Acoustics for your common house will be essential to supporting good conversation. Learn the basics and avoid common mistakes.

If it doesn’t work socially, Why bother? Cohousing Architect Chuck Durrett shares about the design process that creates spaces that work socially and support strong cohousing communities.

Making decisions about architectural design is complicated and potential stressful. Up front “programming” is critical. We’ll discuss ideas for successful design decision making.

Homes which are adapted to their unique climate save energy and are more resilient. Not only is climate-adapted design a foundation of addressing climate change, it also supports a more meaningful connection with your environment and your community. This session will explore how.

Many cohousing groups start off with a strong desire to include diversity and affordability…but very few actually achieve these ideals by the time they move in. This session will address definitions of affordability and diversity; discuss intentions around inclusion; the pervasiveness of systemic racism and how it affects life in community; and the training and discussions required to prepare residents for success.

A well-run participatory design process is one of the first opportunities for cohousing groups to build their social community before they move in. In this session, I describe a methodology for participatory design that is both highly effective and deeply enjoyable, helping you build strong bonds with your future neighbors.

Let’s take what you learned in the Permaculture Theory session and see how it applies in the outside real world! In this session Connor talks about how he applied his knowledge of permaculture in working with Rocky Corner Cohousing.

This presentation will focus on ways to work effectively with design professionals to avoid added cost. It will also identify ways to affordably design units from a space planning aspect to the selection of materials. We will also touch on partnerships that can help build in affordability. Finally it will ask the question, what elements of the process are anti-affordable?

So you want to get your cohousing community designed and built. How do you secure an architectural team to help you bring your visions into form, on time, within budget, and fostering positive relationships in the process? Learn from a panel of four seasoned cohousing professionals. Ample time for questions.