Nov. 11, 1998
Contact: Jane Ford
(804) 924-4298

COMMUNITY LIVING, 21ST CENTURY-STYLE
	The traditional ideas of village, town and neighborhood are
updated in cohousing communities with their emphasis on active
participation and sharing.
	University of Virginia Associate Professor of Architecture Bill
Sherman will give a talk ÒLive in the 21st Century: CohousingÓ on
Tuesday, Nov. 17 at 7 p.m. in Campbell Hall, Room 153.
	Cohousing is a community-generated concept in which
neighborhoods are custom built, designed by professionals and planned
from beginning to end by the people who live in them. Cohousing began in
Denmark in the 1970s and spread to the United States in the 1980s. A
grassroots community group has been working with Sherman to design 25
community homes in downtown Charlottesville.  Construction is to begin
in January.
	 The homes are designed with kitchens, bedrooms, living rooms
and bathrooms with the exception of common spaces owned and used by all
the residents. These shared facilities include a communal dining room,
library, meditation room, meeting room, guest room, woodshop, laundry,
playground, amphitheater, and outdoor greenspaces. Parking is kept to
the perimeters and the neighborhood is diverse in that the size of the
houses vary, providing homes for those in different stages of life --
young families, senior citizens and individuals -- as well as various
economic circumstances. 
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	For more information Bill Sherman may be reached at (804)
924-6467, or sherman@virginia.edu. Television reporters should contact
the TV News Office at (804) 924-7550.