High-Performance Building Designs
SEED Building Systems makes it easier to build high-performance dwellings with cost-effective solutions, flexible design options and efficient manufacturing.
The way we design and build where we live significantly affects the environment, our energy bills, and the health of the people living there. At Tooketree, we believe homes should do more than provide shelter. They should be affordable, energy-efficient, comfortable, durable, and built with materials that are kinder to the environment.
How to Get Started
Choosing to build a high-performance dwelling doesn't mean you have to start from scratch or choose from a limited selection of designs.
Whether you have an existing set of plans, are working with an architect or designer, or are just beginning to explore ideas, Tooketree can help bring your project to life with SEED Building Systems.
1. Explore designs
Work with your own designer, or browse the Passive Design Solutions catalogue and find a home design that suits your needs, lifestyle and property. Or, explore the CMHC Housing Design Catalogue for practical, multi-unit designs.
2. Connect with Tooketree and finalize your drawings
Get in touch with our team to discuss your preferred design, project goals and how SEED Building Systems can work with your plans.
3. Manufacture and build
Once your project is ready to move from paper to reality, our team manufactures your SEED panels, simplifying the construction process and bringing your high-performance building project to life.
Find the Right Design
Searching for a home design? Start with the catalogue of thoughtfully developed building plans from our partners at Passive Design Solutions (PDS).
Explore Building Designs at Passive Design Solutions
PDS offers a collection of carefully considered home designs with sleek architecture and high-performance specifications that are well suited to SEED Building Systems.
Planning a multi-unit housing project or looking for practical solutions to address housing needs in your community? The CMHC Housing Design Catalogue is another valuable resource for municipalities, developers and housing organizations.
Featuring more than 50 multi-unit and accessory dwelling designs, the catalogue includes plans for townhouses and rowhouses, multiplexes, and accessory dwelling units. All of these designs can be panelized using Tooketree's SEED Building Systems, offering an opportunity to combine thoughtfully developed housing plans with efficient prefabricated construction.
For municipalities and developers looking to address the Missing Middle housing gap, these designs offer a practical starting point for exploring scalable, high-performance housing solutions.
Why High-Performance Building Design Matters
Buildings are a major contributor to climate change. According to the United Nations, the buildings and construction sector accounts for approximately 40% of global CO₂ emissions. These emissions come from two main sources: the materials used to construct buildings and the energy required to operate them.
Embodied carbon refers to the emissions associated with the manufacturing, transportation, installation, maintenance and disposal of building materials. Materials such as concrete and steel can have particularly high embodied carbon due to their energy-intensive manufacturing processes.
Operational carbon comes from the energy used to heat, cool and power buildings throughout their lifespan. Poor insulation, air leakage and inefficient building systems can significantly increase these emissions.
Both matter. In fact, Architecture 2030 estimates that embodied carbon will account for almost half of total new construction emissions between now and 2050.
Building more efficiently is an important step, but energy efficiency alone isn't enough. We also need to consider what our homes are made of.
Why Building Materials Matter
A highly energy-efficient home can still have a significant environmental footprint if its materials are manufactured using energy-intensive processes or rely heavily on petrochemicals.
At Tooketree, we look beyond operational energy savings. We prioritize natural, recycled and carbon-storing materials that help reduce the environmental impact of construction.
Our SEED (Sustainable, Ecologically-responsible, Efficient and Durable) Building Systems use materials such as:
Wood: A renewable, plant-based material that stores carbon captured from the atmosphere.
Blown-in cellulose: Made primarily from recycled newspaper, providing effective insulation while giving existing materials another life.
Recycled wood fibre board: An insulation product made from wood fibres.
We also use high-performance membranes that provide airtightness, vapour control and weather protection while allowing moisture to dry in either direction.
Together, these materials help create high-performance building envelopes that are energy efficient, durable and designed with the environment in mind.
Building Better with SEED Building Systems
At Tooketree Passive Homes, we manufacture prefabricated wall, floor and roof panels designed to support Passive House-quality construction.
Our SEED panels integrate structure and insulation into high-performance building components manufactured in a controlled factory environment. This approach helps reduce on-site labour, improve construction consistency and make the building process more predictable.
The result is an efficient, high-performance building envelope that can help reduce energy costs, improve indoor comfort and lower the environmental footprint of your home.
Our systems can be used for Passive House and Net-Zero projects, as well as other high-performance building designs.