Cortesia de WeWork

What is Co-Living?

由专筑网李韧，王雪纯编译

我们之间很多人都住过学生宿舍，宿舍十分经济实惠，并且能与同学和朋友产生密切的联系。它有着合理的价格，也可能有私人空间和共享空间。实际上，当今社会不仅仅大学生是这样生活的。共享空间的概念愈发成为具有吸引力且有效的解决措施。

房产的价格愈发高昂，人们的生活也愈发孤独，因此人们开始寻找新生活方式。共享关系不仅与学生宿舍类似，同时也结合了许多社会方面，其中包括社区意识、可持续发展、合作经济等等。这个概念最初于20世纪30年代出现于丹麦，最初的概念为共同居住。举例来说，一栋住宅中包含有35个家庭，每个家庭居住在私人房间之中，同时公用社交与活动空间，例如餐厅、家政、聚会场所、活动空间等等。今天，共享关系也有了多种可能，从一开始只是简单地生活在一起，共用物理空间，发展成为价值观、兴趣、生活哲学的共同分享。

Many of us have already lived, are living, or will live in a shared student house - a good mix of cheap housing and intense socializing with friends and school mates. For a reasonable price, it is possible to have a single private room and share common spaces. In fact, not only university students are living this way nowadays. The concept of co-living is becoming more and more an attractive and effective solution.
The high prices of real estate and an increasingly solitary lifestyle are leading people to seek new ways of living. Despite the similarities with a student house, co-living combines many other aspects, such as a sense of community, sustainability, and collaborative economy. This concept emerged in Denmark in the 1970s - originally under the name of cohousing. The Sættedammen initiative, for example, consisted of 35 families living in private homes while sharing communal spaces for socializing and activities, such as dining, housekeeping, group gatherings, festivities, and other events. Today, co-living offers a multitude of possibilities, ranging from people who simply live together - solely sharing the physical space - to communities who also share values, interests and a philosophy of life.  


Cortesia de WeWork

对于刚毕业的人们来说，他们面对的最重要的问题是经济问题， 所以他们是共享生活市场中的主要人群。他们暂时无法支付高昂的租金，因此他们选择了共享生活，但是，他们也需要更便捷的交通地点、条件更好的建筑环境。共享生活空间由专门的公司进行管理，因此这一领域愈发受欢迎。这类公司会先将房间进行装修，改善诸如厨房、社交区域等公共设施，并且聘用专业的保洁人员，这样租房者便不再焦头烂额地寻找室友。

Nowadays, newly graduated people - for whom the appeal is often financial - are a great niche in the co-living market. Unable to afford the costly rents in big cities, they find the solution in sharing. However, these people are seeking places that are better-maintained, better-structured and more conveniently located than student houses. Co-living spaces - designed and managed by companies specialized in house-sharing - are an increasingly popular option in this niche. Instead of looking for flatmates, and having to deal with shared contracts and bills, one can simply rent a dormitory in one of these developments. Most of them offer pre-furnished and decorated rooms, communal amenities - including kitchens, social areas, and co-working spaces - as well as professional cleaning services and even social workers available to help the residents adapt to their new neighborhoods.


Image © Common

当代人们也能够适应此类环境。许多共享生活开发项目都位于世界大城市之中，因此人们的选择性更强，并且也非常便利，不需要再不断地重复找房子、搬家的过程。

Digital nomads and global citizens also adapt well to shared environments. Many of these co-living developments have units throughout the world's major capital cities, so they can choose one as a base location and move around as needed, rather than keep hopping from one Airbnb to another.


Image © Filip Dujardin

但是，另一个不断增长的利益市场则来源于中青年人，这一类人有着高收入，因此比较希望有独立的空间与隐私。他们在三十多岁的时候，有的单身，有的已婚，但是没有孩子，有的刚搬来某座城市，他们认为，共享生活并不能解决经济问题，这只是社区意识的表现。Node是这一类企业的代表，该企业在世界各地都有许多办公场所。他们的公寓有私人厨房和起居室，都是经过专业的设计师进行设计或管理，同时，许多公共活动则由公司组织，其中包括酒会、晚宴、装饰圣诞树、表演或是电影节庆典等等。

由宜家创新实验室发起的“Space 10”研究项目聚焦了人们在共享生活中的体验，观察了他们所愿意或不愿意与人分享的东西，该研究的目标在于让设计师之前了解人们的喜恶，并就此进行设计共享空间。该研究调查收到了来自147个国家的14000人的答案，也有人进行了在线问答。2018年的研究结果显示，大多数人来到共享空间，是为了与人交往，而不仅仅是为了省钱，他们也认为，他们更喜欢生活在4至10人的小型社区之中，这也与共享空间管理公司的规划方式略有不同，这类的规划一般是成百上千的人居住在一起，这就像是伦敦西部的老橡树项目一样，其中的公寓甚至有550张床。另一件有趣的事情是，大多数人都更愿意和来自不同地区及不同年龄的人生活在一起。另外，他们也更喜欢和没有孩子的夫妻或是单身女性共同生活，总结起来，小孩与少年并不受欢迎。

Yet another growing niche market consists of slightly older people with higher incomes who desire additional space and privacy. Most of them are in their 30s, single or married, without children and have just moved to a new city. In their opinion, co-living offers not so much a financial solution but a pursuit of a sense of community. Node is a pioneer in this type of enterprise and has several units all over the world. Their apartments include a private kitchen and living room - decorated and curated by designers - while the communal activities take place at events organized by the company, such as wine tastings, dinners, decorating Christmas trees, plays and trips to film festivals.
A research conducted by Space 10 - IKEA's innovation lab - focused on understanding what people would like to experience in co-living and what they would be willing to share - or not. The goal was to make better design decisions when creating new sharing spaces, by acknowledging people's preferences and concerns before designing the project. The survey was answered by 14,000 people from 147 different countries and is still available online for those who want to participate. The results published in 2018 show that most of these people are drawn to shared housing for the sake of socializing with others, and not due to saving money. The majority also claims to prefer living in small communities of four to ten people - in contrast to the way co-living companies have been planning: living spaces for hundreds of people, like the Old Oak in West London for example, which has 550 beds. Another interesting observation is that most would prefer to live with people of different origins and ages. In addition, almost all of them would prefer living with childless couples and single women - the least popular house members were small children and teenagers.


Image © Filip Dujardin

荷兰Oosterwold共享公寓项目由Bureau SLA负责设计，这是个典型的概念。建筑的理念在于建造梦想之家，但是其预算有限，这也不断激励着愿意分享经验的伙伴们在此生活。在这里，内部空间由居民们自行定义，同时共享室外空间。这个概念还很新颖，但是也许能够吸引更多的人，从而追求更自由的生活方式。也许在不久的将来，人们就能在各大网站上看到此类项目了。

The Oosterwold Co-living Complex in the Netherlands, designed by bureau SLA, is an example of this concept. The idea of building the dream house on a vast land, but on a very limited budget, inspired the architects to encourage inviting friends who were willing to experience a new way of living. Here, indoor spaces can be completely customized by the residents, who share the outdoor areas. While the concept is still new, it should gain more supporters seeking a freer lifestyle and avoiding the need to settle in a city. No doubt, we will soon be seeing more co-living projects at ArchDaily.


Image © Filip Dujardin


Image © Filip Dujardin