[caption id="attachment_938" align="aligncenter" width="700" caption="Daybreak Cohousing"][/caption] Last Friday, Schemata Workshop was recognized by AARP and the National Association of Home Builders for thedesign of Daybreak Cohousing. We received the Livable Communities Award in the Architect category and we are thrilled to receive this honor.
[caption id="attachment_941" align="aligncenter" width="700" caption="Daybreak Cohousing Private Home"][/caption]
Daybreak is an intergenerational cohousing development of 30 homes in Portland, OR. Construction was completed in late in 2009. The 1, 2, and 3-bedroom homes are fully independent, but they also share 7,000sf of common area (called the Common House) that includes a commercial kitchen, large dining room, childrens play room, library, laundry facilities, workshop, indoor bike parking for 90 bikes, 2 guest rooms, yoga studio, and craft room. From the window of each kitchen residents have direct sight lines to this Common House. All the homes are connected to one another via an exterior walkway that allows the life of the community to be seen and experienced daily. The walkway also serves as sun shading for the south facing windows.
[caption id="attachment_939" align="aligncenter" width="700" caption="Daybreak Cohousing"][/caption]
A description of the project as well as photos and a video can be found at http://www.aarp.org/home-garden/livable-communities/info-12-2010/lca_portland_1.html
It is notable that 2 of the 5 awards were granted to cohousing projects. I wonder if this is a tipping point for cohousing - will it truly inform a new paradigm for the American Dream? One that is not defined by the single family house with 2-car garage and white picket fence, but instead a dream that is depicting seniors and kids working in community gardens, or unrelated adults preparing a community meal, or helping one another with errands in a physical setting that reinforces community interactions and shared resources...all the while enabling residents to maintain the privacy of their individual homes. Now that's an American Dream that I could aspire to! (And I know there are still a few homes available for sale if it appeals to you as well!)
Thanks to our design team (noted in previous blog post about Daybreak, but bears repeating)! Swenson Say Faget Structural Engineers, Lando Associates Landscape Architects, MGH Civil Engineers, Urbsworks, Maria Cahill, Melissa Medeiros, and Liz Fekete! And to our most excellent General Contractor - Gabe Genauer of B&G Builders.
related articles:
http://blog.seattlepi.com/boomerconsumer/archives/235746.asp?from=blog_last3
http://www.publicnewsservice.org/index.php?/content/article/17945-1
http://www.kugn.com/newsstory.php?id=1617&type=localnews
(We know that an interview was aired on a number of Oregon and Washington radio stations, but if you find more links for news articles, please let us know!)