Ground Floor Plan
Second Floor Plan
Co-housing Manor is a design exercise looking at a different form of housing for today's Baby Boomer generation that wants to downsize and simplify from the large homes they raised their families in. In many ways they still need the large homes after their kids have grown and moved away. They need the number of bedrooms for when the next generation comes to visit. They need the large kitchen and entertaining areas for family celebrations and holidays. The three car garage also has become a large project or hobby space that is difficult to give up when downsizing. And often an adult kid may need to come back to live at home when economic hardship or divorce happens.
Family members often like to be in closer proximity to each other. Like in the case of an elderly relative that needs to watched over, or the need to take care of a house while someone is traveling for extended periods. The expense of gas and frustration of traffic at certain times of the day can limit the ability of family members to travel across town or between cities to be supportive of each other.
Families today also are comprised of close friends that they feel the same level of care for as actual relations and are an integral part of their lives.
Co-Housing Manor is a way for a close group of people to live together in a supportive way and still maintain a level of privacy and autonomy.
It is five independent living units that share larger common amenities that are difficult to give up when moving to smaller homes, as well as allow the supportive family environment that close proximity allows. There are five living units ranging from 638 to 1729 square feet. The total building area is 8900 square feet giving an average of 1,800 sf per unit. So it allows you to downsize to about 1,500 sf yet retain the large public areas that would be common in a house of 8 to 10 thousand square feet.
There is a 19' by 32' Great Hall that can be used for large entertaining such as holidays or family celebrations like birthdays or weddings. It can also be available to invite the wider neighborhood in for community interaction. There is a likewise large outdoor covered gathering space for more casual or impromptu socializing. Supporting both spaces is a large central kitchen which can have larger capacity appliances for use of residents and offers more space than in their private units for projects that need larger layout counters.
There is a guest suite attached to the common area to accommodate visitors that allows both they and you privacy that is difficult when you have downsized to a condominium.
There is a separate garage that can be set up for a shop or be used for extra storage of sports equipment or hobbies that would not fit within the single garage provided each unit.
There are five two story townhouses at each corner separated by garages so they are very private and there is no chance of noise transmission through common walls. The rooms are on the small side, but there are large master baths and walk in closets normally found in larger homes. There is a second space that can be used for home office, guest room or media center. A studio apartment on the second floor can be rented out or used for an adult child that has moved back, or for a person that can act as a caretaker for the complex.
Click here to see exterior views.
Click here to see interior views.
Click here to see another Co-housing Design Concept
Love your designs. I live in Kenmore and would love to figure out how to add separate residences to our fairly large lot for our kids and families to join us. Do you have any ideas that break or bend the current ADU rules that cleverly add up to 6 separate residences, either attached or detached? We are not interested in adding parking. So far all I can think of is to add a detached two level, two unit ADU, attached basement apartment, motorhome and tiny house parked on site to get to 6 places on site.
ReplyDeleteYour lots zoning designation sets how many units you can have. Sometimes you can look closely how your municipality defines a unit in their zoning ordinance, typically it is defined as having a full kitchen. Sometimes you can get away with a "Wet Bar", compact refrigerator, sink and microwave or hot plate to avoid classification as a unit, this will depend on your local building department's interpretation of their zoning ordinance. If your lot is exceptionally large you can look into dividing it up into smaller lots, though each lot will need to meet the minimum size requirements in the zoning ordinance, and sometimes each lot will require access to a public street.
ReplyDeleteI like this a lot. Ive been thinking about a project like this for years, and I think you’ve articulated the market case well. I would argue that there’s a first time homebuyer segment as well. The design is thoughtful and addresses the core challenges. I’m surprised you didn’t put the garage ingress and driveways on the exterior and landscape the interior courtyards. I might also upgrade the common cooking area to a commercial kitchen, expand the pantry, and scale it to enable convenient shared cooking “by and for” 6-8 people. Otherwise, perfect. Are you in Portland?
ReplyDeleteYes. This concept would be applicable to first time buyers. Thank you for your comment.
ReplyDeleteHi what kind of zoning is required for this co-housing layout? Can it be considered single-family when each townhouse has it's own kitchen?
ReplyDeleteMost likely Multi-family zoning would be required. If a municipality has a "Planned Unit" designation then that might be used, though the underlying density would still apply.
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