Notes From the Field: CHUC

Last week, Guy and I did a walk-through of CHUC: Capitol Hill Urban Cohousing. Some quick background--this is a mixed use building with ground level commercial space to become Schemata Workshop’s new home and nine residential units above. But don’t be fooled: this isn’t your average four-over-one. Nine families joined together to self-develop CHUC as a vertical, or “stacked,” neighborhood. These families wanted an urban neighborhood that reflects their goals and values. Over the course of eight years, members worked together and, through a participatory process with non-hierarchical structure and decision making, CHUC was born. 

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The saw dust settled long ago, and now the smell of freshly dried paint, and the low hum of heaters draws you through the spaces. All the units have floor to ceiling windows, but today the familiar views are hidden. The painters have sheathed the windows with craft paper to protect them from any over spray. The color of the paper lends the units a warm glow. 

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From the exterior CHUC is dressed in its Sunday best. On the 12th Ave elevation, painting and storefront installation are complete. 

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At Schemata, we're looking forward to moving into our new home later this spring!

- Roma

Call for Volunteers: Homeless Campers Need Your Help Moving in Bothell

This is short notice, but we just found out about an urgent situation this Saturday, February 20 that could use extra hands. Camp Unity is a group of homeless campers currently in a church parking east of Bothell, about forty minutes from Seattle. In order to stay in tents in parking lots, they obtain temporary permits and move every three months, which is kind of insane. Now, their three month stay at Bear Creek Church is at an end, and they’re getting ready to relocate to a park nearby.

Date: Saturday, February 20 @ 9:00AM
Location:  Cold Creek Natural Area - 180th Ave and Woodinville-Duvall Rd NE
Contact: Will Crothers (will@schemataworkshop.com)

The work would include moving and setting up personal and community tents, hauling palettes and plywood (which they use as platforms to stay out of the water), cleaning up the old site, and some trips to the dump.

One of our staff members, Will, helped with the first stage of the move last weekend: it’s hard, eye-opening work. Anyone interested in meeting and helping homeless folks, learning more about Woodinville, weird permitting requirements, or being a decent human being should let him know and he can get you in the loop.

The timing is pretty flexible, but they start at 9:00am so we should aim to be there in the morning and stay for at least a few hours. We’ll work out the details based on who’s interested.

Here is an email, from Meredith, the Pastor of Bear Creek Church, with some more details is below:

“Dear friends of Bear Creek,

Our neighbors at Camp Unity Eastside are concluding their stay at Bear Creek. We are sad to see them go, but we are delighted to report they will remain nearby!

This Saturday, February 20, we will gather to help the camp complete its move to Cold Creek Natural Area (at 180th Ave and Woodinville-Duvall Rd NE). We’ll get started around 9 and go till the work is done. Stop by at any time that day to haul plywood, sweep, take out garbage, and set up tents at the new site.

Thank you for all the ways you support our neighbors experiencing homelessness. Feel free to invite a friend to help — many hands make light work!

May the peace of Christ be with you,
Pastor Meredith”

In case anyone is interested in some more context, here's a great website started by an architect (Rex Holbein) who closed down a very successful residential practice to give a face/voice to the homeless community. His website/organization is an amazing window into the community of people that are touched by homelessness.

http://www.facinghomelessness.org/rex.html

Let us know if you can lend a helping hand to this insane situation!

Cheers!

The Froggers

Best Urban Gardens in Seattle

Schemata Workshop will be hosting a model-building workshop for youth aged 11-16 on Saturday, March 26, in collaboration with the Seattle Architecture Foundation about the design of urban gardens (more information here).  We'll be exploring the issues we faced while designing the rooftop garden with Seattle Urban Farming Company at our new space and cohousing community. This got our froggers thinking about their favorite urban gardens in Seattle.  Here are some of our staff's well-loved lesser known parks in Seattle we hope you get to visit.  Happy exploring! 

