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Co-Living in the Countryside

  • by JW

… a model for affordable rented rural co-housing: “definitely remarkably radical.”

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The FT’s design and architecture critic Edwin Heathcote has looked at an innovative idea for housing in rural areas:

Could co-living ease the UK countryside’s housing disaster?

The proportion of the United Kingdom categorised as “continuous urban fabric” — ie cities — is 0.1 per cent. Another 5.3 per cent is taken into account “discontinuous urban fabric” (wherein 50-80 per cent of the land is constructed on). The relaxation is usually countryside. The UK would possibly usually be regarded as one of many extra densely populated locations to stay. It isn’t. The densest? That can be Macau. Then Monaco, Singapore, Hong Kong, Gibraltar . . . The UK is available in at quantity 50, eight locations beneath Japan and simply above Pakistan.

Yet that vast expanse of land is protected vociferously, as if it have been a tiny sliver below fixed stress from increasing cities. In some ways, the countryside is struggling a much more acute housing scarcity than the metropolis, which may at the least develop — upwards, outwards (generally) and in density.

The winner of this year’s Davidson Prize, a £10,000 annual award for design concepts making an attempt to deal with points in housing, targeted exactly on this query. A crew led by Charles Holland Architects developed a mannequin for co-living within the countryside, which, although it appears to be like fairly a modest proposal, by way of the precise structure of up to date UK housing, is definitely remarkably radical.

Could co-living ease the UK countryside’s housing disaster?

Here’s what the architecture press has to say:

Co-Living in the Countryside is a model that proposes creating affordable, rentable co-housing in rural locations. The proposal envisioned timber-framed housing blocks that centre on flexible living organisations and incorporate the option of shared facilities including kitchens, dining areas, workshops and childcare spaces.

Charles Holland Architects’ Co-Living in the Countryside wins 2022 Davidson Prize

Charles Holland Architects’ Co-Living in the Countryside wins 2022 Davidson Prize – YouTube

Charles Holland Architects with artist Verity-Jane Keefe and Venice Biennale British Pavilion co-curator Joseph Zeal-Henry have won this year’s £10,000 Davidson Prize – the annual contest that seeks innovative ideas on the future of the home. They won the prize for Co-Living in the Countryside – a concept drawn up with support from Quality of Life Foundation providing a development model for affordable rented rural co-housing. This year’s theme was Co–Living – A New Future? Participants were asked to explore whether co-living could offer a transformative key to the design of our homes as well as our communities.

Charles Holland team wins £10k Davidson Prize with rural housing concept