For founder and managing director Lucas LaPlante, the mandate was clear. “We sought to create designs that were both affordable and highly sustainable,” he says, adding that environmental impact “is still not a priority for many builders.”
“He approached us with the goal of implementing energy-efficient solutions in the modular home,” says student Elizabeth Ramey. “He wanted to tackle the housing crisis in Canada by developing scalable modular homes throughout the country.”
“The client wanted to tackle the housing crisis in Canada by developing scalable modular homes throughout the country.”
Elizabeth Ramey
— Mechanical Engineering Student
The collaboration was an opportunity to show how much more modular housing could deliver with sustainable technologies and existing low-energy solutions that are still underused in the Canadian market.
Targeting the energy equation
Ramey’s team, O-Designs, zeroed in on HVAC systems, which can account for most of residential energy consumption in Ontario.
Rather than add more equipment, the team explored passive strategies to reduce energy use that would be simple and reliable. Their solution centred on a wind tower, a passive cooling device used for centuries in the Middle East. It operates without mechanical or electronic parts. Ramey says that when properly implemented, a wind tower can cool the incoming and outgoing air temperature by 7 to 12 degrees, leading to at least a 10% reduction in energy use for air conditioning.
“Peace of mind” for future residents
For future homeowners, the appeal of a wind tower is as much emotional as technical. “The design gives clients complete peace because they never have to think about it once it’s installed,” says team member Mark Fuentes. “And they can cool their home naturally, without using any electricity.”
“The design gives clients complete peace because they never have to think about it once it’s installed.”
Marc Fuentes
— Electrical Engineering Student
Fellow member Mohammad El Urbani highlights how the zero-energy approach was a deliberate technical choice: “The most important idea we had was to use no energy at all. Our prototype and potential final design achieved that goal. Our prototype could be very impactful to the clients’ electricity bill or their battery life if they’re using a solar system to live off grid.”
“The most important idea we had was to use no energy at all. Our prototype and potential final design achieved that goal.”
Mohammad El Urbani
— Multidisciplinary Design Student
A client pushing beyond cooling
For Modivate, however, passive cooling is only one piece of the puzzle. LaPlante points to gaps in the current modular housing market, where features such as greywater recycling or water catchment and filtration haven’t been high priorities for many builders.
The Design Day collaboration allowed Modivate to see how such systems could be incorporated directly at the design stage. While some elements need further development, LaPlante sees the students’ work as “immensely informative as we attempt to introduce these technologies to a broader consumer market.” He envisions working with students further along in their studies to turn the concepts into detailed AutoCAD models, creating fully usable designs for builders.
Why the client wants students at the table
Both sides see the partnership as a model for tackling complex housing challenges. “The students were engaged, asked intelligent questions and took our advice and requests on board while adding their own innovation,” says LaPlante. “We could not be more pleased.”
“The students were engaged, asked intelligent questions and took our advice and requests on board while adding their own innovation. We could not be more pleased.”
Lucas LaPlante
— Founder and Managing Director, Modivate Housing
Students, in turn, highlighted the importance of their perspective in partner-led design challenges. “Clients should take in mind that new, upcoming engineers and students have young, bright minds and creative ideas,” says El Urbani. “They might be unorthodox, but they should be taken into account because even an unorthodox idea could be the start of a groundbreaking innovation.” With Canada needing to build millions of new homes and meet ambitious climate goals, Modivate believes these types of collaborations can help ease pressures from the housing crisis.
This Design Day project matched client needs with student ingenuity. It shows how partner-driven challenges can generate practical, scalable innovation and give industry partners early insights into solutions shaped by real-world constraints.
