Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: architects and developers

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

On Nov 21, 2003, at 1:58 PM, Laura Fitch wrote:

> A local architect without cohousing experience may spend a lot of 
> his/her time and yours redesigning the wheel and allowing the group 
> process to get bogged down in little issues that do not matter in the 
> big picture.

In developing cohousing, any part of it, this is what really counts -- 
finding a consultant who knows what is important and what is not 
important in the big picture. Long run, does this matter? Is this a 
deal breaker down the line?

One of the things to remember is that cohousing is not unique -- the 
total sum of all the parts may be unique but there are communities out 
there with all the social benefits of cohousing, others with all the 
physical amenities, and others with the same legal structure.  My 
mother lives in a subsidized housing community that could easily be a 
cohousing community. Trust me, the developer and the owner have never 
heard of "cohousing" much less studied it, but the similarity is 
remarkable.

I have a friend who lives in a large group house that is a Limited 
Liability Corporation. All the residents own a piece of the pie. I've 
lived in condominium and apartment complexes with very strong social 
ties between neighbors, usually those who lived on the same hallway or 
around the same piazza. We just didn't have a commonhouse.

All a cohousing community is doing is putting them together in a 
particular way, all at once -- building everything from scratch 
intentionally. If you can find some Bisquick to help you get the 
biscuits baked -- use it!

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

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