Cohousing-L Mailing List: RE: Design programs

[Rob Sandelin (floriferous]

Since you are well out in time frame of securing a site, I would think the
most valuable thing you will get out of programming at this time is the
experience of making personal vs. group trade offs. This is not going to
hold up two years later, but  having people go through this is a good use of
time assuming some of those same people will be involved  later.

Do the commonhouse first to understand the kinds of things you think you
want to do together. Then go visiting some existing cohousing groups and
find out what people who have commonhouses actually do together. This is
very enlightening.

One of The classic programming traps goes like this:  if I only had a
woodshop I would do woodworking. The reality is, if you don't make time to
do a craft activity in your pre-cohousing life, post cohousing you won't do
it either, even if there is a space to do it in. Life in cohousing does not
necessarily give you tons more time. You still have to make your mortgage
payments, do your house stuff, family stuff and friends, and then all your
neighborhood stuff also.

Doing your programming stuff at this early stage, then visiting and talking
with built groups will teach you some good stuff like this ahead of time.

Rob Sandelin
Community Works!

-----Original Message-----
From: cohousing-l-admin [at] cohousing.org
[mailto:cohousing-l-admin [at] cohousing.org]On Behalf Of mark
Sent: Friday, April 06, 2001 12:17 PM
To: cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org
Subject: Re: [C-L]_Design programs


Hi Becky:

Please forgive me if I sound presumptuous, and please understand that
I speak only for myself, not for the community of which I am a member.

Despite your group's apparent sophistication in architectural design
and group process, it would be entirely worth considering the
possibility that you do not know enough about specifically
cohousing-related elements of design, or about processes involved in
design programming by consensus.  There is more to it than might be
apparent, and I can only suggest that you look carefully at how this
has worked for other groups.  There seems to be a tendency-among the
independent thinkers and overachievers who populate cohousing
groups-to imagine that what happened to everyone else won't really
apply to us.  Oddly enough, it almost always does.

Our group included members with substantial design experience, and
early on we tried (with professional assistance) to do our own
programming.  This was a waste of time, money and energy, none of
which we possessed in overabundance at the time.  The documents and
decisions we produced were, as far as I know, of no help when we
finally hired Chuck and Katie to lead our programming process(es).
Even had these been relevant at the time they were produced, in my
view it is important to involve all members in programming as close
to the time of construction as is practical.  Needs, tastes and
priorities change, and new members joining at different points in the
process shift programming in one direction or another;  you certainly
want everyone as invested as possible in what is to be built, and you
do not want to encourage a dynamic in which new and old members
perceive themselves as having different interests or levels of
(emotional) investment.  That dynamic will likely cause entirely
enough trouble without building it deliberately into your group's
history.

I would also emphasize that Chuck and Katie's assistance was
invaluable to us in many ways, not the least of which was in helping
us to identify and narrow down the "what" to which your post refers.
There are a wide variety of criteria relevant to cohousing design
which even those with multifamily experience and interest in
cohousing might not know to include in the programming process.

Of course, your experience may differ, and of course I hope this is
helpful and wish you the best.

Mark

(Bellingham Cohousing...located, for the geographically inquisitive,
in Washington State)





>Hi all,
>
>I am on my community's design committee, and our current mission is to
>develop a design program. We're at least a couple of years out from
>construction (land in the subdivision we've chosen will go up for sale
>sometime after the end of 2002).
>
>We have a couple of architects on our committee. We have decided to hire an
>outside architect.
>
>>From what I've been able to glean searching this list's archives, most
>groups have created the design program in collaboration with their
>architect, in a couple of programming workshops. Due in part to the timing
>of our project - we would prefer to only retain an architect after we've
>secured our land and can prove financial reliability - we're considering a
>different approach.
>
>We are considering developing a thorough program document as a group,
>specifying our priorities, needs, budget, etc., then turning this document
>over to the architect and requesting him/her to make decisions about
>specifics. There will naturally still be plenty of communication between
the
>group and the designers, but we are hoping this will allow group
>participation without danger of micromanagement. According to one of our
>architect/committee members, a thoughtfully developed program, followed by
>reasonably free rein, can allow an architect to meet the client's needs
very
>creatively. In other words, we decide what, and the archtect decides how.
>
>Has anybody else used this approach? Does anybody have suggestions or
>comments about it?
>
>Some group background - most of our members are experienced (and trained)
in
>group-process and consensus techniques. We have members experienced in
>multifamily residential design, who've studied cohousing extensively but
>have not built or lived in coho before. There is no cohousing in our region
>yet, though there are some other projects in process.
>
>Thanks in advance for your input!
>
>Becky Weaver
>Central Austin Cohousing
>(Austin, Texas, where the bluebonnets are blooming and it's shorts weather
>again)
>
>
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