Cohousing
Building as a community
If we want beautiful urban communities where residents put down roots and thrive, we need medium density housing designed and built with empathy for, and input from, future residents. We believe the project we’re working on is a viable urban addition to the current housing mix; one that is attractive to people at all life stages.
What we’re doing isn’t new. We’re drawing on the experiences of Co-housing developments like Earthsong in Auckland, Baugruppen in Germany, Nightingale in Melbourne, Australia, and others in Denmark and the United States. Our members are enjoying translating these diverse experiences into a Wellington New Zealand urban context.
In Cohousing and Baugruppen, private owners collaboratively build multi-family buildings: they purchase land, develop a design and construct the project with the help of an architect and project manager. Through a participatory process, residents help to create a neighbourhood that meets their needs, with a focus on liveability and sustainability, giving residents a greater sense of ownership than with traditional developer-led projects.
Individual dwellings are designed to be self-contained – each having its own kitchen, bathroom and living areas, with the addition of shared facilities (in our case, common house, guest bedroom, rooftop, storage, laundry, workshop, garden and decks) to combine the autonomy of private dwellings with the advantages of more social living.