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Abigail's Pick:  Seven Hills Park (Capitol Hill)
1514 E Howell St, Seattle, WA 98122

"I feel like Seven Hills Park is a hidden gem, so I almost don’t want to share it, but it’s such a great spot. There’s a little community garden, some public grills and picnic tables, a few trees for shade, and an ample lawn perfect for laying out a blanket and sharing a picnic, readinga book, or just soaking up some late afternoon rays. It’s a little off the beaten path, and with Volunteer Park and Cal Anderson Park nearby, most of the visitors to Seven Hills Park live in the neighborhood, which makes for a cozy community feel even on the most crowded summer day.

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Brian's Pick: Kubota Garden (Rainier Beach)
9817 55th Avenue S, Seattle, WA 98178

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Grace's Pick: Belltown Cottage Park and P-Patch (Belltown)
2512 Elliott Ave, Seattle, WA 98121

"I like that people hang out there. It can be quite lovely on summer evenings to walk through and see people picnic as well as working on the lots."

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Margaret's Pick: Streissguth Gardens (Capitol Hill)
1640 Broadway E, Seattle, WA 98102

"I love how tucked away this park is – if you’re coming from 10th it’s easy to miss the stairs that lead down to it.  The hillside gardens are really beautiful and have a wildness to them that I really like. There also is a pretty great view of Lake Union and the Olympic Mountains from the top."

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Mike's Pick: Loveless Building Courtyard (Capitol Hill)
806 E Roy St, Seattle, WA 98102

"The Loveless Building scale is outstanding along the sidewalk, as is the material textures, and expression of uses. The glimpse of the courtyard seen passing by the gate is very compelling, followed by the traditional sequence of compression of view in the tunnel, and expansion into the garden, and the tree canopy overhead."

Mira's Pick: Waterfall Garden Park (Pioneer Square)
219 2nd Ave S, Seattle, WA 98104

"Waterfall Garden Park is such a secret oasis in the middle of the of Pioneer Square.  I love taking visitors there when touring Pioneer Square since the waterfall and lushness makes for a nice break from the noise and harshness of the city."

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Roma's Pick: Federal Courthouse Plaza (Downtown)
700 Stewart St, Seattle, WA 98101

"While there is a lot of critique regarding the Federal Courthouse Plaza, and though some of it is valid, I just really love the space."

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Will's Pick: Guerrila Gardens
Throughout Seattle

"Guerilla Gardening happens when people garden in places where they don't have a legal right to utilize the property, like these little traffic roundabouts that you find all over Seattle.  I find it so neat that people have taken it upon themselves to garden wherever they can and to beautify their environment. It really adds to the city."

Cheers!

-The Froggers

*All images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons and Google Streetview.

5th Street Commons: A Retrofit Cohousing Community

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Affordable housing in Seattle has reached crisis levels. And to be clear (since we do a lot of work in the area of subsidized housing), I’m not just talking about housing for the lowest-income households, I’m talking about non-subsidized, affordable-to-you-and-me type of housing – aka workforce housing. And for those who can afford to make housing choices and seek an intentional community-setting like cohousing, the costs can certainly be a barrier to entry.

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So it was with great wonder and interest that we toured 5th Street Commons with Ross Chapin and Karen Delucas this summer.  To quote from Ross’s website, “Fifth Street Commons is a multi-generational, intentional community of 16 households located near the center of Langley on Whidbey Island, WA. It was created through a local initiative to transform an existing apartment complex into an affordable ownership community of socially engaged residents.”

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Although Ross doesn’t call it cohousing, the one and two bedroom homes that surround the central green and Common House, certainly has the appearance of a cohousing community. In fact, I would consider this a “retrofit cohousing” community because it wasn’t purpose built, but instead an adaptation of older buildings to accommodate the intention of living collaboratively.

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Architecturally, the homes are not fancy – the existing buildings were renovated and the grounds are a work in progress, evidenced by the care of the plantings and new interventions seen throughout. The innovation is really the model by which they were able to finance the purchase of the property and renovation with no bank financing. And the cost of purchasing the individual homes: $108,000 – $140,000. This short video tells their story. We hope it catches on and that others will learn from them to create their own retrofit communities.

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.