In the midst of Canada's housing crisis, architects, designers, engineers, and builders are being called upon to dream up solutions for one of our nation's biggest, most urgent problems. Of course, there exists no cure-all for an issue that must respond to local contexts and geographies, but it's vital that we begin to think of ways to deliver creative and sustainable housing alongside policy makers, developers, and investors.
In Canadian Architect's April 2026 issue on Affordable Housing, MTA partner Carol Phillips was interviewed by Ian Chodikoff about modern methods of construction as an opportunity to address Canada's housing crisis.
For Carol, there's hope in modern methods of construction, or MMC, an approach that emphasizes the accelerated deployment of building systems through innovation. This can involve prefabricated components, lean construction methods, and advanced digital modelling, but should importantly always remain quality-controlled and performance-focused.
When asked how to design for Canadian manufacturers and suppliers, she advises standardization and procurements models that bring constructors in at earlier stages. This allows designers and builders to work together, navigating the supply chain, cost, and shipping together to make choices that benefit everyone—including the future occupants. Carol cites the example of mass timber, a material that requires consideration of species availability and panel sizes, and how inviting manufacturers into decision-making builds confidence across the sector, which leads to certainty of demand and allows suppliers to scale their businesses.
In addition to factoring in the needs of manufacturers and suppliers, she also advocates for the residents who will live in this housing units and defining a minimal quality of livability rather than allowing the market to dictate offerings:
“Standardization is most powerful when it establishes a national baseline for livability. That includes dignified unit and room sizes that allow for comfort, flexibility and accessibility. It also includes durability and performance standards, along with social considerations such as common spaces, shared amenities and support for a range of household types that encourage a vibrant demographic mix in multi-unit living.”
However, it should also provide freedom for regional nuance and expression, where spaces reflect the specificity of landscape and climate of the local area, as well as the diverse demographics. “Standardization should allow for this level of flexibility and is most powerful when it secures dignity, performance and social value at a national scale, while leaving room for regional climate, culture and community to shape the architecture,” Carol explains.
At the moment, there are a few missing gaps preventing MMC from scaling properly. She believes one crucial component is education across the sector. For instance, knowledge of cost analysis and code interpretation is essential for timber projects if we want to continue expand the use of the material for more buildings. There's also the matter of ensuring that timber is celebrated when it's used in cultural or civic buildings to demonstrate the possibilities, and employing a kit-of-parts approach to translate components into different configurations of building forms.
“If we do not incentivize innovation, we will continue the status quo,” she insists. To solve the housing crisis—which is inextricably tied to our social and climate challenges—we must continue to invest in pilot projects, seek regulatory clarity, and push for funding support together as an industry.