User-planned architecture
Introduction
A cohousing (in English, cohousing) is a type of intentional community composed of private homes complemented and grouped with extensive community spaces. A cohousing community is planned and managed by its resident owners or users, which are groups of people who long for greater interaction with their neighbors. Community spaces vary but usually include a large kitchen (room) and dining room where residents take turns cooking for the community. Other spaces could include a laundry room, children's space, offices, network access, games room, television room, workshop or tool room and gym, meeting room and exhibition room. Through spatial design and shared social and administrative activities, cohousing facilitates interaction between neighbors for social and practical benefits. There are also economic and environmental benefits to sharing resources, spaces and objects.
Origins of cohousing
The modern theory of cohousing originated in Denmark in the 1960s between architect Jan Gudmand-Høyer and a group of families who were dissatisfied with existing housing and community forms that they felt did not meet their needs. The concept was introduced to the United States by American architects Kathryn McCamant and Charles Durrett, who visited several cohousing communities in Denmark and wrote a book about it, Cohousing: A Contemporary Approach to Housing Ourselves. There are many cohousing communities in Denmark and other Nordic European countries. There are about 84 communities operating in the United States with another 100 in the planning or construction stages. In Canada, there are 7 communities operating and approximately 15 in the planning or construction process.
Design
Since cohousing communities are planned in their context, a fundamental key to this model is its flexibility regarding the needs and values of its residents and the characteristics of the site. Cohousing can be urban, suburban and rural. The physical form is generally a compact complex, but varies from low-rise apartments, close-together houses, or isolated houses.[1] They tend to locate cars on the periphery, which promotes walking through the community and interacting with neighbors, as well as greater safety for children and their play within the community. Another feature is shared green spaces, whether gardens, play areas, or meeting places. When land is available in addition to that needed for physical construction, buildings are usually grouped together to leave as much “open” area as possible for common use. Thus offering an alternative to the problem of suburban growth.