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Home builders are supplying mass housing projects which are designed without taking into consideration the specific needs and expectations of residents. As well, house are not produced with enough flexibility to enable homeowners to perform easy adaptations that would express their own choices and accommodate their particular requirements. On the other hand, due to economic constraints, most first-time home buyers usually cannot afford the professional services of architects in order to have a house specifically designed to suit their needs and aspirations. / This research explores the different types of modifications that occupants of affordable single-family housing in Montreal make to their residences upon occupancy. / The survey revealed a high level of user intervention--93.6% of the residents made the modifications by themselves. This demonstrates that residents fully engage in housing adaptations when they are given the opportunity to do so, as is the case in the researched houses which offered some type of flexibility in the form of an open and unfinished basement. 108 of the 141 households took advantage of the originally unfinished basement by finishing it and adapting it to their needs and desires. / The author concludes that a house should be adaptable and flexible enough to respond to residents' demands, allowing them to adapt their living spaces according to their personal choices and requirements, as well as to personalise it. As well, the author, convinced that houses do not need to be entirely finished since residents will modify them in any event, suggests certain guidelines and provides recommendations on how affordable single-family houses in Montreal can best be designed to allow for post-occupancy adaptation and user intervention. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

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No description available.