Now Available On Demand: Designing Small Multi-Unit Residential Buildings
Now Available On Demand: Designing Small Multi-Unit Residential Buildings
Recorded Webinar | 1 Hour + Live Q&A | Presented by Lisa Henderson, House of Three
In August, House of Three's President and Lead Designer, Lisa Henderson, presented Designing Small Multi-Unit Residential Buildings, a continuing education webinar. If you missed the live session, the full recording is now available to watch on demand, including the Q&A.
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 Matters
Small multi-unit residential buildings, meaning projects with three or more dwelling units, are now central to Ontario's housing conversation. Missing-middle housing, gentle density initiatives, and the adaptive reuse of older homes are how much of our new housing actually gets built.
At House of Three, we work on these projects every day. Our focus on new home construction and Additional Residential Units means we're always dealing with the same questions this webinar covers. How do the Ontario Building Code's small building provisions apply? Where do fire separations and life safety get complicated? And how do existing buildings get in the way of good design?
These projects often look simple. They may fall under the OBC's small building provisions, but the design work is anything but small. Turning a century home into a triplex raises questions about change of use, structural capacity, exiting, and accessibility that a typical single-family project never does. Getting those answers wrong is expensive.
What You'll Learn
The session looks at small multi-unit design from two angles: converting or renovating existing buildings, and new construction under the small building provisions. In both cases, it shows how code requirements, existing conditions, and design goals affect each other, and how to get through the technical and regulatory problems that trip up so many projects.
Topics include:
- Change of use and adaptive reuse, including the code compliance triggers for older homes
- Fire separations, compartmentation, and life safety requirements
- Means of egress and the exiting problems unique to small multi-unit layouts
- Structural limits when converting existing buildings
- Accessibility upgrades and barrier-free design requirements
- Deciding between renovation and new construction
- Small building classification under the Ontario Building Code
- Planning multi-unit layouts
- Building envelope and energy performance
- Municipal approvals, permit coordination, and documentation
- Common design and compliance pitfalls, with lessons from real Ontario projects
Whether you're considering your first fourplex conversion or already work at this scale, you'll come away with a clearer picture of how these pieces fit together.
Why Watch the Recording?
- Learn on your schedule. Watch, pause, and come back to specific sections when a project calls for it.
- All experience levels. No prerequisites or preparation needed.
- Hear the Q&A. Questions from live attendees covered real project situations you may run into too.
Two Ways to Get Access
1. Buy this course on its own
If you only need this webinar, you can buy it directly here:
Watch Designing Small Multi-Unit Residential Buildings →
2. Get a membership and save 5%
If you'd like access to the full course library, this link takes 5% off a membership:
Save 5% on a membership →
Planning a Project of Your Own?
If you have a small multi-unit project coming up, whether it's a conversion, a new triplex, or an Additional Residential Unit, get in touch with our team. Helping clients through exactly these challenges is what we do.
House of Three is a BCIN licensed architectural firm in Inverary, Ontario, offering architectural and e-design services for residential and small commercial projects. We specialize in new home construction and Additional Residential Units.
Disclosure: House of Three may earn a commission on purchases made through the links above.