Cohousing-L Mailing List: Commonhouse useage

[Ruth Hirsch (heidinys]

Yes.  Our CommonHouse is happily well used.
Way beyond what can be factored on a financial basis.
Pre The-Pause we had meals 3x p week.  

And meetings meetings meeting.

And our well loved events including making VDay cards.
Birthday events
Sing-alongs, etc.

And even during the Pause,  folks were happy to have it for a variety of uses 
including meeting with a friend to jam [masked.] 

We started with a pretty tight space: good sized kitchen,  cobbled together,  
and Dining/multi-purpose room + bathroom.  Laundry in basement.  And twelve 
households.  
Eventually we added a Living Room.  Not huge [we are now maxed out at 19 
households.] and it makes a huge difference.  
If atall possible your group may want to build what you can for now with an eye 
for possible expansion.  We didn’t plan for this——  and were still able to 
expand.  If you are allocating resources you may want to put more towards as 
big a CommonHouse as can be sensible managed rather than splurging of great 
furniture,  which can always come later.  We managed with used kitchen 
appliances for years.  

BTW,  our neighbor is moving away,  so we have a large house, I think four 
bedrooms + for sale at Family Friendly Cantines Island in Saugerties.
________________________________________________-

Date: Sun, 16 May 2021 18:52:48 -0700
From: "Janey Harper" <jkharper [at] telus.net <mailto:jkharper [at] telus.net>>
To: <cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org <mailto:cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org>>
Cc: <jkharper [at] telus.net <mailto:jkharper [at] telus.net>>
Subject: [C-L]_ Statistics on common house usage

Hi,

First question:

I'm currently working on a project that will be built in Sechelt BC.  The
designer/developer I'm working with would like to see some statistics on how
much the community kitchen/dining room/lounge area REALLY gets used in
cohousing communities.

Could anyone help me find such statistics?

Chuck Durrett has always posited that communities sharing meals 3-4 times a
week are more connected, so my goal is a K/DR/L space large enough to allow
for the entire community to be together in comfort for meals 3-4x a week,
and for all other whole community gatherings.  We're guessing a population
of 40-50.

Second question:

My designer/developer is suggesting that 1200 square feet is adequate for
the K/DR/L common amenities space (+ bathroom).   The 1200 sq. fit is within
an 18' x 66' rectangle, with windows/doors/patio doors along one of the 18'
sides.  I think we should "take over" the unit next door and design this
part of the common amenities along a, twice-as-wide, 36' side with twice the
view and exterior ground access.   This would give us a total of 1825 square
feet and allow us to use the extra interior space for ..???

Would appreciate any feedback/comments.



Janey

The Coastal Village