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Builder: (We work to Design and Build) Blu Homes

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Maura McCarthy
Co-Founder
Blu Homes
760 Main Street
Waltham, MA 02451
617.275.2334
Email: maura [at] bluhomes [dot] com

New Hampshire Governor visits state's only cohousing neighborhood

Submitted by Cohousing Coaches on Thu, 07/23/2009 - 04:59
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By Raines Cohen, Cohousing Coach

According to story in today's Union Leader, New Hampshire Governor John Lynch yesterday toured Nubanusit Neighborhood & Farm, the state's first completed cohousing neighborhood.

He wasn't the first New Hampshire Governor to walk the Peterborough property, though: the community was built in 2008 on the historic homestead of Gov. John Steele (1789-1865), and the basement of his renovated now super-insulated home (now offices) houses the ultra-efficient renewably-fueled wood-pellet-burning boilers that circulate heat and supply hot water to the 29 homes clustered onto just five of the 113 acres, preserving extensive woods and farmland, the story notes.

Traditional Housing Copies Cohousing as People Focus More on Their Values

Submitted by Blue Ridge Cohousing on Fri, 02/06/2009 - 21:15
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Peter

American home and neighborhood designs change constantly. If you put yourself randomly in a 20th century neighborhood, chances are that you could tell the decade it was built, even after the avocado-green siding is replaced. We may be in for an even bigger than normal shift in the next decade. How will a 2015 neighborhood be different than a 2007 subdivision? A recent Chicago Tribune article summarizes the eight great real estate trends of 2009:

1. Smaller Houses
2. More apartments
3. Increase in attached housing
4. More rental units
5. New urban centers with homes close to shops and restaurants
6. Common green spaces for outdoor enjoyment of homeowners.
7. Creating Community - where the developer provides social features beyond land, bricks and mortar.
8. Online marketing of homes

(see http://archives.chicagotribune.com/2008/dec/26/realestate/chi-real-estat...)

Do these features sound familiar?

Building an Inclusive Community: The AHIC Experience.

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Saturday 3:15 – 4:15 pm
During the development stage of Coho Ecovillage, members formed a nonprofit organization called A Home in Community (AHIC). AHIC helps people with physical disabilities find homes in cohousing communities by:

  • Educating communities and people living with disabilities about the benefits of living in community together.
  • Providing information and support that makes it happen.
  • Partnering with cohousing communities to create subsidized rental opportunities for low-income adults with disabilities.

For our first campaign, A Home for Mike, we have purchased a unit in CoHo Ecovillage which will always be rented at subsidized rates to adults with disabilities wishing to live in this community. This presentation will describe the process of forming and operating AHIC, the steps to fund and manage A Home for Mike, and lessons learned to date.

AUDIENCE: Forming groups and residents of established groups

Development: Endless Meetings or Efficiency in Design Decision Making – The Workshop Approach

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Laura Fitch

How can a group get the most out of their architect’s time and expertise? How can design meetings be run efficiently without a lot of stress or railroading? Kraus-Fitch Architects has evolved a workshop approach that consolidates the programming and design of cohousing site, common house and units into (3) 2-day and (4) single-day workshops. Laura Fitch will explain why she thinks this is a win-win approach for architect and group. She will also share the history of this development and the details.

Laura Fitch is a principal with Kraus-Fitch Architects, Inc. in Amherst, Massachusetts and a 14-year resident of Pioneer Valley Cohousing. Kraus-Fitch Architects has worked on programming, schematic design, and/or full services on 2-dozen cohousing communities across the US. Laura can be contacted at lfitch [at] krausfitch [dot] com.

Cohousing and the climate crisis: Making a difference, leading the way

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by Raines Cohen, Berkeley Cohousing

In every cohousing neighborhood I've lived in or visited, sustainability has been an explicit core value, particularly expressed in how the community was designed and built. Many of us have the luxury to choose to live lightly on the earth, "changing the world, one neighborhood at a time," as a Coho/US bumper sticker puts it.

Making cohousing affordable: Strategies and successes, part 2 of 3

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by Brad Gunkel, Architect, McCamant & Durrett Architects

The question must have gone through the collective consciousness of more than one cohousing group over the years: “Can we convince affordable housing developers to build affordable cohousing communities?” To the surprise of many cohousers, the answer is actually “yes.”

Making cohousing affordable: Strategies and successes, part 1 of 3

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by Betsy Morris, Coho/US Research Director

A glance at a detailed map of U.S. cohousing communities would show that most of us are living in areas of relatively high property values: on the coasts, in college towns or on the outskirts of high-tech growth centers. That’s one reason why making cohousing affordable to the widest possible number of people has been of intense interest to prospective community members throughout the history of the cohousing movement.

Stepping stones to sustainability

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by Liz Walker, photos by Jim Bosjolie

This is a historic moment on Planet Earth. Life as we know it is about to change dramatically as global climate change accelerates, and as we reach “Peak Oil,” when demand outstrips supply for fossil fuels that are increasingly hard to extract. As we look toward a future in which our traditional energy sources are severely depleted, cohousing neighborhoods have an increasingly important role to play in modeling a greener lifestyle.

Common sense approaches to common houses

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by Laura Fitch, principal, Kraus-Fitch Architects, Inc.

The kitchen and "great room" are the two most important spaces in a common house, they should feel like a natural extension of each individual home. Your community can begin to create this homey environment during the design process by allowing everyone to have a say and ownership in the decisions. The design itself, balancing functional requirements with coziness, is equally important.

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