Mid Atlantic Cohousing

Are you just starting out in cohousing?  Are you geographically challenged with some of your members living far away?  Is your cohousing professional in another time zone? Are you having a critical meeting and some of your neighbors are away? 

ZOOM is a FREE tool that allows you to video conference up to 50 participants!  The number of meetings is UNLIMITED.  You can even do one-to-one meetings.  It's a little like SKYPE but for groups.  It's EASY to use.  Believe me ... if I use it it's easy!  

Chat support is available.

Can You Build a House Out of Plastic?

EcoDomum converts waste plastic into 8'x4'x1" building panels for low-cost homes in Mexico.  If they can do this in Mexico ... can we do it here?  If you don't read Spanish then read about what this company is doing in Treehugger.

The Edifying
Form Follows -- NOT Function --  but FICTION.

As in story telling.

Buildings, according to architect Ole Scheeren, tell the stories of the people who live and work in them.  When buildings tell stories rather than simply function to solve an identified problem then you can weave together the architecture with the people who will live in them.

Ole Scheeren's The Interlace, a 1000+ plus apartment building in Singapore wonBuilding of the Year award at the World Architecture Festival in November of 2015.  

In this plan, Scheeren topples on its side the vertical columnar building form so associated with high-rise affordable housing.  By doing so, on the same site plan space as would be sited densely packed vertical buildings, he creates a series of connected buildings with an array of community spaces from pools to community garden to a dog run not possible with 14 separate vertical columns.  The design does this while maximizing privacy and community space.  Sounds a lot like the very principles of cohousing.  In fact, in the very broadest sense of the word ... with The Interlace Scheeren has "co - housed" the site and its residents.  In fact, Scheeren calls The Interlace "a vertical village of living and social spaces integrated with the natural environment."

In addition, through the use of vertical gardens the design actually increases the amount of green and open space that would have been available just from the site's ground level foot print.  This is a design principle we see being used with great frequency in the "vertical forest" buildings.

This newsletter published a short notice of Scheeren wining the Building of the Year award.  Scroll to the bottom of the blog post 11/17/15. GIZMODO has detailed description of the project plus lots of great photos.  

Be even more inspired.  Watch Scheeren's TED talk "Why Great Architecture Should Tell a Story."

​Sunday, February 7, 2016, 2:00 pm,  New Member Social  EcoVillage Arlington, Virginia, Boccato Gelato & Espresso, 2719 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, VA 22201

Saturday, February 20, 2016 come out for the Visitor Day at Heathcote Community!  Freeland, Maryland.

Saturday, March 5, 2016, tour Takoma Village Cohousing in Washington, DC.  Sign up via Washington DC Area Meetup.

Heathcote Community, a 50-year old intentional community and permaculture demonstration farm, is seeking proposals from families or groups who would like to be Associate Members of Heathcote and rent Heathcote’s farmhouse for a year.
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Or, your furniture is your bedroom.  The French designer Gilles Belley calls it making spaces out of furniture ... ​  

You can leave comments about blog postings or all our published work right here on the Mid Atlantic Cohousing website's blog.  Newsletters are posted to the the web site two days after being emailed to subscribers.  Or you can send your comments to ANN.  She reads them all!   While at the website, cruise around earlier blog posts and other parts of the website.  Look for FREE downloads!  

If you received this newsletter from a third party ... you can subscribe yourself!  We don't trade names, we don't spam and we're all around lovely people.  Subscribe using the button on the Home Page!
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What is cohousing?  
This has to be the most asked question in cohousing.  Now I have a tool that — oh my — even beats out Google. It’s Pinterest which I, along with about a zillion other people,  have discovered judging by the number of categories under “cohousing” the number of “pinners” and the number of “boards.” 

And, thankfully, so.  

For awhile, I was trying to aggregate photos and information around certain categories in cohousing for the Mid Atlantic Cohousing website.

Not anymore.  Why bother when there are established categories with curated boards available right on- line instantaneously available?
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At the Pinterest  home page, in the search box, I typed in the ubiquitous question “What is cohousing?”   A beautiful page opened up with an array of options to explore.  At the top of the page it included that very popular and well-received graphic from Great Britain -- “Cohousing 2.0” — it’s impossible to reproduce on a website — I know — I tried.  I contacted the company twice for permission to reproduce the graphic (rather than just a link) but no response from the company.  Here it is.  This page also yielded Ross Chapin’s Pocket Neighborhoods, The Cheesecake Cohousing Consortium for growing older together,  a look at Berlin’s Radical R50 Baugruppen Project (another project that made the popularity rounds a couple of months ago). 

With apologies to Zero Mostel and “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” -- Something for Everyone on Pinterest Tonight!

If you type in “cohousing” at the Pinterest search box, you will come up with 56+ categories to search including articles, green, Italia, buildings, kitchens, garden, plans, seniors, ideas, concept … as I said: something for everyone.  

Curiously, there is no category for “Common House”.  You will find many boards, pins and pinners about Common Houses under the category “Common.”  One of the ones I like in this category is a collection from google.ca  — a Canadian Google search compilation.  Yes, Pinterest compiles Google Searches by pinners (nomenclature for the people who post collections to Pinterest.)

