The American architect who came up with the word 鈥渃ohousing鈥� is questioning the Vancouver-born version of the concept dubbed 鈥渃ohousing lite.鈥�
鈥淚 don鈥檛 want it to be called cohousing, for one thing. Since I coined the word, I don鈥檛 want it to get adulterated,鈥� Charles Durrett told the Courier. 鈥淭hey can call it cohousing-inspired or whatever, but I鈥檇 rather they call it something else altogether because as soon as you call it cohousing-inspired or cohousing lite, then it gets truncated to cohousing and then you end up with more not truth in advertising.鈥�
In the traditional form of cohousing, which is a collaborative style of living, a group of like-minded people find and buy land, work together to design a development, and steer the project through the complicated rezoning and construction process.
Cohousing developments feature individual units that members purchase, as well as large, shared indoor and outdoor spaces. Residents hold regular communal meals, make decisions by consensus and have responsibilities around the building. Fostering social relationships throughout the process, from the design to the live-in stage, and making sure the architectural design encourages interaction, are key elements, Durrett said.
Vancouver鈥檚 first cohousing complex, which he helped design,听, while another one in Riley Park.
On July 17, 麻豆传媒映画council approved rezoning for the first project in the city that the founders.鈥�
Cohousing lite
The plan is to build a 12-unit, three-and-a-half-storey complex with about 2,000 square feet of common space on a site on Main Street at Ontario Place. Our Urban Village, the group behind the project, formed in 2015 and currently includes eight member households. They dreamed up the 鈥渓ite鈥� version of the concept in an attempt to streamline and speed up the process by having a developer听 鈥� in this case Tomo Spaces Inc. 鈥� take on the development details, the approval process and construction plans.
Our Urban Village picked Tomo, which stands for 鈥渢ogether more,鈥� as the developer because members see the firm as socially progressive.
Although Tomo has control over the design and plans for the building, there was some consultation. During the design phase, Tomo held occasional workshops with group members on key matters such as anticipated uses for the common space.
Our Urban Village also formed a site and design committee to give input as requested, and group members have met regularly for social and planning events to help gel the community. Their main requests for their complex were that it feature open-concept units, lots of natural light and nine-foot ceilings.
While Tomo owns the land, Our Urban Village will take over ownership once the building is finished and function like a traditional cohousing complex.
Part of the rationale behind their decision to modify cohousing was that some cohousing groups fall apart before a project is realized because it involves a years-long commitment, a complicated development process and, in Vancouver鈥檚 case, finding land in an expensive market.
But Durrett maintains skipping any part of the process won鈥檛 yield proper results. He doesn鈥檛 think groups should give design control to a developer and insists all members should be personally involved from start to finish.
鈥淭he most important component in a cohousing community is the participation in designing and developing a project,鈥� he said. 鈥淏asically, groups of people will take risks that no developer will ever take.鈥�
Durrett also said the hands-on process will weed people out who aren鈥檛 meant for cohousing, help those who are committed to figure out how to get along, and it will reveal what they鈥檒l have to deal with once they move in.
Durrett is not convinced a tweaked version of cohousing will result in a faster process, and he said dozens of cohousing lite projects would have to be completed and evaluated to prove that to be true.
鈥淢y overarching feeling is that there are no magic bullets. There鈥檚 no need to take shortcuts because they simply take longer and there鈥檚 no reason to take shortcuts because you don鈥檛 get the same value,鈥� he said.
鈥淚t鈥檚 like saying, 鈥業鈥檓 going to do organic gardening but I鈥檓 just going to use some chemicals.鈥� There鈥檚 too much to be gained by participation to not do it鈥� [Shortcuts] might get a quicker result in one or two cases鈥� It鈥檒l never get a better result.鈥�
Traditional cohousing
Durrett, whose firm McCamant and Durrett Architects focuses on cohousing, lives in Nevada City, California.
He brought the concept of cohousing from Europe to North America decades ago. In 1988, Durrett and Kathryn McCamant introduced the idea through the book Cohousing: A Contemporary Approach to Housing Ourselves. More recently, they published Creating Cohousing: Building Sustainable Communities.
