Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Garages

[bdsullivan (bdsullivan]

I agree with Joanni about garages. I lived in Boston for 10 years on a
street with car parking and no garages. The community really benefitted
from people parking there cars out front and walking only 20 yards to their
houses.  Though walking in the outside cold and snow is troublesome,
people all over the world in cold climates have adapted to this problem. On
the other hand,  I know everytime I arrive at someones house through a
garage it seems so strange. I find myself wanting to go back out through
the garage door to check out what's going on outside.

Garages in Boston do have one downside in winter. I was told once (don't
know if it's true) The constant  freezing and thawing of ice and salt on a
car that is taken in and out of a garage can do quite a bit of damage.

Garages are good for storage and workshops (especially if there is no
basement.) So several silly options might include:  Building garages (30%
of the houses)  at the central parking area and  let folks who want them
buy them. They could be big enough for storage, shops, and parking.
Attaching garages to houses, but have no direct doors to the house
interiors!!

If you have no garages or basements, don't forget to realistically evaluate
the need for storage of big things like bikes, lawn mowers, kids play
equipment, etc. and the need for people to have hobbies: carpentry,
ceramics, etc.  In a couple of cohousing communities I have visited, the
houses seemed planned only for living not for storage and the storage was
creeping out all insides and out.

>I say have as few garages as possible (although certainly they should be
>availablet for the elderly and folks with disabilities). .

  Be careful about what I call a 'tight fit' design. Young people become
elderly and  disabled, other families have other have other  specific
needs. In other words, families change and move on. What if the next family
wants a garage?

Finally, I don't know if people in Minnesota like garages. It's really cold
there.



Brian D. Sullivan, Lecturer
Department of Architecture
Chinese University of Honk Kong
email  bdsullivan [at] cuhk.edu.hk