Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Best size for Cohousing Community

[Berrins (Berrins]

<< In a message dated 6/27/2000 2:57:17 PM, argyle [at] mines.utah.edu writes:

<<  I've wondered if a big square,
or cloverleafs of four to five households with a commons (a picnic table on
a lawn or patio) in each center, and the common house at the stem, would
have advantages. >>

The cloverleaf describes Pathways' set-up.  We call each leaf a "pod", with 9 
units in the east and west pods and 6 in the south (24 total).  The Common 
House is at the north side, with two parking lots north of the east and west 
pods.

This set-up does create three small neighborhoods.  I see the folks in my pod 
(south) more often.  However, since the only set-up swing set is presently in 
the middle of our pod, I see a lot of parents with young children from all 
the pods out of my kitchen window.  Having a different set-up in the middle 
of another pod would create a different kind of hang-out, mixing up the pods 
again.  I like the smaller scale of the "pod commons" (our larger, central 
commons is still a pile of dirt, waiting for a final grading and landscaping).

Roger Berman
Pathways
Northampton, MA