Cohousing-L Mailing List: Unit design for efficiency

[Elizabeth Stevenson (tamgoddess]

One of the things that I regret is not having been in my group during the
design phase. I have often said that I'd like to gut the inside of my unit
and start over. Since there are always people in the throes of designing on
the list, and since they might not think about these things until they are
too late, I thought I'd itemize what I'd do differently if I could.

Make the stairs as small as possible. The stairway would ideally be straight
and on the wall, so that the area underneath would be useful space.

Have super efficient appliances, both in terms of energy use and space. A
small, front loading washer/dryer(not everyone will want/be able to go to
the CH), on-demand hot water heater, super-efficient refrigerator, microwave
over the stove, dishwasher in a drawer, etc., would be cheaper to buy as a
group and make better use of space. I could have two more closets if I
didn't have appliances in them that were designed for large suburban houses.

Hire a kitchen designer to do the unit kitchens. It will save an enormous
amount of frustration later on.

Don't just make a big house small. See if you can find an architect who has
experience in designing smaller homes. Probably an urban townhouse project
would be comparable to many cohousings.

Don't cave in to one person's desire for uniqueness or luxury. We have these
ridiculously large bathtubs and upstairs bathrooms in our units because
someone(I'll probably get in trouble here) thought they were wonderful.
They're hideously wasteful in every way. Standardize as much as possible.

And lastly, for the love of Pete, don't put carpet in the entryway!

Feel free to add to this, those of you who have horror stories of your own.

-- 
Liz Stevenson
Southside Park Cohousing
Sacramento California
tamgoddess [at] attbi.com

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