The collections include videos, photos, web pages, some audio, sketches, etc.
Do you use Pinterest in your marketing and outreach efforts?  How do you use it?  How has that worked for you?  Do you have some tips to share about using this resource?  Send your thoughts, comments and suggestions to Ann.  Include contact information.

Up?  Down?  Where will interest rates be in 2016?

Inquiring minds want to know!  Here are two "experts" in an posting in Urban Turf  forecasting interest rates to stay in the low to mid 4% range. ​

You're at a meeting.  Suddenly, unexpectedly, you find yourself face-to-face with one of the key people who will soon consider your zoning application.  Or your financial package.  Or your design submission. Or, a prospective member.

He or she asks the question:  So, what is cohousing?

You have 10 seconds to make your marketing pitch about cohousing before the person is distracted by someone else clamoring for attention.

What do you say?

I don't know about you, but I've often found it difficult to cram into 10 seconds:   What Is Cohousing?

Until I ran across this formula in an Entrepreneur on-line newsletter.  

According to its author, Robert W. Bly:

Most elevator pitches, unfortunately, don’t work because they're just straightforward descriptions of job functions and titles, generating not much else aside from disinterest and a few yawns. For example, a fellow I met at a party once told me, “I'm a certified financial planner with more than 20 years’ experience working.” OK. But who cares?

This is The Formula, developed by Paul Karasik and cited by Bly in the Entrepreneur article:

1.  Identify the issue, the "pain" or the question that needs addressing.  Use the question:  "Do you know that..."

2.  Next is a statement that is a clear, concise descriptor of the product or service:  "What I/we do ..."

3.  Lastly, identify the BENEFIT:  "so that ..."

Here's an example when I'm asked about our consulting services for senior cohousing:

Do you know what seniors fear most is loneliness, helpless and boredom? What we do is collaborate with you to help you build a state-of-the-art neighborhood for aging in community so that you can live longer, healthier, connected and fulfilled lives.

You can use this formula to pitch ANY product or service -- even the budget for budget approval!

TIP 1:  If you're building a cohousing community ... everyone in the group should have an elevator drop pitch that fits his or her way of speaking. PRACTICE giving the pitch to each other.  You'll be surprised!  It pays off to do this!

TIP 2:  You will want to have several pitches to use for different people and situations. I might well have a different pitch for an individual who is a prospective member vs. an institutional leader from whom I need support.  The key is always:  what's "it" to him or her?  Why do they care?

Do you have an elevator drop pitch for cohousing you want to share?  We'll reprint it. Need help developing a pitch? Let us know and we'll repost it for feedback.  Send your elevator drop pitch to share or your request for help with a pitch to Ann. Please include your contact information!

Saturday, February 20, 2016 come out for the Visitor Day at Heathcote Community!  Freeland, Maryland.

Heathcote Community, a 50-year old intentional community and permaculture demonstration farm, is seeking proposals from families or groups who would like to be Associate Members of Heathcote and rent Heathcote’s farmhouse for a year.

Saturday, March 5, 2016, tour Takoma Village Cohousing in Washington, DC.  Sign up via Washington DC Area Meetup.

 From the CohoUS website:

Saturday, April 30, 2016 Have you registered for the unique opportunity to promote your community along with others around the country through the National Cohousing Open House Day ?

This will be a great way to strengthen the bonds within and between communities while lengthening your waiting lists and filling openings. It will help generate new interest nationwide as well, thus more communities can emerge over time. Sign up using this form.edit.

Aging Better Together: May 20-21, 2016 Salt Lake City, UtahDiscover how you can live a powerful purposeful life in cohousing!The conference holds the keys to creating a highly functioning senior friendly cohousing community. You will learn how to get started, meet the people who can help make it happen, and discover best practices from others who have already made the journey.

​There is something for everyone - those exploring the idea, newly forming groups or existing communities with aging members.

Do you have an announcement?  Send your info to Ann using the standard 5-Ws:  Who, What, Where, When, Why + contact info!

Another Treehugger contribution:  Top 10 Shipping Container, Pre-Fab, Modular Homes of 2015.  We like this list because the entries span quite a spectrum:  3D printed houses which we reported on in our first two newsletters, shipping containers with the works included, passive house and ... more!
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Would you live in this 400s/f Airstream trailer?
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Tiny houses ... tiny houses ... tiny houses ... why not give up this conversation as if "tiny houses" are something new and just live in a -- gasp! -- trailer?  At 400s/f this trailer can hold its own with "tiny houses" and ... it's moveable!  Curbed.

Project Sunroof -- Google, of course!
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Thinking of installing a solar roof?  Don't know where to start?  Begin with this FREE web application for determining your solar needs.  

"When you enter your address, Project Sunroof looks up your home in Google Maps and combines that information with other databases to create your personalized roof analysis.
Don't worry: Project Sunroof doesn't give the address to anybody else unless you ask it to."  from the Sunroof website.     

Data analysis is available for about nine geographic areas at present.  If yours is not available you can sign up to be notified of its availability.

You can leave comments about blog postings or all our published work below.  While here, cruise around earlier blog posts and other parts of the website.  Look for FREE downloads!  
!  
If you received this newsletter from a third party ... you can subscribe yourself!  We don't trade names, we don't spam and we're all around lovely people.  Subscribe via the home page of this website.