New Lowell Living Village: Letting the Land Dictate Design — B+H Architects

Biological model: Ephemeral stream systems and forest finger ecology

Company: B+H Architects

A 200-hectare mixed-use master plan in Ontario that restores dried ephemeral streams and integrates forest fingers into the urban fabric, achieving measurably higher ecological performance than both pre-design conditions and traditional development.

The challenge

Conventional development destroys existing ecological function, paves over natural drainage patterns, fragments forests, and creates impervious landscapes that worsen flooding, heat islands, and biodiversity loss. There is no standard practice for measuring whether a development improves or degrades its site.

Nature's strategy

Ephemeral stream networks that pulse water seasonally to feed downstream wetlands, creating biodiversity corridors. Forest edge ecology where finger-like extensions create maximum interface between forest and open land, supporting species movement and genetic exchange.

What was emulated

Seasonal hydrological pulsing through ephemeral channels; forest edge maximisation through finger-like extensions; patch dynamics for community organisation; wetland filtration and nutrient cycling.

The innovation

A master plan that uses dried ephemeral streams as its organising framework, restores lost hydrological function, integrates forest fingers into the urban fabric, and quantitatively demonstrates ecological performance improvements across multiple metrics compared to both pre-design and conventional development scenarios.

Full case study

The New Lowell Living Village is a 200-hectare mixed-use master plan that prioritises nature by letting the land dictate design. The site analysis revealed ancient ephemeral streams—dried up from decades of paving, agriculture, and development—that once fed a significant wetland. These dried tributaries became the scars that guided the entire master plan. The design focuses on restoring these wetlands from their current industrial farming context, fitting the form of the master plan to their function. The design integrates 'forest fingers'—extensions of an adjacent forest that reach into the urban fabric—to support natural regeneration and connect fragmented ecosystems. The village also focuses on ecological patches that enhance village-scale principles of community and resource sharing. To measure whether the design is truly regenerative, the team determined the ecological performance of several metrics including O2 production, CO2 sequestering, air purification, 25-year storm event retention, and temperature regulation. The results showed improvements on all accounts over the existing pre-design landscape and significantly outperformed a traditional development scenario: 190% higher PM10 removal, 172% higher BTU reduction, and 183% higher TSS removal compared to conventional design. The community would also produce food for 235 residents, 182 kg of compost, and water capture for 1,731 people.