Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Common Space- More or Less?

[Elizabeth Magill (pastorlizm]

Decisions we are happy about:
-rooms of varying sizes so they can be used as something else later
when we know more
-a central hub works great for greeting folk at events
-soundproofing well worth it
-great room (for eating) has attached niche with doors for quieter (or
louder!) eaters. Room for two tables.
-it was worth it to have a laundry room, workout space (we argued it
ahead but they were the right decisions)

Decisions I'd do differently
-every room needs its own way to get in. If we could get to our niche
without going through the great room it would get used all the time.
-don't build any non-accessible space. We thought the basement would
be mostly storage. It's not, and at nine years after move-in, we
already have folk who want to use the space and can't because we
didn't make it accessible.
-we didn't do soundproofing anywhere except great room and niche. The
difference is amazing. for sure *at least* include any space you think
kids will be in! and hallways! Really, just do it all.
-don't put the laundry next to the guest rooms.
-any room where people mostly *sit* should have warm flooring, not
cool flooring. My feet are always cold in our living room, which is
where most meetings happen.
-build in signage for outsiders to find your common space.
-it would be very useful if it was possible to open up the niche glass
walls once or twice a year. That is we have double doors that are
perfect most of the time, but for some big events, if we could slide
the rest of the wall out of the way we'd have a bigger great room and
fewer problems with the sound system.

Common house design is fun, and honestly, we LOVE our space.
34 households
6000 sf??? It's HUGE.
Kitchen, Great room, niche, hub, coatroom/mailboxes, Living
room/movies/books, little kids room, medium kids/crafts/multi-purpose,
laundry, two guest rooms, workout, bike storage, mechanicals, kitchen
overflow storage, cleaning closet, team closet.

Liz
Mosaic Commons, Berlin MA

>> > 1.  How many households (units) make up your community?
>> > 2.  How large is your common space?
>> > 3.  What does your common space consist of? (e.g. kitchen, dining room,
>> > library, cafe, tool room, laundry room, toddlers soft play, etc)
>> > 4.  Can you point out (best from experience) any aspects of common space
>> > design or use that are clear mistakes to be avoided (we are a senior,
>> > urban/semi-urban community of projected 30 units of between 700-950 sq
>> > ft)?
>> >

-- 
-Liz
(The Rev.) Elizabeth M. Magill
Minister to the Affiliates, Ecclesia Ministries
www.ecclesiaministriesmission.org
www.mosaic-commons.org
508-450-0431