hour webinar examines small multi-unit residential design from two angles: existing buildings undergoing conversion or renovation, and new construction designed under the small building provisions. Across both, the session digs into how code requirements, existing conditions, and design objectives interact — and how to navigate the technical and regulatory challenges that trip up so many projects.
Topics include:
- Change-of-use and adaptive reuse considerations, including the code compliance triggers that apply to older residential structures
- Fire separation, compartmentation, and life safety requirements
- Means of egress and the exiting design challenges unique to small multi-unit layouts
- Structural limitations when converting existing buildings
- Accessibility upgrades and barrier-free design requirements
- Renovation versus new construction decision-making
- Small building classification under the Ontario Building Code
- Multi-unit layout and spatial planning strategies
- Building envelope and energy performance considerations
- Municipal approvals, permitting coordination, and documentation requirements
- Common design and compliance pitfalls — and lessons learned from real Ontario residential developments
Whether you're evaluating your first fourplex conversion or you regularly work at this scale, you'll leave with a clearer picture of how these pieces fit together across different project scenarios.
Webinar Details
- Date: Monday, August 24, 2026
- Time: 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM EDT, followed by a 15-minute live Q&A
- Format: Live online webinar
- Continuing Education: 1 CE hour, with a certificate of completion
- Cost: Currently $39 Canadian (also included with a LearnFormula Unlimited Pass)
- Level: Appropriate for all experience levels — no prerequisites or preparation required
Registration includes one year of on-demand access, so you can revisit the material whenever you need it.
Reserve Your Seat
Spots for the live session (and the live Q&A) are limited, so if this is a project type you work in — or want to work in — we'd encourage you to register early.
We hope to see you there. And if you have a small multi-unit project of your own on the horizon — a conversion, a new triplex, or an Additional Residential Unit — get in touch with our team. Helping clients navigate exactly these challenges is what we do.
House of Three is a BCIN licensed architectural firm in Inverary, Ontario, providing architectural and e-design services for residential and small commercial projects, with a specialty in new home construction and Additional Residential Units.