Cohabitation - live or survive? Colyvings, cohousings and rental houses in the XNUMXst century

From the boarding house to the hacker house

Cohabitation is not new, but the most ancient of the formats, characteristic even of the primitive communal system. If one does not delve completely into the darkness of the ages, then it is enough to recall the boarding houses of Edwardian England, similar to the one in which the characters of Conan Doyle's novels lived on Baker Street: a private bedroom for everyone, a common living room and service from the landlady, Mrs. Hudson. Boarding houses from the countries of the Old World at the end of the XNUMXth century. migrated to America - already in the form of a dormitory, designed for several dozen people.

In the first half of the XNUMXth century American boarding houses made it possible to solve the problem of the housing shortage and provide a roof over the heads of workers, immigrants and young families. Boarding houses were systematically criticized by conservative politicians, orthodox religious groups and urban reformers. The latter adhered to the idea of ​​creating comfortable conditions for each individual family, where the presence of its own kitchen and toilet are integral quality features of modern housing. Therefore, in the middle of the last century, when almost every American family was able to own, borrow or rent a separate house or apartment, the majority of boarding houses were converted into student dormitories or B&B hotels. A similar situation developed in European countries.

Industrialization in the USSR gave rise to such a phenomenon as utilities. Painful was both the compaction process itself, which began with repression and the eviction of the owners, and life in communal apartments, where representatives of different social groups were forced to live side by side on a tiny square, in violation of sanitary standards. Conflicts and scandals were an integral background of such a shared life, and this serious trauma is still the reason why for us the words "commune", "communal house" and "hostel" carry a negative connotation. Moreover, there has never been a moment in our history when it would be possible to talk about solving the housing problem.

Millennials and digital nomads were the first to appreciate the benefits of living and working without being tied to a location. But the freedom of life outside the office often turns into isolation and a lack of social connections. Modern kolyvings offer not only a roof over the head, a place for office work, but also leisure. And sometimes, in addition to the cultural program, there is also an educational program.

Perhaps the first XNUMXst century co-living spaces that combined the possibility of living, working and leisure under one roof were Silicon Valley hacker houses. And it is not by chance that California has become the home of many startups focused on co-living — be it small settlements of small houses, townhouses, or bungalows united by some common idea such as eco-lifestyle (cohousings), or advanced versions of dormitories (solivings). .

All these projects correspond to the shared economy trend — the transition to the joint use of real estate and the sharing of costs for its operation. "Not ownership, but use" - this is how the principle can be described in a greatly simplified form, and all the listed formats will be united by the term shared living.

 

Collective expansion

The Collective association unites co-living in three locations - West and East London and New York. The headquarters of The Collective, which has been operating for more than 3 years, can be considered Nash House in the northwest of the capital of Great Britain, not far from the University of West London (according to London standards, "nearby" is a 15-minute ride by public transport or walking time ). The residents of Nash House, adapted for living in an office building, call themselves the Old Oak Commune. This is a mixed-use complex with shopping and public areas and 323 rooms with a total capacity of 500 people. Literally until May 2019, it was the largest co-living in the world.

Colyvings of the XXI century — a minimum of personal space, a maximum of opportunities for communication

A standard single room is equipped with a bed, a wardrobe and a workplace, has a separate bathroom, but a small kitchen unit is already shared with neighbors. A week's stay in such a room will cost £290, including utilities, with a minimum stay of 4 months. A room similar in size, but with a double bed and a private kitchen, will cost as little as £340. Isn't that too little? But in addition to basic hotel services (cleaning, linen change, Internet and concierge), a member of the Old Oak commune has access to a co-working space with modern office equipment, a library, a gym, SPA, a solarium on the roof and can participate in numerous cultural and sports events that take place here daily. Also, educational and business trainings are often held at Old Oak.

"The Collective is a concept for a modern young city dweller who very flexibly moves between home, work, and a place to relax and socialize and who does not need a lot of personal space, but requires all the amenities" - this is how the founders of coliving present their format. And although the emphasis is on youth, the administrators write that they will be happy to welcome people from 18 to 81 years of age into the community, as they aim to create a global network of communities based on continuous learning, innovation and improvement.

