Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: [C-L] Common house design, rooms, and room sizes?

[Jerry McIntire (jerry.mcintire]

Thanks Sharon, nice summary of some of your important observations on
common houses.

Jerry

Jerry McIntire
Stone's Throw Ecovillage, in the heart of Wisconsin's beautiful Driftless
region
http://stonesthrowcommunity.wordpress.com/
1-608-637-6620

On Sun, Feb 8, 2015 at 8:31 AM, Sharon Villines <sharon [at] sharonvillines.com>
wrote:

>
>
> > On Feb 8, 2015, at 8:25 AM, Douglas McCarroll <
> list.cohousing-l.001 [at] brightworks.com> wrote:
> >
> > Then we learned that other aspects of our project (site infrastructure in
> > particular) are going to cost more than we'd estimated, and are facing
> the
> > prospect of unit prices going up ~10% on average. So now we're trying to
> be
> > creative and look at all possible avenues for cost reduction.
>
> I would say don't skimp on quality and storage. Storage saves a lot of
> floor and surface space. At Blueberry Hill I was envious of wall of shelves
> behind folding doors that opened all the way - and with floor space in
> front of the shelves for a stepping stool and things that don't fit on
> shelves.
>
> I just found this one this morning -- drawers in the stairs risers. It
> makes me wish I had stairs.
>
>
> http://www.houselogic.com/photos/home-improvement/7-storage-solutions-you-didnt-know-you-had/slide/stairway-to-storage-heaven/
>
> Don't build for "I would love to have" unless the people are currently
> participating in what they love to do. A yoga room for people who have
> never done yoga but always wanted to, for example.
>
> Remember that you have to clean all that space. Any effort saved in
> housekeeping in a smaller unit will be doubled by maintenance of more CH
> and grounds space. Living in cohousing is not like living in an apartment;
> it's like living in a house with all the weekend work and annual costs to
> maintain it.
>
> I was impressed by a recent visit to Cornerstone by the sense of
> spaciousness in their stairways and entrance halls. This can be more
> important on a daily basis than extra square footage in a dining room that
> then looses it sense of intimacy to become a dining hall the size of a
> small food court. On the rare occasions when you have half again as many
> people as seats, people will spread out in the CH. This is even more
> pleasant actually because it also spread the noise of conversation.
>
> Last, once you have a facility, people will be loath to give it up--even
> if only 3 people ever use it.
>
> And next to last, don't skimp on acoustics. We forget this because in
> homes we don't need special treatments. We have rugs. In common spaces used
> by many people, rugs are not usually cost effective. Annual cleaning, and
> often semi-annual cleaning, is not cost effective.
>
> Sharon
> ----
> Sharon Villines
> Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
> http://www.takomavillage.org
>
>
>
>
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