Abstracts Sociology

Collaborative Housing: Apartwithin

by Matthew G. Cornell

Contemporary American housing options are severely limited and limiting. They are limited in the variety of options available to meet our diverse living situations, and limiting in their capacities to foster strong social relationships. The home is a fundamental element of our country’s communities. Yet, the home has been isolated so thoroughly by the emergence of the suburban single family detached housing model that Americans rarely experience the sort of interactions and relationships that make a community so rich. This thesis explores collaborative housing, a community model which creates positive user interactions for residents while giving individual residence privacy and ownership. It will be distinguished from both conventional housing through its overall community size and orientation. It traces the path of a grassroots phenomenon to its current mature and successful alternative to the isolation and anonymity of the suburban landscape. The negative effects on our environment perpetrated by continuing our current dominant housing model make the search for alternatives an essential architectural investigation. Cohousing is a Danish housing innovation which offers a means of addressing many of the wasteful inefficiencies and social inadequacies of conventional housing. Through clustering homes and providing commonly owned amenities Cohousing residents gain a social network, ecologically efficient buildings, and residential luxuries not afforded by the average home. Collaborative communities balance American desires for independence with human needs for interdependence. Working with a College Hill group, Cincinnati Ecovillage, a design strategy and program has been formulated using Cohousing precedents and other communal residential models. The site for these investigations is a 5 acre parcel of land in the College Hill neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio. Currently, the site is partially wooded and retains a mid to late 19th century farm house and barn. This design will provide a sustainable housing option which meets the needs and desires of individuals looking to bring a social presence back into their community.