Light fills the home of Melanie Fournier and Richard LeBlanc, reflecting the joy they feel when their loved ones surround them. The 7,000-square-foot, three-level contemporary home melts into the landscape overlooking the Scoudouc River in southern New Brunswick. It wasn’t the first property they considered when planning to build a large off-grid home, but after exploring riverside sites nearby, Melanie says they knew they found the right spot as soon as they saw it.

Building a large home is daunting and when the dream is an off-grid passive home, the complexity multiplies. But with a husband who’s a contractor specializing in building passive homes and a sister who’s an architect, Melanie, a marketing professor at the Université du Moncton, was able to relax.

Off-grid and passive home construction comes with many criteria. If achieved, a passive home is 90 per cent more efficient than a conventional build, consuming less energy for heating and cooling. They often use renewable energy systems like solar panels. The Fournier-Leblanc home has a 60-panel array that keeps them warm and wired to technology like any modern home.

The Riko Passive Homes crew broke ground in 2019. Richard, the hands-on company president, was working on several other projects while trying to keep their passion project moving and get the building envelope tight before  winter’s first nor’easters. The project was mostly on schedule until early the next year, when COVID put an abrupt halt to everything. Then came major disruptions in global supply chains.

“Everything was delayed.” Melanie looks towards the wall of European engineered windows that wrap around the east side of the home, offering an almost unobstructed view from anywhere you stand on the main level. “When the windows arrived, they were damaged. We had to wait another nine weeks for new windows to be shipped from Poland.”

Except for specific materials necessary for the passive construction, the couple relied on local businesses. The new home was a family affair from concept to completion. Richard built the house, Melanie’s sister Lise, a Moncton-based architect, took the lead on design, and her brother Pete, who operates the family-owned kitchen manufacturing company, completed the cabinetry and mill work.

The Fournier siblings grew up appreciating modern design. Their parents started Triangle Kitchens more than 40 years ago. The siblings attribute their close-knit family and upbringing in the design world as foundational to their lives. This project was shaping up at a time they felt their world was falling apart, when doctors diagnosed their mother Fernande with a terminal illness. She died in 2022 but her family still feels her presence in everything they do.

“The build was a bit of a blur.” Melanie tears up, adding that she and Richard were also expecting baby number two at the end of the construction project. A little boy named Benjamin arrived just after they moved in 4.5 years ago.

“I gave Lise carte blanche on everything,” says Melanie. “Our styles are so similar. Anything Lise would like, I would like, and Richard really took care of so much while we were going through this time.”

While many would think designing a home for another family member would have its challenges, Lise says that designing her sister’s entire home from start to finish has become her favourite project.

“This project was truly special to me. Having my sister for a client made the design process feel natural and effortless. We both have a deep love for entertaining,” says Lise.

The main floor of the home is open concept design. Lise describes that plan with the kitchen flowing seamlessly into the dining and living areas.

“This design is essential for us,” Lise adds. “The absence of barriers between those spaces creates a sense of openness and connection. When we are together, it’s often Melanie, Pete, and I on one side of the kitchen island working together. Pete is the best cook.” That’s another legacy from the sisters’ mother, who was known for beautiful French cooking.

Despite being off-grid, Melanie says that they didn’t have any special appliances; the house functioned as any conventionally-built home. A little more than two years after moving in, the couple decided to shift to a hybrid approach to power.

“I think we were a little bit ahead of our time to have a house this size and to be completely off grid,” Melanie says. Sixty solar panels generate green energy for the Leblanc-Fournier home. Because the home is now tied into the NB Power grid they feed this energy into the system. When the solar panels do not meet energy needs during periods of lower sunlight, they can draw down what they need from the provincial grid.

“We are still a passive home because that’s the way the house was built,” she says. “We wanted the house to feel like the home we grew up in. Full of life,” she adds, taking a seat on a tiny wooden chair belonging to Benjamin and likely before him his older sister Elody, who is now nine.

Melanie professes that she is a little tired. She just defended her PhD thesis days before. “I finally feel that after all this time building, getting into the house and working on my thesis, that I can just relax and enjoy my house and my family. I love my house. When I walk through the door I feel at peace.”