Co- Housing Curious..have you heard?? - Design Thoughts STUDIO

Today as I was working away in my office, I heard Joan Hamburg, on a local NY radio station talking about the Co-Housing trend that is becoming more and more popular? Have you heard of this? I was fascinated!! here is a little info about this “Trend”

Co-Housing Communities, are popping up all over the US. Being built by Eco minded people, who are looking for the old fashion sense of what “community” used to be. Some even have their own small farms, gardens, and “Goods” shops for the people of the community to use. The smaller communities have individual family homes, as well as one larger community home which may have large kitchen and eating area…Library, and living room…is this creepy or cool?? what do you think?? Before you think, WOW! 60’s commune-esque…take a look at the pics below, of a few Co-Housing communities ( and by the way..most of these places are about 200-400K)

See?? Not creepy, right?? this is an example of a shared Community House, and below are the individual homes in the Co-Housing Community…would it be SO bad to have a caring community surrounding you and your kids? I think I kind of dig it….

Here are photos of a small Co-housing community outside of San Fransisco..the Community is called “Frog Song”

You can clearly see the lush greens of the gardens, where community members grow their own food.

I understood, clearly, the definition that the above community gave to describe co-housing

“Co housing is a form of cooperative living that combines private residences with extensive common facilities. Co housing recreates the sense of togetherness, physical security, and community found in an old-style neighborhood while providing the privacy and stability of individual home ownership”.

Here is a general Layout of what a co-housing community may look like. This is from A development and consulting firm called CDC.

So, you can see, there is a lot of space, its not like they are right on top of each other. I seriously want to know your thoughts on the idea of “Community Living”. So intriguing to me?!

Even Grand Rapids, Mi has caught on, creating Newberry Place, A Modern, co-housing community! (Designed by Destigter/Smith Architects)

So, what do you think? I am impressed, intrigued and want to learn more!! I can totally “dig” having a community Garden to grow my own food to share with my community! I love that idea!

Do any of you happen to know someone who lives in one of these co-housing communities??I’m Curious!!!

P.S http://www.cohousing.org/ has answers to any questions you may have about this new Design Trend!!

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