A community living housing development in the heart of Auckland's Grey Lynn could be what the future of higher-density living looks like.
Cohaus is a grouping of apartments and homes that have community-minded living at the centre of its philosophy.
Living there are a group of 52, from babies to an 80-year-old.
The residents all live in their own units (made up of various sizes), which they’re able to customise and make feel like home, but everything outside the front door is shared.
Residents share a laundry, a garden, cars, and even a guest room.
It’s even won an architectural award.
The designer, Thom Gill, said it’s all about saving space and creating connections in the community.
“A shared laundry for example is you don't have a laundry in your house so you've just won yourself another square metre of space,” Gill said.
“But more importantly, you come out and do your laundry in a shared space and people see each other and they have a chat and simple things like that make you feel part of a bigger group or a community.”
He told Seven Sharp that while it may not be for everyone, it’s challenging the current philosophy of New Zealand housing.
“I don't think we're arguing that it's for everyone, but the philosophy around housing is very much 'my place, my space', firm boundaries,” Gill said.
"And this is tied to how expensive all our housing is, because when so much of your future and your asset base is tied up in your house then it's hard not to feel that way and we're just trying to.
“I think here demonstrate a slightly softer way to look at it all. And to go well, yes you have your own unit and your kitchen and your own living space and your own interiors - it's all yours but beyond that, maybe share.”
For the people living at Cohaus, it has been a very happy two years of co-existence.
“I think as our cities get denser we have to give up more and more of the Utopian kind-of house with a garden really private and intense and beautiful as fewer and fewer of us can have the means to achieve that,” resident Gill said.
“And at the same time, our environment is getting a bit more threatening with climate change.”
Now, Gill wants to see his ideas become more widespread.
“The idea of trying to create communities in housing developments like this I think is a great idea and should be taken more seriously, by developers and by councillors and the Government and so on.”
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