What if we all lived together? This question, asked by five elderly friends, is the title of the delicate film by French director Stéphane Robelin (2012). In the fictional plot, the group moves into a mansion, where they experience the joys and hardships of old age. Apparently, Robelin's sixty-somethings were very aware of this.
This type of housing combines private spaces with shared rooms. However, unlike traditional shared housing, co-living spaces have the explicit goal of fostering social contact and building communities. Today, they are a niche trend – so much so that Euromonitor points to the lifestyle as one of the main forces shaping global consumption this year. According to the Top 10 Global Consumer Trends for 2018 report, it will be present in dense and highly technological cities. The real estate market believes in this. In São Paulo, the developer Vitacon has launched apartments ranging from 17 m² to 30 m² in buildings with shared kitchens and offices. In the United States, the startup Common has raised a respectable $40 million to decorate and rent out properties where residents share a kitchen, bathroom and living room. Instagram-worthy, these apartments attract millennials , consumers born between 1978 and 1973. Studio de 19 metros quadrados do VN Quatá, na Vila Olímpia, que já foi entregue da nova onda de microapartamentos da cidade. (Divulgação Vitacon)
“Collaborative and conscious, this generation is more open to sharing – and this shows in their housing and the way they view their home,” says Julia Curan, from trends consultancy WGSN Mindset. “They also increasingly desire meaningful connections, prioritizing experience over product ownership,” she adds. It is no wonder that architects create projects with living and working together in mind. In this edition of CASACOR São Paulo 2018 , for example, Fernando Brandão and Camila Bevilacqua created the Co-Working Temple , a space in the shape of a church nave housing work units for up to 25 professionals. The 140 m² combine introspective corners with areas where professionals can see, be seen and, who knows, create new businesses. Coworking por Fernando Brandão e Camila Bevilacqua na CASACOR SP 2018. Com estrutura para reuniões, encontros e wi-fi gratuito, o ambiente de 160 m² é um ponto de encontro para os visitantes. Aqui, uma visão da sala coletiva com a grande mesa, que recebe luz natural através do telhado escultural. O tom terracota vem para aquecer ainda mais. (Felipe Araújo)
Morada de 30 m² da Mini para o Salão do Móvel de Milão 2016. (Divulgação)
Despite its novelty, the idea of forming a home with strangers is not new – and it does not always go hand in hand with innovations in the real estate market. The first cohousings emerged in the 1960s in Denmark and spread throughout northern Europe. Dutch designer Irene Pereyra says she grew up in a shared house in Amsterdam in the 1990s. Custom-designed for a group of eight women and their children, the property had a garden and even a photography studio in the heart of Amsterdam. In 2014, the young woman returned to the house to film the documentary One Shared House , which is available online. “After the film, I became an advocate for community living,” she says. “Why isn’t everyone living like this? For a child, it’s like growing up in a village surrounded by people with different interests and knowledge,” she recalls. Today, she has put down roots in New York, but “if I could live in that house with the people I chose, I would go tomorrow,” she adds. Sharing a home, after all, can be a path to a more satisfying life. Architect Matthias Hollwich defends the idea in his manifesto book
New Aging . “Being social is extremely important for happiness. When we live close to others, they accompany us through the ups and downs of life and become part of our safety net,” he says. However, for the German, it will be necessary to create new housing models. “We need time to explore and test before we can be sure that we have created spaces that work socially and economically.”
Architect Lilian Lubochinski has been investigating this topic for years. During her career, she has lived in an Israeli kibbutz and directed projects created with collectives. Today, at 69, she guides groups that decide to design a shared house, or co-home, as she prefers to call it. In his work, the architecture of relationships comes before the design of the houses. Future neighbors participate in workshops where they discover common values and learn to resolve conflicts and communicate non-violently. Only then do they decide together on the design of the home, which includes reinforced acoustics, universal design and a good balance between private and communal spaces. In addition to facilitating workshops around the country, Lilian is planning her own home with a group of friends, the Tribo Paulistana. “It is the emotional bonds that attract people to a co-home. The idea is to be completely yourself, respecting others.” If the dream is possible, why live alone after all? 
