Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Ratio of Common House size to Unit Size

[Ann Zabaldo (zabaldo]

Hi Diane!

Looks as if the 50-60 units at Eastern Village Cohousing here in DC will
have an 8,000+ sq.ft CH. BTW -- EVC has been an aerobic level marketing and
outreach phenomena -- we have 32 units committed w/ about 6 prospects
working their way towards membership and a huge number of folks in the
prospect pool.  The "LEED" certification goal for energy efficiency and
sustainable building has been a BIG draw.  Www.usgbc.org for info.

I'm looking forward to visiting you at JP!!

Ann Z.

On 3/11/03 21:02, "Diane Simpson" <coho [at] theworld.com> wrote:

> 
> We're planning 30. And I sent the message out because one person
> in our group was worried that the common house size seemed extravagant
> when compared to other cohousing groups.  Supposedly we will have the
> second-largest common house in the country if we go with this size.
> 
> --D(:^]
> = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
> On Tuesday, March 11, 2003, at 11:06 AM, Mabel Liang wrote:
> 
>> 
>> Diane,
>> 
>> I'd have to do some calculating to figure out the answer to your
>> question,
>> because our "common house" is in several different places.  But I'm
>> quite
>> confused by your question.  I think you'd also want to know about the
>> _number_ of units in a community.  I'd expect a community with 6 units
>> (the
>> one that Chuck and Katie originally found in Denmark) to have a much
>> smaller common house than one with 40 units.  The other night we had 3
>> activities scheduled for after dinner.  Larger numbers of residents
>> makes
>> it more likely that there'll be more activities, and more need for
>> common
>> space.
>> 
>> I also suspect that "average size" isn't a great indicator.  I know
>> that
>> some of the people here at Cornerstone with smaller units felt a
>> greater
>> need for Christmas decorations in the common house, because they didn't
>> have room for a tree in their own unit.  People with smaller units may
>> feel
>> more squeezed, regardless of the size of the other units.
>> 
>> How many _units_ are you planning?
>> 
>> -- Mabel :-)
>> 
>> Cornerstone Village Cohousing
>> North Cambridge, MA
>> 
>> At 10:57 PM 3/10/03 -0500, Diane Simpson wrote:
>>> 
>>> Hi everyone,
>>> 
>>> I'm doing some research to figure out if communities with smaller
>>> units
>>> have larger common houses.
>>> 
>>> Our average unit size is 825 square feet
>>> Our common house is programmed to be 4800 square feet
>>> 
>>> So our units average about 17% the size of our common house.
>>> Does this common house size seem about right? Too large? Too small?
>>> I am not looking to find out if it seats the correct number of people.
>>> I am simply trying to figure out where it is on the scale of
>>> common house sizes overall in relation to all the other cohousing
>>> communities out there.
>>> 
>>> Thanks!
>>> 
>>> --Diane(:^]
>>> 
>>> JP COHOUSING  617-524-6614
>>> P.O. BOX 420 BOSTON MASSACHUSETTS
>>> HTTP://WWW.JPCOHOUSING.ORG
>>> "The people who surround you define the qualify of your life."
>>> 
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Cohousing-L mailing list
>>> Cohousing-L [at] cohousing.org  Unsubscribe  and other info:
>>> http://www.cohousing.org/cohousing-L
>>> 
>> Mabel Liang
>> mabel [at] twomeeps.com
>> _______________________________________________
>> Cohousing-L mailing list
>> Cohousing-L [at] cohousing.org  Unsubscribe  and other info:
>> http://www.cohousing.org/cohousing-L
>> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Cohousing-L mailing list
> Cohousing-L [at] cohousing.org  Unsubscribe  and other info:
> http://www.cohousing.org/cohousing-L

_______________________________________________
Cohousing-L mailing list
Cohousing-L [at] cohousing.org  Unsubscribe  and other info:
http://www.cohousing.org/cohousing-L