Re: Affordable co-housing? Small Units
From: Sharon Villines (sharonsharonvillines.com)
Date: Wed, 9 Oct 2002 06:54:01 -0600 (MDT)
on 10/9/2002 7:12 AM, Maggi Rohde at maggi [at] intranet.org wrote:

> Ann, I'd love to see your floor plan for the 650sfqt.  Is it online
> somewhere, or could I obtain a scan of the plan?  We are in the
> beginning stages of planning for similar sized units and I'm trying
> to collect lots of *functional* examples of small cohousing floor
> plans.

Small spaces will be in great demand. One advantage of small units is that
later, when circumstances change, they can be combined into larger units if
this is necessary to keep a growing family in the community. Or they can
remain small to serve as a gateway into cohousing for a larger family.

I have an 850 sq foot unit that I left all the walls out of and it seems
spacious when people walk in. It was designed as a two bedroom. I had lived
in 550 square feet for years in Manhattan (where _two_ people and sometimes
a baby do live in 450 square feet).

Because I am an artist, I years ago started getting rid of spaces that I
didn't use so I could have a studio at home. I have nothing in my apartment
"for show". I started with my studio in a corner of the living room but as
the children grew up the studio expanded. I moved several times, each time
getting rid of furniture, so along the line somewhere I stopped buying
"living room" and "dining room" furniture at all. In Manhattan only the very
wealthy or those who inherited rent controlled apartments entertain at home.
Everyone else meets for dinner or at a lecture or for coffee or for a run in
the park.

Living in a community with a commonhouse where one can spread out when
guests come or they are working on a special project is perfect for small
units. In fact, with small units people will use the commonhouse more.

One problem will be that if you use a developer or contractor who is
inexperienced with cohousing they will want to put less nice stuff in the
smaller units and better quality stuff in the large units "where people
expect it" was the phrase used by one contractor.

What makes a small unit wonderful is quality and economy of space. One
contractor said "you don't put utility closets in one bedrooms, only three
bedrooms or more." Daft! A small unit needs the utility closet even more. Or
"you don't need self cleaning ovens or two door refrigerators in small
units -- people are happy with what they get."

If you build small units they will sell. But you will be going against the
grain so you have to "fight" for them.

Sharon
-- 
Sharon Villines
Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
http://www.takomavillage.org


_______________________________________________
Cohousing-L mailing list
Cohousing-L [at] cohousing.org  Unsubscribe  and other info:
http://www.communityforum.net/mailman/listinfo/cohousing-l

Results generated by Tiger Technologies Web hosting using MHonArc.