Cohousing-L Mailing List: Design without cohousing expertise

[Lydia & Ray Ducharme (ducharm1]

Hi all,

We are trying to decide if we should hire cohousing design experts to assist
with our design.  We have a very good local architect who has his Masters in
cohousing.

What we'd like to know is for those groups that did not hire cohousing
expertise, how do you feel about that decision, in retrospect.

Thanks very much for taking the time to respond...it's much appreciated!!!!

Lydia
WholeLife Housing
Calgary, Canada


----- Original Message -----
From: Raines Cohen <coho-L [at] raines.com>
To: Multiple recipients of list <cohousing-l [at] freedom2.mtn.org>
Sent: Thursday, January 13, 2000 11:14 AM
Subject: Re: Cohousing ,Class distinctions and banks


> Catherine Harper <tylik [at] eskimo.com> wrote on 1/10/00 9:13 AM:
>
> >> Some cohousing communities, such as the one I live in, have rental
> >> spaces, but the rentals exist and are controlled by the home owners.
> >
> >I was just reading about the...  Danish, I think, community that
consisted
> >of half goverment subsidized rental units and half owned units.  I keep
on
> >hearing about groups in this country that are trying for something along
> >those lines, but less about ones that succeed.  Shall I assume that the
> >outcomes are not for the most part encouraging?
>
> Note that the list is dominated by groups of all types that are trying to
> do things, in the early stage...  most groups that are later in the
> development process are so focussed/overwhelmed/exhausted that they tend
> not to post as much, and those that are moved in (i.e. have succeeded)
> don't care as much, have to deal with daily community life, etc. So keep
> in mind that what you see here is not a fully representative sample of
> what's out there, in progress and done.
>
> Old Oakland CoHousing is part of a project (Swan's Market) that includes
> subsidized rentals, but for a variety of legal, financial and
> complexity-management reasons the rental units are not technically part
> of the CoHousing project. But we were able, despite value engineering, to
> preserve some elements that encourage interaction and shared space
> (effectively, a common backyard after hours) in this tight-packed urban
> environment. And we do intend to get to know our neighbors well enough to
> invite some to join some common meals or perhaps an affiliate/associate
> sort of membership.
>
> Raines
>
> Raines Cohen <coho-L [at] raines.com> <http://www.swansway.com/>
> Recovering from Macworld Expo this week.
>
>   Member, Old Oakland [CA] Cohousing at Swan's Market
> Where we've got rates locked and are finalizing mortgage-loan details.
>
>   and Member, East Bay Cohousing [no site yet] <http://www.ebcoho.org/>
> Which approved a budget without a TCN membership - can people help me
> convince 'em to join?
>
>
>