If you analyze the current situation on the rental housing market in London (one of the most expensive cities in the world), then The Collective's offer looks quite attractive. A cursory surf of the internet will give you options that start at £350 a week for a tiny studio. In this amount, British landlords traditionally do not include utility payments. At the same time, such odious warnings can be found on specialized sites: "If you want to rent an apartment for £200 a week, then the maximum you can afford in the capital is a small (up to 0 square meters) one-room apartment in the suburbs, where your every day, everything, clothes, homeless people and other homeless people will be sold" (www.theuk.one). These warnings perfectly illustrate the methods by which adherents of the traditional system of rental housing try to inflate the price bubble.

Rest, work, study, play — Kolyvings offers a summer camp format for adults

Perhaps life in the Old Oak commune has a number of pitfalls. After all, not everyone, even at a young age, is ready to indulge in round-the-clock fun and socializing. Among the user reviews about Old Oak, you can find critical ones. For example, Eduard Brazier writes: "I stayed there for 9 months. This is a good idea, but poorly implemented. One of the main problems is the lack of sound insulation. Common kitchens are cleaned daily, but always in a mess. Management is also terrible... your impression will be contradictory.

Nevertheless, the commercial success of The Collective startup is evidenced by the fact of the recent opening of an even larger facility, the location and level of life of which is already much higher than the "student" one. A press release about the opening of The Collective Canary Wharf, no longer on the outskirts, but in the prestigious business district of London, appeared just a few weeks ago. The project of the 21-story tower, built from scratch, was developed by the reputable architectural firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), and the rooms and public spaces were designed by the Denton studio, which specializes in innovative and creative design.

As of October 2018, The Collective's financial portfolio amounted to $670 million

Now The Collective Canary Wharf is the most luxurious and large co-living in the world (705 rooms). It offers even more flexible conditions, reduced the minimum stay to hotel standards - 1 night. But tenants who have concluded a contract for a long period receive impressive discounts. Yes, a year's stay in a standard room will cost only £60 a week more than in a standard Old Oak. Here, all rooms have a private kitchen. Residents have at their disposal a swimming pool on the 20th floor with a view of East London, a cinema, a hall with virtual golf equipment and several restaurants and cafes with a flexible and varied menu. At the end of 2019, The Collective promises to open another facility in Stratford, but details have not yet been disclosed.

The king of colyving

Who is behind The Collective? Ego's founder is 30-year-old Reza Merchant, a graduate of the London School of Economics. During his studies, he first encountered the limited possibilities and shortcomings of the traditional housing rental system. And he came up with a startup, striving to provide his clients with not only an affordable roof over their heads, but also the benefits of a social lifestyle.

Forbes called Reza the king of colyvings. The charismatic upstart was able to convince of the startup's prospects and attract Jonathan Tekla, the founder of SpringStar, who invested in Airbnb at one time, as an investor. Another major investor is Deutsche Bank, which helped Merchant to buy out Nash House.

As of October 2018, The Collective's financial portfolio amounted to $670 million, and Merchant is determined to double it in the next three years, having opened three more facilities in the United States and three in Germany — a total of 4 apartments. Today, The Collective is the first contender for global domination of the real estate market in the format of shared living: "The point is not that ownership has ceased to be the goal. It's just that it has become less of a priority for people who prioritize personal growth," Reza said in an interview.

Kolyvingi is housing for young people who prioritize personal growth

So far, on a global scale, the share of business related to coliving remains insignificant compared to coworking business, which is also a relatively new format. For example, Adam Neiman's WeWork empire is worth more than $20 billion. But the rapid growth rates explain the interest from large developers and corporations. By the way, WeWork is also developing a co-working space with the WeLive project.

Hackerhouse of the new generation for California

At the beginning of June, it was reported that StarCity, a company that already owns 7 colyvings in California, plans to build an 18-story tower in San Jose with 803 rooms to provide housing for Silicon Valley employees. StarCity defined its mission as "accessible life in big cities for everyone."

The new megaproject is being implemented under the auspices of the state governor and the mayor of San Jose, who are confident that colyvings will help deal with the housing crisis. In April 2019, the City Council of San Jose made changes to the city's development plans and introduced a new category of zoning — "co-housing." The new zoning assumes a number of benefits for land use and allows developers to deviate from some urban planning norms, for example, StarCity will not have to spend money on creating 800 parking spaces for residents of the new co-living, because it is assumed that community members, supporting a sustainable way of life, will give up their personal cars.

