Queenswood Commons is a residential community being built around the existing Queenswood United Church in Orleans, Ottawa. The existing site is currently comprised of the church building and its parking lots, as well as large areas of lawn. The Kindred Works proposal for the site includes the construction of new residential housing and a number of unique open spaces, all framed by a diverse planted landscape. The landscape design includes beautiful, accessible spaces filled with meadow planting and trees, and is anchored by a central gathering area that encourages interaction among residents in the shared outdoor spaces.

Our design for the landscape places a focus on low maintenance, native-based planting strategies and supports a significant tree canopy across the site. Efforts have been made to minimize the use of concrete and typical asphalt and to instead pursue more sustainable and lower carbon material options. The design of the roadway and pedestrian sidewalks takes a shared space approach to further reduce paving on site and to calm and slow traffic through the site. By reducing paving and using lower carbon alternatives, we were able to significantly reduce the carbon footprint of the landscape compared to typical designs on similar sites.

Queenswood Commons is one of many Kindred Works projects that we are working on with KPMB to introduce sustainable mixed-income rental housing strategies on urban infill properties across Canada.