Cohousing, Durrett explained, originated in Denmark where it鈥檚 called 鈥淏ofaelleskaber.鈥�
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 think Bofaelleskaber was going to work well in the USA,鈥� he said. 鈥淥ne day, when I was living in Denmark, the Danish government called me up and said, 鈥楥huck, we鈥檙e translating an article about Bofaelleskaber tomorrow, so we need a word tomorrow鈥� so I spent the evening coming up with a word.鈥�
He鈥檚 lived in three cohousing communities over the past 25 years and has been involved in helping build 55, including five in Canada. Among them is 麻豆传媒映画Cohousing on East 33rd Avenue, which includes 6,200 square feet of shared space 鈥� a size that鈥檚 nearly impossible to re-produce in 麻豆传媒映画these days given the high price of land.
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Durrett was involved in several workshops with members of 麻豆传媒映画Cohousing from which all the preliminary designs were produced. They were then handed over to a local architect who did the working drawings.
During the workshops, numerous details, such as reducing the number of parking places, were nailed down.听
Durrett maintains the design details that are developed and the relationships that are formed through a hands-on process with the entire cohousing group helps create the foundation for, and the culture for, how the complex will function once everyone moves in. That includes how residents get along and how much time is spent in shared spaces, especially after the honeymoon phase wears off.
鈥淢y cohousing community has about 450 people-hours a week and I鈥檓 sure it鈥檚 pretty similar in 麻豆传媒映画Cohousing because it was a very hands-on design,鈥� he said. 鈥淓ven a badly designed cohousing has about 100 people-hours and in non-cohousing [development] it鈥檚 50 people hours a week,鈥� he said.
The night before speaking to the Courier, Durrett said his cohousing complex held a dinner with about 50 members in attendance, followed by a game night and music in the common house, after which people played pool until midnight.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a real heartbeat there and it鈥檚 partially because all these people knew each other quite well when they moved in. They鈥檙e a community when they move in. That鈥檚 the big difference 鈥� what participation brings to the table. One of the many big differences,鈥� he said.
Durrett doesn鈥檛 believe a design committee is as effective. He also suspects it would take longer because of the back-and-forth.
鈥淚t just adds another step 鈥� the notion you鈥檙e going to take the whole group鈥檚 concerns, give it to a design committee and they鈥檙e going to translate it. Because when they translate it, they鈥檙e going to have forgotten some stuff. Anyway, I鈥檓 very curious to see how it turns out,鈥� he said.
Durrett also thinks the idea comes from a place of mistrust based on a perception that involving everyone will make the process too long.
鈥淚t never works for some people in the group to think that they鈥檙e protecting the interests of others in the group. Every time that happens, it makes everything a lot more conservative鈥�,鈥� he said.
"Basically, you鈥檙e precluding possibilities. 鈥� You never know where the good ideas are going to come from. I can tell you, because I've designed 55 cohousing now, that that meek and mild, quiet voice in the corner, who never says anything, sometimes comes up with a watershed [idea]. They would never, ever be on the design committee because [they think they] don鈥檛 have enough confidence or [they're] not that hip to design and these other guys have been reading all the magazines and they know enough to be dangerous. But the reality is there are a lot of quiet voices that bring a lot of wisdom to the table 鈥� real values, real experiences and I want to hear from them. They get things done.鈥�
The future
Despite his reservations, Durrett said he hopes 鈥渇or the best鈥� for cohousing lite, although he wondered how success would be measured.
In fact, Our Urban Village and the developer plan to continue their relationship beyond build-out. They鈥檙e working with the organization听, led by Charles Montgomery who wrote the 2013 book听Happy City, Transforming Our Lives Through Urban Design. Happy City will track how the community functions for a couple years after move-in, including interviewing members and conducting focus groups to see what鈥檚 working, what鈥檚 not working and what can be tweaked.
Durrett, meanwhile, remains concerned about how the project evolved.
鈥淚f they鈥檙e hands off, they鈥檙e not going to get what they want. The way to mold the clay is to have your hand on the clay. So we鈥檒l see if they鈥檙e happy, semi-happy, unhappy鈥� it鈥檚 going to be somewhere along there,鈥� he said.
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