The monthly rent for a studio in San Jose and Los Angeles has long exceeded $2 and is approaching $000, and the upper bar in prices for private real estate, one might say, does not exist. Rent in the StarCity chain of apartments, which appeared in 4, starts at $ 000 for a tiny bedroom with an area of ​​slightly more than 2016 square meters. m. The kitchen, amenities, library and other spaces are shared. But, as StarCity founder John Dyshotsky says, "the new tower will introduce a new standard that goes beyond the usual code." Detailed visualizations and descriptions of the StarCity object have not yet been released, and it is not yet possible to analyze the idea more deeply.

 

 

Share and live. Urban Village is a co-living project by IKEA and EFFEKT Architects

At the beginning of June 2019, the furniture giant IKEA presented the Urban Village model of a sustainable settlement, where private living spaces are combined with premises that are jointly owned, and all issues of life and leisure are solved by the commune. As the name implies, Urban Village is a hybrid of co-housing and co-living, that is, it is not one large building-dormitory, but a group of modular buildings of small and medium storeys, concentrated around squares with activities. If The Collective and StarCity co-living spaces are aimed at young people, IKEA's "urban village" assumes the coexistence of students, families with children, and the elderly.

The concept of an "urban village" was developed at SPACE10, a research and design laboratory whose goal is to create more sustainable forms of living in cities. The laboratory works as a division of IKEA. The EFFEKT Architects office was involved in the Urban Village SPACE10 project, thus combining social and architectural ambitions. The design code offered by SPACE10 is based on preliminary research. "We see regularities where people see chaos," said Polina Balchakova, creative strategist and editor of SPACE10, speaking at the CANactions 2019 festival in Kyiv.

Balchakova considers the creation of mixed communities one of the main world trends along with alternative energy and augmented reality. The topic is especially popular in the countries of Northern Europe with a high level of urbanization. "The population of cities is increasing, and what are we going to do: build as before? Quick solutions are needed to resettle all people by 2030. We cannot build a new city the size of Paris every two weeks. And in this case, living together can be an antidote," Balchakova believes. At the same time, it will be the answer to the main challenge of the urbanized world — loneliness.

"The Urban Village project will allow to combine privacy with publicity. This gives the opportunity to become part of a dynamic community and experience all the positive aspects of socialization" - this is how they present their project at SPACE10.

In 2018, SPACE10 published a report on the advantages of shared living in modern conditions using digital technologies, 3D printing, blockchain and other innovative features. It is the connection with new technologies that distinguishes modern cooperatives and sharing houses from what we are used to calling "community".

Another difference is a flexible policy in the purchase and use of square meters. A single student can first purchase a minimal residential module, a studio, and subscribe for the right to use the dining room, kitchen, living room, terrace, gym, and parking in the same way as we subscribe to media, services, or entertainment (such a comparison used by the project authors). Further, when a person creates a family and needs to expand the living space, he buys another block of shares and makes an exchange within the community on the topic of who no longer needs a large living space for a comfortable life. For example, with families where the children have already grown up and moved.

In order for this scheme to work smoothly, the residents of Urban Village must be people of different age categories, which means that the very atmosphere and lifestyle in such communities must be comfortable for everyone. This implies a certain averaging of ideas about comfort, clear rules of good neighborliness, and willingness of commune members to compromise. For example, listening to loud music in headphones or arranging private parties with all the neighbors in advance. Therefore, those who enter such communities, striving to minimize living expenses, must have a certain psychological flexibility and willingness to strictly follow the rules.

Based on quantitative studies covering 14 thousand человек in 147 countries, in SPACE10 came to the conclusion that the majority of people are ready to share part of their resources both for their own sake and for the sake of public benefit. But if we are talking about living in communities, the majority prefers to limit the number of cohabitants — from 4 to 10 people. At the same time, it is perfectly logical that city dwellers painfully experience the loss of privacy. "But perhaps in some cases it is enough to improve the sound insulation system," Balchakova suggests.

