What Makes a Shared Space Well-designed?

What Makes a Shared Space Well-designed?

In my previous blog, I've mentioned the housing crisis issue we facing today. Housing crisis nowadays restrain the people especially the low-income groups in the urban city area from getting a cheaper and bigger house. The concept of 'co-living' then growing and become a trend in major city, against the high prices of real estates. And i think this concept can be effectively implemented in Kuala Lumpur metropolitan city which might help the low-income youngsters, providing them affordable yet sustainable living environment.


Brief Introduction about the Concept of 'Co-Living'
The idea of 'co-living', basically, is where you live together with a group of people sharing bigger space and common amenities. Unlike the traditional living lifestyle we used to have, co-living values openness, social networking, collaborative economy and the sense of community.

 I know that the intention of 'co-living' tries to promote the sharing economy to reduce the living cost. However, there's one question emerged in my mind: 'Hmm...Does someone willing to share his/her bathroom? What if we like to watch different TV channel in one living room? I'm not going to watch a football though...'


What is a Good Design in 'Co-Living'?
I believe that conventional housing layout in tradition is definitely not applicable in this case where the co-living space should have fulfill its communal living lifestyle. In order to improve the quality of social connections in society, we may need to transform the way we live and how we design our homes and neighborhood in the col-living space. 

 Therefore, to experience the full ecological, social, and economic benefits of co-living, research must be performed to understand how residents share, experience, and inhabit space. Understanding the realities of spaces is crucial in order to meet the balance between privacy and social interaction which is important to ensure the comfort in such semi-public space.
For example, in my point of view, sufficient provision of electrical plugs and seating is necessary in the shared living zone so that different individuals able to enjoy their gadgets and entertainment. Attached washroom is good, however it might cost more compared to a shared washroom. If designer tend to introduce the attached washroom, what should be taken into account like :
    'how to keep it more private and safe?';
    'who should keep it clean'; 
    'is there any weekly cleaning provided?' etc

 As I go through the website looking for better design idea in 'Co-Living', I found this article talking about the concept of layered privacy and sharing ratio in one design.
''...I believe that the key to a well-designed co-living space is the concept of layered privacy. For every space that is provided we ask: how is it used for and how many residents have access to it? In a perfect world, a member would have their own private bedroom, share a bathroom with one roommate, a kitchen with 5 people, a living room with 12 people, a community lounge with 16-30, a movie room with 100, a game room with 200, a party space with 500, and a public lobby/cafe with the rest of the city. Successful layering of sharing ratios can provide everyone access to more types of spaces, all while using the same total amount of space.'' - Christina Yoh
It is good to always keep putting ourselves in the inhabitants' shoes while doing design process, thinking in the perspective of the users. A well-designed shared space not only focus on social interaction, at the same time control the privacy ration in order to produce a practical co-living space for all.




reference:
Coliving, defined from an architectural design perspective. Retrieved from:
http://www.common.com/blog/2019/03/what-exactly--is-coliving/

 What are co-living spaces and why should you invest in them? Retrieved from:
http://www.lancor.in/what-are-co-living-spaces-and-why-should-you-invest-in-them/

 What Today's Coliving Spaces Get Wrong. Retrieved from:
http://www.fastcompany.com/90161409/what-todays-co-living-spaces-get-wrong

 Here are five lessons on the future of co-living. Retrieved from:
http://www.citymetric.com/fabric/here-are-five-lessons-future-co-living-3792