Early community engagement in the planning and development phases sets this cohousing project apart.
In a society where it’s increasingly hard to even start a decent career and loneliness is reaching epidemic proportions it might be time to think of alternatives to the near-ubiquitous privat…
Op het einde van het straatje Het Kamp, in een bos van 1,2 hectare vind je cohousing Gecco. Natuurgebied de Gentbrugse Meersen ligt in de achtertuin en op vier kilometer ben je in het stadscentrum van Gent.
Architect Laura Fitch describes cohousing communities as "privacy within your home, and community at your doorstep."
“the very process of living together educates. It enlarges and enlightens experience; it stimulates and enriches imagination” – John Dewey What is cohousing? Cohousing is a type of intentional community where individuals, couples and families come together to share common goals, plus the workload and benefits of living closely with others – but at the… Continue reading Cohousing
The Twin Cities is exploring cohousing as an option for multigenerational & sustainable living. In St. Louis Park, Monterey Cohousing Community is thriving.
Hallways, entrances, and exits are primarily designed with fire safety in mind, which can lead to long, monotonous corridors.
Today’s intentional communities may look like the communes of yesteryear, but they don’t operate like them. Here’s why cohousing is gaining popularity.
For the past year and a half I've been living in WindSong Cohousing in Langley, British Columbia (BC), Canada. After fifteen years of wanting to form or find an intentional community, it's been an amazing experience to begin the process of translating theory into practice and dream. At 13 years old, is BC's oldest WindSong Cohousing project. 1.8 acres Have Been Developed into two atria of 34 stacked homes, centered on a "Common House" filled with shared facilities and gathering spaces. The aussi Developed land includes a community garden and outside play area. The Remaining 4 acres of land left undeveloped-have-been, include a salmon stream, and are home to beavers, a variety of birds and other animals. While there is still debate about What Makes Some community has Cohousing, the Following items are generally recognized as key: Participatory Process Unlike MOST development projects, Cohousing is designed by The Eventual residents. Because of this, the gains and Interests of the members are more Likely to be put: Will Often developers put great efforts into "flash" to make a place look desirable, goal skimp on subtle Elements of Design that make for a good community. This leads to the second key point Intentional Neighbourhood Design Cohousing projects are designed with community interaction in mind. From the placement of the Parking lot to establishment of neighborhood "nodes", everything is designed to maximize the opportunity for spontaneous interaction with one's neighbor, while balancing the need for privacy. Each community comes up with Their own single mix That best suits Their needs. Extensive Common Facilities Typically Cohousers elect to-have smaller homes in exchange for larger common facilities. At WindSong, the money That Would Typically go into making one's home an isolated "castle" instead goes in to shared spaces: such as a Multipurpose room (Where yoga, dance, and other classes are Held), Board room (a great asset for the Members who run businesses Their Own) and Guest Room. At the heart of the shared space is our Common House, All which includes a dining room for group meals, space for our community meetings, a projector for movie nights, a lounge area and small internship. Hierarchical Non Resident Management All major decisions are made at WindSong via Consensus at our monthly meeting. Once a new member HAS learned the basics of our consensus process, They are expected to welcome Any meeting, and to Participate in making and Implementing our decisions. Numerous Committees take care of parking, gardening, maintenance, and Other Specific Areas of community life. In my next article, I hope to Provide a bit of the "flavor" of everyday life here at WindSong. Questions or Comments are welcomed to [email protected] or via notecard to Abulafia Gray
Tribal living Wouldn't it be great to recreate a carefree, fun filled community lifestyle of your college dorm-days? Frugal wasn't all that bad; was it? Recall the camaraderie? Bet you remember most of your tribe very fondly! If an all-inclusive resort is prohibitively expensive; a cluster of tiny cottages with shared common spaces & optional services (meals, maid & maintenance) may be ideal. Social security alone may not provide the economic blanket needed, collaborative consumption may be the solution. Sharing is caring A retirement "resort" would attract more consumers, investors, transients (winter-birds) then people looking for their forever home "sanctuary"! It would just be a hospitality business, not a close knit community; even if it is "not for profit". If it is not social, why bother?
