Different kind of living

摘要

With only 19 completed projects describing themselves as cohousing in the UK, amounting to around 250 total units, it's a housing model which has received a disproportionately large amount of coverage in British media over the past few years. Like any slightly alternative form of housing at the moment, it's billed as a major potential solution to the housing crisis - meaning the affordability of housing crisis. True enough, according to the UK Cohousing Network, interest has spiralled. There are now an estimated 75 groups actively proceeding or searching for development opportunities across the country, in both rural and urban locations. Yet it is still quite a mystery how cohousing actually works. So what is it? Where has it come from? What examples are there? And how does it work from the perspective of architecture?