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Cohousing communities; architectural design processes; user-centered approaches; self-developed housing projects; architects’ role
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Towards Empowering Cohousing Communities: Finding Balance With A Group Of Users-Clients Throughout The Architectural Process, Audrey Mertens, Louise Coniasse, Catherine Elsen
Towards Empowering Cohousing Communities: Finding Balance With A Group Of Users-Clients Throughout The Architectural Process, Audrey Mertens, Louise Coniasse, Catherine Elsen
DRS Biennial Conference Series
This paper explores the evolving role of architects in cohousing projects in response to environmental, economic, and social challenges. This research incorporates insights from semi-structured interviews in three Belgian case studies. The foundations and values of cohousing communities are tackled, highlighting shifts in architects' roles and challenges in working with groups of user-clients. In these cohousing processes, we found that the representatives of these user-client groups may not always share the full breadth of their negotiations with architects. Architects seem to miss out on some of the nuances, and some participants found that this approach left their voices unheard. Amidst …