Ground Floor Plan Second Floor Plan Co-housing Manor is a design exercise looking at a different form of housing for today's Baby Boomer generation that wants to downsize and simplify from the large homes they raised their families in. In many ways they still need the large homes after their kids have grown and moved away. They need the number of bedrooms for when the next generation comes to visit. They need the large kitchen and entertaining areas for family celebrations and holidays. The three car garage also has become a large project or hobby space that is difficult to give up when downsizing. And often an adult kid may need to come back to live at home when economic hardship or divorce happens. Family members often like to be in closer proximity to each other. Like in the case of an elderly relative that needs to watched over, or the need to take care of a house while someone is traveling for extended periods. The expense of gas and frustration of traffic at certain times of the day can limit the ability of family members to travel across town or between cities to be supportive of each other. Families today also are comprised of close friends that they feel the same level of care for as actual relations and are an integral part of their lives. Co-Housing Manor is a way for a close group of people to live together in a supportive way and still maintain a level of privacy and autonomy. It is five independent living units that share larger common amenities that are difficult to give up when moving to smaller homes, as well as allow the supportive family environment that close proximity allows. There are five living units ranging from 638 to 1729 square feet. The total building area is 8900 square feet giving an average of 1,800 sf per unit. So it allows you to downsize to about 1,500 sf yet retain the large public areas that would be common in a house of 8 to 10 thousand square feet. There is a 19' by 32' Great Hall that can be used for large entertaining such as holidays or family celebrations like birthdays or weddings. It can also be available to invite the wider neighborhood in for community interaction. There is a likewise large outdoor covered gathering space for more casual or impromptu socializing. Supporting both spaces is a large central kitchen which can have larger capacity appliances for use of residents and offers more space than in their private units for projects that need larger layout counters. There is a guest suite attached to the common area to accommodate visitors that allows both they and you privacy that is difficult when you have downsized to a condominium. There is a separate garage that can be set up for a shop or be used for extra storage of sports equipment or hobbies that would not fit within the single garage provided each unit. There are five two story townhouses at each corner separated by garages so they are very private and there is no chance of noise transmission through common walls. The rooms are on the small side, but there are large master baths and walk in closets normally found in larger homes. There is a second space that can be used for home office, guest room or media center. A studio apartment on the second floor can be rented out or used for an adult child that has moved back, or for a person that can act as a caretaker for the complex. Click here to see exterior views. Click here to see interior views. Click here to see another Co-housing Design Concept
Experiments in cooperative living offer a great model for building sustainable urban communities. But can they work for everyone?
Early community engagement in the planning and development phases sets this cohousing project apart.
Credit: Flickr / Quayside Village The new “old fashioned neighbourhood” encourages both […]
A film on cohousing showcases the lives of those living in cohousing communities in Northern California. We talk to filmmaker John De Graaf about the project and its reception since the premiere.
What about your privacy? Don’t you want your own little piece of heaven on earth? Is it like some kind of sect? These are some of the common reactions one receives when mentioning that you are…
Just as a home is more than its walls and windows, cohousing homes are more than standard condos. To the people who create, join and live cohousing communities, they join an active and involved community of neighbors who know and care about each other and together live more consciously of one another and the earth. Successful communities generally share 5 key characteristics that may tempt you to consider a cohousing community for your next move.
Today’s article on cohousing communities was contributed by Alyse Nelson of Sightline Institute. We hope you enjoy the article and the two galleries that follow! Cohousing: Living large in sm…
The architect-led, collectively funded R50 Baugruppen cohousing project in Berlin is a new model for housing that's not without controversy.
Chatham has worked with Pittsburgh Cohousing to create the EcoVillage, the first neighborhood of its kind in the region. Based on a practice that began in Denmark and has grown in the United States since around 1990, the concept is a close-knit community built on cooperation, sustainability, and contributing to the ecology and academic work of the surrounding campus.
