Home sweet communal home
Posted: Tuesday, June 10, 2008 2:20 PM by Alan Boyle
When gasoline prices crossed the $4-a-gallon milestone, that got a lot of people thinking about ways to reduce transportation costs. Many are taking a second look at pedal power and mass transit. Others are looking at energy technologies that offer alternatives to fossil fuels. Longtime Cosmic Log correspondent Christopher Eldridge takes a totally different view: Instead of figuring out cheaper ways to travel, how about figuring out cheaper ways not to travel?
Eldridge has been working on that challenge for years, and he sees communal living as the ultimate answer. He's into the sixth edition of his book on the subject, titled "Conceptual Communal Home Design," and he sent along this message as food for thought:
"Sure, hybrid cars and wind generators are great, but wouldn't it be so much better if, instead of jumping into our cars and driving to work in the morning, we could just roll out of bed and work 'productively' right from our own homes? Living efficiently and self-sufficiently on a very local level like this is not only good for the environment and for our personal time, it would be the absolute key to surviving nearly any type of disaster, pandemic, economic collapse, or energy crisis we can think of.
"Being able to work right from home is absolutely the best possible method of saving energy because so much less travel would be needed. Imagine, if you will, building much more robust homes with features like:
- 2,000 square feet of sub-industrial-scale wood and metal working shops able to cast our own engine block or farm implements from scratch.
- 1,000 square feet of office space for a myriad of private practices and small stores.
- Dual 12-person craft rooms for sewing and pottery.
- Our own automotive repair bays.
- Exterior camping/hiking/biking/gardening support facilities.
- Commercial computer and multi-line phone systems.
- Garage bays big enough for and able to support large carpenter/plumber/electrician-type work trucks with all their equipment.
- Rooftop hydroponic gardens able to provide every resident in the home with 70-plus square feet of 24/7/365 vegetable growing surface.
- A martial arts school/gymnasium right in our own home.
"With such facilities in our homes, we can endure almost anything and save far more energy that we do, right? Although such elaborate facilities and features aren't possible in an ordinary home, they are indeed possible when we combine our resources and skills in a true, purpose-built communal facility.
"Communal homes gain the advantage of a fundamental principle known as the economy of scale. By sharing kitchen, dining, bathroom and utility space (which are ordinarily only used about 5 percent of the time for the purpose they are intended) we gain the advantage of having more resources available for offices, shops and work rooms. By sharing a small fleet of standardized minivans we can accomplish our travels with far fewer vehicles.
"By using a multi-story commercial-quality home design (easily affordable with just the savings realized on travel and vehicle expense, and on day-care costs) we can also create a facility with an 85 percent lower footprint (saving land) and with 70 percent less surface area exposed to the cold of winter or the heat of summer to save on electicity, building materials and repair expenses.
"Most importantly, we aren't just talking about the communes of old... but super high-tech facilities where individual privacy is paramount. Such homes would have segregated living areas, and master bedroom suites with full entertainment centers, personal computers, ample storage space for adults and a double-door privacy entrance. There'd be wider hallways, soundproof materials within the walls and floors, and top-quality appliances to meet or exceed expected demands. Bathrooms would be divided into separate shower rooms and half baths, game room/sports bars would be added along with libraries and craft rooms. Even things like a multiuse racquetball court, or a 46-seat movie theater, or conference centers, or an emergency-bed down area for disaster victims are entirely possible and would help to offset any perceived lack of privacy.
"Are you getting the idea? So much more is possible in the home for us to enjoy and yet at much less cost to the environment.
"Given the ever-present and seemingly growing potential for super-disasters, such homes and their ability to provide for most of our needs in times of crisis would also lend a greater degree of stability to our lives. Such commercial-quality homes would be less vulnerable to high winds, would have less surface area to be damaged or to lose heat if the power fails, and would have dedicated visitor bunk-bedrooms for an influx of friends and family members who have either lost their homes or had to evacuate from a potential disaster zone. Generators and solar panels to keep the home running during such times would also be more affordable with more people footing the bill.
"Overall, the adequate and robust designs of our homes have been grossly overlooked for far too long as we continued in the age-old battle with the Joneses for bragging rights. Isn't it time we see 'our homes' as the best possible solution to all the pressing environmental problems, disaster risks and quality-of-living needs? To share a home is - to me - an acceptable price to pay for such robust stability and for so many features we would otherwise never be able to afford on our own."
The local-living trend has been gathering steam lately, as my colleague Allison Linn notes today in her report on the "locavore" movement. Would you consider communal living? What do you think of other concepts, such as vertical farming and green commuting? Feel free to share your experiences and opinions below.