Urban Village is a hybrid of cohousing and coliving by IKEA and EFFEKT ARCHITECTS

"No one is going to impose this format on countries that are still coming to terms with their communist past," says the creative strategist of SPACE10, who herself is from Russia. — But we want the topic of cohabitation to be actively discussed in society as much as possible."

The everyday life of the community will be filled with fellowship. Joint dinners and events, a common kindergarten, a city garden, public transport, according to the creators' idea, are not only a service, but a kind of building block from which a sustainable community of the future is built.

The architecture of the completed and constructed Urban Village will be as flexible as the social concept. Modules made of wooden CLT-panels allow to transform and adapt buildings to the current needs of the community, and then recycle them again. All modules will be mass-produced in factory conditions and delivered in flat packaging, similar to how IKEA furniture is manufactured and delivered.

Although IKEA does not doubt the viability of the new format, its implementation will require not only specialized design, but also new business models and new legislation, Polina Balchakova emphasized.

 

Life as a service

Ukrainian architects from archimatika used the coving format as one of the components of the Snail-apartments project, developed for New York. We talked about this project in detail in the article "Slow-living in Manhattan» in the 10th volume of PRAGMATIKA.MEDIA. On the first two floors of the building there are public spaces and services - a cafe, a bar, a soundproof mini-coworking space, a lounge area, a gym, a yoga room, a sauna and a terrace with access to the inner garden. Mini-studios with a common lobby and a large common kitchen were designed on the third and fourth floors. Each of the units, however, has its own kitchen, but with a minimal working front. On the upper floors there are spacious PRO apartments and a penthouse. Studios in Snail-apartments, of course, fall out of the Kolyvingov price corridor, since the entire complex belongs to business-class housing. The similarity is that all residents use a wide range of services and have ample opportunities for communication with neighbors and joint leisure.

Recently, archimatika presented the concept of creating a chain of rental houses in different cities, where the service is provided at the level of an expensive hotel, but the square meters are rented out for a long time.

According to Alexander Popov, the co-founder and director of the archimatika company, the architects decided to look at life as a journey, and the apartment as a suitcase for a long journey.

The idea corresponds to a clearly established trend of the new century: someone still prefers to build a family nest, but more and more often people refuse a settled, stable way of life and prefer to change jobs, cities and countries every few years. According to Archimatika's calculations, the probability or necessity of changing housing occurs on average every four years. But moving is always associated with stress - whether it is about renting a new home, buying or selling an old one. archimatika offers to imagine that there is a network of rental houses with a high level of management and service, similar to a high-class hotel chain, within which you can buy, rent, lease and exchange square meters.

Life is like a journey, and an apartment is like a suitcase for a long journey

Alexander Popov claims that users of such housing can be not only tenants, but also shareholders of the network, that is, combine formats: "Let's say you rent 30 square meters. m, then you buy them meter by meter and get a promotion for each one. The living situation has changed, and now you need 50 squares in another city. You send a request to the manager and get the apartment you need by renting or buying another 20 meters. At some point, you become the owner of a package of shares that exceeds the number of meters you need for a comfortable life. It is possible to use an apartment of smaller size, but now receive rental income from those meters that are in your property in the network, but are rented out to others."

At first glance, such a system looks rather complicated, because it is necessary to calculate the demand in each specific city and in each district, to forecast in advance which apartments are needed and in what ratio, to calculate the coefficients - after all, some cities are cheaper, some are more expensive. But Popov is confident that modern forecasting and design tools already allow us to cope with such a task: "We have done a lot in this direction when developing the PRO-apartment format and we present how it is possible to create a similar system."

The right neighbors are important

Neighbors are as integral a component of a comfortable stay in a co-living room as the location, size and design. And perhaps this is the most important thing. At least, this is the opinion of the founders of the InTribe.me social network, which was recently presented at the "ARCH Moscow" exhibition as part of the "House of the Future" special project, where, by the way, the project "Housing as a service" from archimatika, which we wrote about above, was also presented. InTribe.me is a media project of GAFA Architects, architectural group "ATOMga" and MediaSapiens.