It's a bit all work and no play for us at the moment, so to give ourselves a reminder of what it's all about, last weekend a group of us went by train (from Oxford) and car (from Lancaster) to visit Springhill Cohousing in Stroud, where 35 households have been living together since 2003. Some of our members had already seen Springhill, and David from Stroud has visited our site too (you can see him talking about Springhill and cohousing generally on one of our YouTube videos), but for the people who visited this time it was our first experience of cohousing in action. It's a beautiful site... we followed the most direct route from the station and this took us up through a park to a gate which led straight onto Springhill's pedestrian street. In intimacy and security it reminded me of a university campus, though it was clearly a place where people of all ages were living together. It also has a lovely 'lived in' feel - there was garden furniture out on the street, and lots of pots and planting. I was really impressed with how well the houses blended in with their surroundings, and I hope ours will do the same. We were very impressed with the three-storey co-house, especially the top floor where the community eats together 3-4 times a week. We talked about recipes and local sourcing and fridge organisation, how they manage signing up and paying, and what they've learnt as they've gone along. Then we went to look at various of their houses and flats, and saw the different things people have done with their space. Most of their houses are bigger than ours will be, but share an open-plan design and focus on energy-efficiency. Pete spent a lot of time investigating their composting facilities, and we were all impressed with their SUDS (Sustainable Urban Drainage System). We talked about cohousing challenges too of course -- how to develop menus that work for everyone, and managing the 'four Ps' -- parking, parenting, painting and pets... We learnt a lot but we also really enjoyed ourselves and came away feeling inspired. Maria Angeles said that she wished we could fast-forward to when we have moved in ourselves, and I know just what she meant... Many thanks to David, Natalie, Sarah and everyone else we met who took time our of their weekend to talk to us, it was inspiring, interesting and useful, and we look forward to inviting you back one day soon! jo www.lancastercohousing.org.uk
For most Americans, housing is the single biggest expense in their personal budget. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average household spends more than 30% of its after-tax income on housing expenses, including rent or mortgage payments, utilities, maintenance, and furnishing. For single people, the figure climbs to more than 40% of after-tax income. One
By Nancy P. Kropf, Dean of Perimeter College & Professor of Social Work at Georgia State University and Sherry Cummings, Associate Dean and Profesor of Social Work at University of Tennessee One of the major questions of growing older is, “where do I want to live as I
Image 15 of 39 from gallery of R50 – Cohousing / ifau und Jesko Fezer + Heide & von Beckerath. Photograph by Andrew Alberts
Cohousing neighborhoods are collaborative communities of 12-35 homes where you really know your neighbors and agree that together you can create more than you can alone.
For seniors who want to age in a supportive community environment, cohousing is an exciting alternative to traditional options such as retirement homes and assisted living centers.
The co-living concept may be new to you, but it is growing in popularity. Here we review the benefits, downsides, but most importantly, we get into . . .
Early community engagement in the planning and development phases sets this cohousing project apart.
FEATURE-March 2011 By Rebecca Falzano | Photography Trent Bell | Styling Meagan Gilpatrick The prototype for Belfast cohousing and ecovillage racks up sustainable credentials and packs a design punch Imagine that, instead of building just a custom home for … Continue reading →
Experiments in cooperative living offer a great model for building sustainable urban communities. But can they work for everyone?
Co-housing, co-living, cooperative housing. Abigail Hurst examines these hot words that need to be taken seriously.
Publisher: New Society Publishers Pub. Date: 2005-05-01 ISBN: 9781550923070 Format: Digital - 256 pages Size: 6" x 9" (w x h) BISAC: SOCIAL SCIENCE / Sociology / Rural
Completed in 2010 in Toronto, Canada. Images by Shai Gil Photography. One of Teeple Architects’ latest projects, 60 Richmond East Housing Co-operative, was completed in March of 2010. This 11-story, 85-unit mixed use...
In the Spanish suburb of Alfafar, conditions were looking grim as economic hardships plunged over 40% of its resident...
