In this 8-part course, the student will learn from Charles Durrett, the leading architect and builder of cohousing communities globally. Durrett will impart his decades of experience so that you can learn about how to build your dream residential community with affordability and sustainability top of mind.
The student will learn how affordability and sustainability fit together, hand in glove. It’s not one or the other. We’ll dive in to where the highest level of sustainability is achieved in high-functioning cohousing communities, culture change itself. Durrett will cover both the essence and the basics – based on designing for thousands of cohousers who didn’t want to compromise either.
Course Outline
Session 1: The Land
- Finding a Site and Negotiating with Land Sellers and Officials
- Gaining support from local stakeholders
- Establishing strong project culture
Session 2: Development Savings
- Group Forming with Socio-economic Diversity
- Sustainable & Affordable Zoning & Land Use
- Group Culture and Attitude
Session 3: Planning the Project – Part 1
- Production construction
- Building types & Housing types
- Participatory Design Process
- Site Design
- Common house design
- House Designs
Session 4: Planning the Project – Part 2
- Prioritizations during planning and design process
- Review case studies and analyze how to achieve quality project with less cost
- ($50 less per square foot than comparable projects)
- Negotiating with your jurisdiction
Session 5: Construction Approaches & Construction Documentation
- Traditional framing, prefabrication, and other construction methodologies
- Energy-Efficient & Affordable Building and Construction Details
- Framing details, foundation details, roof details, and many more
- Construction Drawings
Session 6: Construction Approaches – Part 2
- Cohousing-specific construction considerations
- Shared wall acoustics control
- Building types
- Value Engineering Process
- Identifying high-cost/low-value features
- Material substitutions that maintain durability
- Right-sizing insulation and systems
- Balancing first cost vs lifecycle cost
- Meet with every winning sub-contractor
- I don’t want you to lower your price, but I do want you to grow your contingency.
- Keeping the project on tract with no delays
- Finding the right consultants and contractor
Session 7: Construction Techniques, Details
- Lining up the walls without compromising architecture. Not making it appear
- boxy.
- Lining up the plumbing, make it work better and quieter.
- Minimizing drilling framing to accomplish electrical–and hundreds of similar
- details.
Session 8: Long-Term Resource Savings
- How residents in cohousing community save everyday costs long-term
- Shared infrastructure and space efficiency
- Household resource sharing systems
- Low energy and low water savings
- Minimum long-Term Maintenance
- Happily Ever Aftering
- Sustainable and Affordable Ongoing Maintenance Strategies
- Community Agreements
- Sustainable Design for Long-Term affordability & Low Maintenance
- Community resource sharing
The course will be taught by cohousing architect Charles Durrett of the Cohousing Company.
