Cohousing

Cohousing in the UK

In mid-June I was invited to speak on Cohousing common house design in the UK. It was a great opportunity to visit the various different Cohousing schemes that exist in the UK, highlighting the diversity that is not as present in US Cohousing schemes. 

We visited LILAC in Leeds, which was a wonderful new build scheme with an alternative ownership model. My daughter made fast friends, visiting the community garden, and racing around the central pedestrian path. There was an ad hoc celebration for a family who had been granted amnesty, which we were able to participate in. And the community meal was divine – with members of two forming groups helping with the preparation.  Dinner was followed by a presentation on common house design, with more than four forming groups in attendance.

A visit to Laughton Lodge near Lewes in the south of England proved to be an idyllic day trip from London. The seaside town was the starting point of a trip to Laughton to visit a community founded by a deceased friend and Cohousing advocate, Sarah Berger. Laughton Lodge was formerly an old hospital for developmentally disabled people that has been adaptively refurbished to house 21 families. The grounds have been greatly improved upon, and the institutional housing has been transformed into generous residences with tall ceilings and ample daylight. The treehouse was a place for my daughter to make quick friends with other children visiting the community.

Near central London, we visited Springdale Gardens, a small cohousing scheme for six families. The flag lot was tucked behind existing row houses. The founding residents shared their struggles with the Hackney planning commission and the difficulties of trying to obtain approval for their buildings that were to be hidden behind taller and higher density housing that face the public street. The residents had very high ambitions for sustainability and achieved them using a very modern aesthetic. This community was formed quickly around the desire to build in the City; accordingly they did not benefit from a long forming process. This, along with some struggles with their contractor, left them feeling burnt out, and the level of conviviality was lower than other communities visited. However, the residents with whom we met held high aspirations for future community-building endeavors.

Finally we went to Lancaster Cohousing, the location of the seminar at which I was invited to present. This was built along a linear stretch of the Lune River and had the most ideal siting for solar strategies. The community achieved a high level of sustainable construction. Their common house was well considered - their architect had been given my common house design book as a resource during the design phase. Their community had meals several times a week, and a Daily Diners club ensured that there were meals on the other days for those who wished to participate.

In addition to visiting these communities, I visited with many other nascent cohousers who were forming their communities - from Hackney to Brighton and other suburbs of London. They all had a great optimism for their projects and an idealistic enthusiasm to change their lives and change the world by building community. It gave me great inspiration to return home to finish out the last remaining months of our own construction on a truly urban Cohousing scheme in a very dense neighborhood of Seattle.

Grace Kim is a founding principal of Schemata Workshop and the author of a book on Cohousing common house design.

Park(ing) Day and Urban Agriculture

  schemata workshop and amaranth farms

Schemata Workshop has participated in National Park(ing) Day for the past three years. We continue to participate in this national event because it is a fun and creative way to engage our community about public space and the entitlements we currently give cars.  For one day we demonstrate what our city could look like if we transformed even a small number of our parking spots into public space.  We chose our theme this year because we believe Urban Agriculture has a place in our city and we are in the process of designing a Cohousing Project for our current office location that will include a Rooftop Farm. (http://www.schemataworkshop.com/work/on-the-boards/urban-cohousing/)

Urban Agriculture provides resilience to our food system by diversifying where our food comes from.  Local economies will grow and expand when urban farmers begin to succeed in the city.  City farms improve our environment with increased biodiversity and often utilize innovative farming techniques that use less water and fertilizers. Urban Agriculture and Farms fosters community by providing space to host farm dinners, inspire community kitchens, and teach young and old about their food.

This year, as in past years, our Park(ing) spot received enthusiastic community support.  We had folks stop by who were out on a ‘tour’ of all the parking spots in the city, but we had many others who were just walking by and decided to sit and stay for a conversation about anything from the weather, to the state of the economy. The local preschool came by for milk and cookies and decorated the sidewalk with imaginative art. We also had five chickens (owned by a Schemata staffer), that were a hit, not only with the kids but with adults who wanted to know more about getting their own urban chickens. Overall, it was an exciting day and we all got to know our neighbors a little better while having some inspiring conversations about the future of our city.

 

 

 

Thank you again to Scratch Deli, Ragen & Associates, and Amaranth Farms for partnering to make this a fun and engaging event! Also a shout out to Sugar Bakery for bringing cookies, music, and the party with your mobile Park(ing) Day Party and Portage Bay Grange for leasing us straw bales.

Our awesome Partners, check them out!

www.ragenassociates.com www.amaranthurbanfarm.com www.yelp.com/biz/scratch-deli-seattle www.sugarbakerycafe.com http://portagebaygrange.vpweb.com/Home.html

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Chicken laid an egg just for Park(ing) Day.

urban agriculture Park(ing) Day

Friends and neighbors stopped by for great conversation.

sugar bakery Park(ing) Day urban agriculture schemata workshop

Sugar Bakery stopped by with tricked out bikes that brought music and cookies! Fun.

Local preschoolers hope the chickens will lay another egg.

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urban agriculture

Daybreak Cohousing gets its first art!

[caption id="attachment_3664" align="aligncenter" width="687" caption="Daybreak's mural"][/caption] When we designed Daybreak Cohousing, the residents wanted to incorporate some art on the buildings.  However, as the project progressed, there was neither time or budget to create the pieces prior to move in so it was decided to wait until the residents moved in.  The railing system was designed to allow for replacement of wire mesh with art panels.  A concrete wall at the terrace stood ready to receive a mural or artwork.  Blocking was placed at key points on the building facades to receive large hanging pieces – these were structurally reinforced and fully flashed to integrate with the exterior siding. [Then] Daybreak resident and graphic artist Maura Jess conceived and designed the mural inspired by two pottery pieces created by fellow Daybreak resident and ceramic artist Scot Cameron-Bell. Scot later joined the project and transferred the design outline to the wall and the two artists then worked closely with other residents to paint the image over a 2-week period, Scot applying the final artistic touches.. So, after almost 2 years the first piece has been installed!  Click here to see photos of the process, including the inspiration for the piece.