Have you ever wondered what it’s like to develop your own multi-unit housing? How about living in a social community where you commit to making decisions together, sharing communal meals, and supporting your neighbours? On May 30, Happy Cities hosted a webinar with the project team and community behind Our Urban Village—Vancouver’s newest cohousing community—to …
Housing stories in B.C. are often about the lack of housing or the lack of affordability. However Vancouver has another serious problem – social isolation. This week we are taking a look at the diverse ways people live in this province. CBC’s Shivani Joshi took a tour of Our Urban Village, a cohousing project in …
Our incredible project partners, Happy Cities, have just completed their landmark research study on Our Urban Village called The Happier Missing Middle. This report documents our journey from our ‘business as usual’ lives to living in a cohousing community. Our community has always been a multi-faceted project: building our building and weaving our community fabric. …
Read more Our Urban Village: A new model for social, missing middle housing?
We won! Our nomination was successful and our home has been awarded a GRAY Awards in the Breakout Category, Visionary. The GRAY awards, the international design competition, is the premier destination for recognizing creative excellence culminating with the industry’s most exciting celebration of the year. View list of winners
Great news! Our home been nominated as a finalist in the 7th Annual GRAY Awards: Breakout Category, Visionary (3rd project listed). See below! Read full article
With the snip of a pair of large, shiny scissors, four-year-old Leo cut the ribbon to officially open Our Urban Village, the co-housing project where he lives with his parents. “We are very social and we also like the idea of getting to know our neighbours and doing activities with them. And also getting Leo …
Read more South Main co-housing project welcomes residents in search of community
Our second course with Rosie Mae introduced us to knife skills, chopping board etiquette and general ideas on how to feed large groups. Our first gathering with Rosie was a month ago and we’ve had a few common meals since then. Some have been more elaborate than others, but all were excellent, so our fear …
This unique apartment offers flexibility. It’s one legal address, but can be locked off to provide two private living units. The main component is a 2 bedroom/1 bathroom space with an open kitchen (with dishwasher) and living area. The living room has vaulted ceiling making the space very spacious. Windows face both north to tree-lined …
Read more Unit 33/34, 2 bedroom plus lock-off suite (1,056 sq ft)
The month of July was a very busy moving month for OUV members. Not only did we move into our units, we now have a common house, lounge and courtyard to organize. Our common house is rather fabulous and equipped with vast amounts of storage cupboards. These next few months will require efforts to organize …
This apartment feels like a town house with its own entrance off tree-lined Ontario Place, its own front patio and higher ceilings (approx 13’8″) than the rest of the units, which makes it seem larger. There is no wasted space in this unit. It contains an open-concept kitchen (with dishwasher), living and sleeping areas and …