Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Looking for speakers for The Cohousing Institute

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

> On Jul 13, 2023, at 7:32 AM, Philip Dowds <rpdowds [at] comcast.net> wrote:
> 
> I will mention again:  Cohousing is a social contract, not a type of 
> construction.  When you choose cohousing, you’re buying a particular 
> lifestyle, not a special kind of building.

But I do think there are particular architectural features that support and 
enable the social contract. 

COMMON SPACE. The first of these is a space for everyone to gather, in large or 
small groups. A place that is common ground, where everyone has equal standing. 
And no one has dominance because they have the largest living room or kitchen. 
I think this is of prime importance in supporting a group of more than a few 
households. It is of great benefit to newly forming groups to have a home — a 
place to meet and have potlucks, to socialize with no agenda. Religion used to 
serve this function by providing community space attached to worship space. For 
my grandmother’s generation, the church basement was the place for weddings, 
funerals, quilting bees, potlucks, collecting toys for Christmas distribution 
to the poor, and sharing vegetables all summer. Common spaces provide a center 
for organization and communications — a familiar place from which many other 
activities grow. But this can be developed out of existing space — a big empty 
room with a kitchen on the side

ATTACHED DWELLINGS: Attached dwellings, common in cities, provide proximity. It 
is much easier to borrow something or offer help when the other person lives 
20-50 feet away instead of a block or two away. And you can go through common 
hallways or covered walkways to get to them. And children can play go-getters 
safely. But there are lots of attached dwellings already built and infill could 
produce more. 

AND IMPORTANT BUT NOT NECESSARILY ARCHITECTURAL

FUNCTIONAL SHARED STORAGE. Central places to store shared “things” like tools, 
gardening equipment, medical equipment (walkers, crutches, shower seats, etc 
that are used for a few days, weeks, or months), games, recreational equipment, 
etc. Is usually connected to the common house but doesn’t have to be. The 
Mosaic Community software, for example, has a page where households can list 
the equipment they have that can be borrowed. When someone decides to bake an 
angel food cake they know where they can borrow the special pan. Or who has the 
label-making machine. 

SHARED ACCOUNTING AND COMMUNICATIONS. Not exactly architectural and many things 
are now online, but some sharing is facilitated by architectural possibilities, 
for example, for wiring or information storage. A method for sharing costs when 
it benefits the community. Shared communications systems, for example, cable 
television, high-speed internet service, bulk purchases, etc. A system that is 
designed to be fair and useful in encouraging community. That we had three 
people with the foresight and dreams to install community-wide ethernet 25 
years ago was amazingly helpful, particularly during the pandemic. Now things 
are wi-fi but the years of having hardwired units were valuable before most of 
us had any idea what ethernet was. Condos have built-in structures for sharing 
costs, but there are many other ways to do this.

Sharon
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Sharon Villines, Washington DC
"We are confronted with insurmountable opportunities." Walt Kelly