Cohousing, Co-living, Tiny Houses, and Multi-Houses

By Sam Goss

“Loneliness is one of the biggest issues we face as a society,

So we need to do everything we can, and that includes making our neighbourhoods less lonely.”

- Robin Hewings, Programme Director for the Campaign to End Loneliness

When I was 14 years old my Grandma couldn't live independently any more – whats more, she was lonely. My dad drove hundreds of miles each week to see her. We couldn't accommodate her in our home, so she went to a home. It filled me with guilt every time I visited her there, and I expect my parents felt the same.

Since then, and as a practice, we've been passionate about trying to transform the way people live, in the hope that the work we do has purpose, and with the belief that we can design better futures together with our clients and communities.

Now as a father of 3 young children, I also crave connection to a wider community of like minded friends and family to make life richer and more fun for everyone. They say it takes a village to raise a child, and I believe that has never been truer, except most of us don't live in villages anymore!

Recently we worked on a design research project in which we've explored how co-housing principles could apply in new ways to a site in Bristol as part of a competition for which we were shortlisted and commended. Our ideas included a range of different co-housing typologies to suit multi-generational, mutually-supportive living, to directly address the loneliness epidemic that currently affects so many people living in the UK.

Above: aerial view of proposal, showing central 3-storey “Nest” building, which contains a range of co-living apartments and maisonettes, which surround a shared community courtyard and have access to a common room and shared amenity spaces.

Our proposed “Multi-House” homes located to the perimeter of the site provide smaller scale co-housing clusters for 2-3 households of families or friends. Each household has their own private living accommodation, but comes together around a larger shared living space and opens out onto a shared garden. We developed this in response to the vast number of enquiries we receive to help people create multi-generational homes with annexes or adaptations to suit this sort of arrangement.

The landscape forms a core part of the scheme, and has been designed to further support the co-housing typology and engender a sense of community. Our proposals included a range of public amenity spaces and facilities, including a courtyard garden at the heart of the site, an orchard and public foraging route, a community kitchen and cafe, a natural play park and an arts trail.

We're passionate about co-housing and developing alternative ways of living. After all, it feels like the current housing system, supply, and support systems within our communities simply aren't working very well for most people. We'll continue to focus on supporting a range of clients to develop ideas that can transform the way that people live.