"Countries, cities, villages are leaving the past, and we are forming a new type of neighborhood - the tribes of the future" - the authors of the project appeal to the communal-tribal system. And they offer those who are looking for new housing to formulate their own profile of values, determine cultural preferences and make a list of common spaces that are most important. And then the service will select people with similar values.

We are forming a new type of neighborhood — tribes of the future

Virtual reality can become, or rather, has already become, a new dimension in which lies the key to the architecture of the future. And, following the biblical formula "me, me, tekel uparsin", we first need to measure, calculate, in this case not space, but new needs. Having formed a community of like-minded people, you can start looking for a joint lease, purchase or construction of housing, condominiums or co-housing in preferred locations, be it the center of a metropolis or an eco-settlement on the shore of a sea or river.

The InTribe.me social network is available in the beta version, but has already aroused keen interest in the architectural and development circles.

 

Condensed, but free and mobile

A four-room apartment on Turgenevskaya Street in Kyiv is one of the six co-living areas of the VILNYY chain. Five of them are located in Kyiv, one in Odessa, VILNYY positions itself as a social club that unites active young people, who are interested, among other things, in building social ties. 12 people currently live in the apartment on Turgenevskaya. There are 3 bedrooms (each with 4 beds), and the living room, where you can relax and work at the computer, the kitchen and bathrooms are a common area.

Each member of the small community pays $100 per month for accommodation. Renting the entire apartment from the owner costs $ 1, the remaining $ 000 goes to pay off utilities and improve living conditions. Therefore, the VILNYY project cannot be called commercial, as the founder of the network Georgy Dekhtyarenko claims: "We don't rent a bed, we rent a community. Yes, there are 200 people in each bedroom, but here's the thing: the worse the room, the better the community. They don't hang out there, they just sleep and store things. If you need to work, you work in the common living room. Thanks to close communication, people develop and change. We are a coliving of active youth. There is a questionnaire that we offer to fill out first, and now 4 people have already filled it out and are waiting for a place."

Oleksa has been living in the Kolyvinge on Turgenevskaya for 3 months already. Before that, he lived in a student dormitory for several months. And, according to him, the difference between a dormitory and a dormitory is significant: "This is my home. In the dormitory, first of all, the conditions are terrible, which you have no way to influence. Here everything depends on you. And people are not those with whom you are forced to live, but those who are also looking for development and communication."

We don't rent a bed, we rent a community

The emergence of the format of similar colyvings on the basis of private apartments in Ukraine was predetermined, says Georgy. The demand among young people for shared living coincided with the appearance of a large number of large apartments on the secondary real estate market. And it is known that it is difficult for the owners to rent them out due to high utility costs.

"Ukrainians really miss living together. And also, when a professional designer, SMM-man and photographer lives next to you, you realize that you already have a team for some cool project, you already have friends. We have rules: once every 3 months you must go on a joint trip, every Monday there is a joint dinner. Owners benefit from working with us because we can invite them to the first co-living and show them what it will look like. Also, they are sure that they will be paid on time, since we are an organization. And we rent housing long-term," says Dekhtyarenko.

Long-term for each of the residents is a subjective concept. Nastya comes from Poltava. Previously, she lived for 9 months in the VILNYY shopping center near the Dvorets "Ukraine" metro station, and now, having arrived in Kyiv, she stayed for a few nights on Turgenevskaya. By the way, all members of the VILNYY social club can move between the colyvings of the network or stay for several nights, as in a hostel. Mobility is a separate bonus to living and socializing. As Nastya says, at some point she got fed up with life in the community and now she would like to have a separate apartment, ideally her own. "This is an incredible lifestyle, it is the education of one's own values ​​and the values ​​of others. But at some point I realized that enough is enough. Now I need something else. I need some area where I would understand that I will stay for a long time, for years, where I can build my family, walk with my child... It is very individual."

"There were people who left in 7 months, even in one. It's not for everyone, of course," says Georgy. "We have introverts, but they are those who fight with themselves and try to overcome their introversion and go beyond the comfort zone," jokes Oleksa.

Since the apartments are not recognized as the property of the founders of the social club, those living with disabilities will influence their design in order to create a creative space not only in substance, but also in form. But in order to buy housing on the secondary market or cooperate with developers and build co-living quarters from scratch, significant investments are required.