Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: growing out of cohousing?

[Hans Tilstra (tilstra]

I was challenged this weekend by the suggestion that cohousing is a phase
people go through and grow out of. The speaker had noticed that common
facilities were too idiosyncratic and to offer a good fit of changing needs
of people as they go through different phases of life.

It certainly challenged me to think about the flexibility, the optimisation
of use of the common house. Of course, you need good kitchen functionality
and its ability to attract people.

However, I'd also love to hear people's experiences on daytime use of common
facilities for child care. Is it feasible to use trolleys, curtains and roll
up carpet to encourage multiple uses of the space. How well does office
space work? In this discussion, people have also reported on consistent
demand for guest rooms.

Kathryn McCamant and Charles Durrett reported on designs where people could
sell rooms of adjacent houses. So, an empty nester could reduce the size of
their house and sell the space to neighbours with a growing family. Have any
north American developments explored this option?

thanks,
Hans