I'm home!
I haven't had a chance to explore this project as much as I'd like, but a recent feature in Sunset (northwest) magazine
Green like us discusses co-housing in Portland Oregon. For years Bonni & I have been dreaming of creating some sort of co-housing community with friends in the Pacific Northwest. My education at the UO School of Architecture has driven many of the co-housing principles home and when I graduate (Masters in 3 months!) I hope to work for a housing firm that shares said principles.
Orange Splot's Principles for design:
- Involve construction or renovation of smaller, functional, and beautifully designed homes
- Use less land per house by arranging multiple residences on the same lot
- Provide shared interior and exterior common spaces for community to happen
- Be constructed of salvaged and sustainably produced building materials whenever possible
- Include units more affordable than are typically produced in the market
- Use design to make it easy and fun for neighbors to share resources, thereby fostering a happier, less resource-intensive lifestyle
- Incorporate durable construction materials to minimize the need for ongoing maintenance/replacement
- Re-utilize existing structures whenever possible
- Be located and designed to make it easy to live without a car
- Provide opportunities for participation in design by the future residents, especially with respect to interior and exterior common spaces
- Incorporate artwork, salvaged materials and quality craftsmanship to make projects beautiful and unique
Refreshing! Sustainability through design, materials, shared spaces, and compact spaces, not just sexy technologies.
I hope to explore these related websites more soon!
Homes & Gardents - Sabin Green - The OregonianGreen in Portland - Sunset MagazineOrange Splot LLC - Company WebsiteCommunitecture Architecture (Mark Lakeman)
- Company WebsiteThe Sabin Green Group - SlideshowCity Repair Project - Official WebsitePeninsula Park Commons (Eli Spevak)
- Cohousing Communities DirectoryShare-It Square - StreetFilms.org
A pair of gems, University of Oregon Professors Michael Fifield & Mark Gillem, put together this gem of a competition just last year. The resulting website is jam-packed with information and presentations by a myriad of talented designers.
I'm just two weeks from graduation and I just discovered a site that could been a big help over the past three years. HousingPrototypes.org is a fairly dry site but it is packed with precedents organized by architect, location, or housing type.
