 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."   From AARP Livable Communities Hot off the press! AARP has just published an article about cohousing in it's most recent edition of its on-line newsletter, Livable Communities. Ellen Ryan, a freelance writer in the Washington, DC area, wrote the extensive article in the form of "20 Questions" covering topics from the form of ownership (condo, co-op, homeowner's association), private vs. community property, governance, finances, pets, labor, sustainability, privacy, stereotypes, local leaders and cohousing availability. For this article, Ryan interviewed 10 residents at Takoma Village Cohousing in northwest Washington, DC. She conducted two group interview sessions as well as individual sessions. While there are a couple of minor inaccuracies -- e.g. Takoma Village is in Washington, DC not Maryland as the editor's intro states and it's Takoma Village Cohousing not Takoma Park Cohousing as written in one of the topic headlines -- the story is accurate and captures the experience of us who live in this community as we inexorably "age in place in community" together. You'll like the article!  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.  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.  Aging Better Together: May 20-21, 2016 Salt Lake City, Utah Discover 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  Edi-bits The Slightly Weird: A Bedroom is Your Furniture  Or, your furniture is your bedroom. The French designer Gilles Belley calls it making spaces out of furniture ... The Somewhat Bizarre ... Napoleon Complex: Cohousing for the Anti-Social  Can someone explain this to me? Is this community for real? It's reported in Treehugger ... I'm totally missing something ... I get the double entendre about Napoleon and complex and anti-social .... I get it that it's a concept plan by Jay Shafer, one of the founders of the tiny house movement and owner of Tumbleweed ... but please tell me it's not for real -- that it's really an "Onion" inspiration for the web? Tongue in cheek? Inquiring minds want to know! HUH?  Wanna have a contest? What fun contests about "life in cohousing" would you like to see? Send your suggestions to: Ann Zabaldo. Or you can comment on our blog. Open to all clean & green, natural, organic, cage & steroid-free contests ... 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!
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AuthorAnn Zabaldo is a passionate promoter of cohousing. She was on the develoment team for Eastern Village in Silver Spring, MD and Takoma Village in Washington, DC where she lives. She serves on the Board for MAC. Archives
February 2017
See cool blog for Emerson Commons.
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