Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Seeking small cohousing communities (10-14 households) with common area inside main building?

[R Philip Dowds (rpdowds]

Diana —

Cornerstone is a mixed-building-type community.  Partly because of a difficult 
parcel shape and zoning issues, and partly because of living in (and trying to 
pay for) urban density, our common house includes 13 dwelling units on four 
floors.  Multi-family apartment life may seem challenging and perhaps 
retrograde for those accustomed to living in single family homes at suburban 
densities — but in my opinion, our building works extremely well.  My wife and 
I live immediately adjacent to the main commons for all 32 units of 
Cornerstone, and we wouldn’t want it any other way.

But you raise also a different and unrelated question, that of “small” 
communities (never mind design layout).  We all remain wary of cohousing that’s 
“too small” and “too big” … but why?  And what are the “right" numbers, really?

You can have your folks contact me if they want some perspective from 
Cornerstone.

Thanks,
Philip Dowds
Cornerstone Village Cohousing
Cambridge, MA

> On May 4, 2017, at 2:31 PM, Diana Christian <diana [at] ic.org> wrote:
> 
> 
> Hello,
>    I’m hoping to help the founders of a small, 7-12 household forming 
> cohousing community, in Flat Rock, NC to be called Highland Lake Cove 
> Cohousing. 
> 
>     They’re seeking examples of small cohousing communities with the 
> common-house area inside the building that contains the housing units — like 
> an apartment building — rather than the common house being in a separate 
> building. 
>   They’d like to get a sense of how groups design such relatively smaller, 
> in-the-building common areas for their forming community.
>   If any Coho-L browsers can point me to cohousing communities that might be 
> this small and built like this, please let me know!
> 
> …

>    Diana
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