[caption id="attachment_1410" align="aligncenter" width="700" caption="Third Street Cottages by Ross Chapin Architects • Developed by The Cottage Company"]
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Cohousing, clustered developments, and cottage housing are all examples of Pocket Neighborhoods – a concept that is the subject of Ross Chapin’s newly published book of the same title (Tauntum Press, 2011).
Starting off with a forward by Sarah Susanka (the architect of the Not-so-Big House books), Ross presents the concepts of pocket neighborhoods in 4 parts - historical precedents for pocket neighborhoods, contemporary examples of pocket neighborhoods, cohousing communities, and infill/adaptive developments in existing communities. This is a wonderful resource for learning about community oriented design that focuses on human scaled architecture and a smaller ecological footprint. For those that are concerned about quality (of community, relationships, and lifestyle) over quantity (of materialistic and isolated American pop-culture) Ross’ book is a must-read.
I have known Ross for many years – primarily through our good friend Karen DeLucas, who has worked with Ross for the past eight years. A year ago, I was contacted by Ross Ross while he was doing some research for his book and had the pleasure of sharing with him my knowledge of cohousing. I also shared with him our library of photographs from the 20+ Danish cohousing communities Mike and I visited in 2004 – several of which are featured throughout his book.
Ross Chapin is an architect based in Langley, WA – a quaint town at the north end of Whidbey Island, home to 3rd Street Cottages, his first “pocket neighborhood”.
To learn more about pocket neighborhoods visit the website
To buy Ross’ book, click on here