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Co-housing consists of a building for a group of friends, adapted to each of their needs

Ana-Maria Cononovici, 02.11.2021, 13:30

There is a system that has been working in Denmark since 1970, which has been spreading in the last few years in Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, and elsewhere, which is catching on in Romania too. It is the initiative of two architects, namely co-housing, creating a building for a group of friends adapted to each of their needs. The architects pick the location, design the building, set the individual and common areas, then get the authorizations and the builder, with constant feedback between the associates, with step by step monitoring.

Architect Lucian Luta told us about the origins of the project which he started with his associate, Liviu Fabian:

“The idea came from a practical need we had, my friends and I, that of living in a better place than what the real estate market has to offer right now. What we wanted was to find an apartment to satisfy our needs for an affordable price. What we thought was to get together a group of five or six friends and colleagues in order to buy a central or semi-central neighborhood of Bucharest, where to build our own apartments, according to each one’s needs.

Lucian Luta then helped us understand what it’s like to pick the place where to live, selecting your neighbors, having a choice for every detail:

“This system is not new, we didn’t invent it, it comes from Europe, called co-housing. A group of people get together, buy a plot of land, then make a design, and built their own apartments. Ideally it is a group of several people who build a small apartment building. This building is a community, but each one has their own apartment in this communal block of flats. The advantages of this system are that you have access to a central or semi-central plot of land which a single person cannot afford, you can customize your own flat, and in the end the costs of buying such a place are only construction expenses, getting around developer costs. Of course, there are costs related to design and licenses, which would exist in any case when you buy from a developer. At the same time, you have much more freedom to configure you apartment.

Architect Lucian Luta told us that the costs are definitely smaller, similar to building your own house, as opposed to buying a ready made apartment:

“We are about to build the first co-housing unit, a small block of five apartments, we went through all the stages, and saw that each associate wanted their own small details, depending on their needs. One wanted a closed kitchen, another one wanted an open kitchen, another wanted to have a small reading desk in their kid’s bedroom, so the windows had to be configured depending on their neighbors’ windows. There are a lot of advantages that improve life quality. Also, there is the option, as in this co-housing unit, of having common spaces in addition to the apartment you live in. This building we work on now has a 30 sqm common area, used as a co-working space, as a living room where you can leave the children under supervision. This common space opens towards a common yard, about 100 sqm, a common garden. The group can create a lot of facilities.

The only disadvantage may be the time it takes to create the association and finalize the construction, but the advantages are worth it. Since the system is new, there are still no agreements with banks for mortgages for such projects, as in Western countries, but there are attempts underway to do so.