Context
WINDSONG CO-HOUSING COMMUNITY Langley, Canada 1994–98 Architect: Davidson, Yuen, Simpson Architects Scale: 34 units Tenure: Owned What it is Windsong is a co-housing development delivered in Canada in the 1990s, with programming and schematic design by McCamant & Durrett Architects. Driven by a desire to maximise the use of common spaces year round and save energy, the scheme features a novel spatial (and social) concept of a residential community ‘living under one roof.’ Unique characteristics Windsong is characterised by two covered communal ‘streets’ that meet at a central
‘cluster’ of collective utilities including a kitchen/dining area, laundry room, lavatories and workshop, for instance. The streets, which are customised by residents through the placement of furniture and planting, are double height glazed spaces, allowing them to be used as sheltered meeting space, play area and effectively extensions to the individual units on either side. The majority of the dwellings, each of which has a personalised colour for the facade, face onto this shared street, contributing to a sense of sheltered community, even insularity.
LIV ING CLOSER
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