Cohousing-L Mailing List: Porches and other things

[Harry Pasternak (Harry_Pasternak]

Russell

You stated that the reason that porches were on homes in the 20's, 30's, 40's
was because the builders were trying to sell the image of wealth and
Victorian splendor to the middle income home buyers. It would be nice if the
world were so simple.

On the contray, the front Porch or Verranda has been around for thousands of
years-- in India it was/is called the Verranda (Indian word meaning Porch).
Yes, one of its original uses may have been to get shelter from the sun,
rain, snow,  etc.; but, you have to recall that our homes 50,000 years ago
(and more) were simply, a roof on posts, no side walls---isn't that what a
Porch is---a roof on posts?

So there is hundreds of thousands of years of that history imbeded in all of
our chromasomes---that the Porch represents shelter, the gathering of the
family, home, one's place, birth, cooking, eating, the blessing of the
food-spirituality, safety---it no wonder that the Porch has become so
important to us all. It's 100,000 (or more) years of development had nothing
to do with architects and developers. However, great social interaction ( I
like the phrase "social networking") just doesn't happen because of the
Porch, there are dozens other variables to be loked after,  for positive
"social networking".

The reason I (and others) have brought up the issue of the relationship
between quality "social networking"  and the design of the homes and the
design of the private, semi-private and public spaces in a cohousing
neighborhood, is simple.

If a group of people are going to exert tremendous amounts of time, money and
psychic energy to develop a neighborhood, where social interaction is
abundant---wouldn't this group want to reduce the risk of failure and at the
same time encourage social networking in as many proven ways as possible? 

The day the last nail is driven to complete the construction of the homes,
common facilites and spaces is not the End---it just the Beginning. Now you
have to carry out the Life Drama that everyone has been dreaming about; but,
if the Stage is not the appropriate Stage for the intended life drama---how
tough it's going to be! 

 I'm simply suggesting that people maximize the potential by planning and
building a Stage with as many of the features possible that will actively
encourage "social networking". In addition,yes, there are a host of things to
do besides developing and building this great Stage---you also have to let
people go and learn to become great Directors--- that includes, sending
people off to the Omega Institute to attend workshops with the Hendricks and
others who will help the Golden Goodness shine thru.

Do you really believe that we are all anti-social beings? That we could
survive as a species for millions of years without socializing, cooperating,
caring for each other? That's pretty heavy.

Harry


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