Neiman Taber Architects: Re-Inventing Micro Housing - A Shift Toward Community Design.

When we started work on the Yobi Apartments in 2012, our goal was to re-invent the micro-housing model. Our vision was inexpensive private rooms paired with common amenities, arranged so as to help build community among the residents that shared the building. We wanted to prototype a better model with the hope of influencing others to follow.

Yobi was completed a few months ago and received much attention and positive feedback. Since that time, there hasn’t been a whole lot of new congregate housing development (due to 2014 zoning changes that have suppressed it). Last week I noticed a new project from Calhoun Properties working its way through the permitting process. It's the first congregate project (from outside of our office) that I've seen since the 2014 code change, so I was eager to find out what they had planned. When I found their plans online, I was pleasantly surprised.

Calhoun’s new project has many features and communal amenities that are organized similar to the Yobi. The building has one main entry, organized just like a typical apartment building. The main floor has a generous shared common kitchen with an adjoining dining area, lounge, laundry room, and south facing patio. Each upper floor has a shared double kitchen, dining room, and view deck. Their new project bears no trace of the old pod model.

Calhoun is not just any micro-housing developer. They more or less invented pod style micro-housing, developing 17 pod style projects over the last few years. A successful business often has low motivation to mess with their development model; Calhoun deserves a lot of credit for their willingness to do so. This shift to provide more communal space bodes well for future projects and validates our contention that there was a better way to design this housing type.

Score a huge victory for the cause of re-inventing micro-housing. Now we just need to re-legalize it.

UPDATE: The original version of this post took for granted that Calhoun Properties new project was inspired by ideas developed at the Yobi. They contacted me to let me know that, while they read this article with interest, they were not aware of the Yobi and so it did not influence this project; the resemblance is a case of co-evolution rather than a progression. The post has been changed accordingly.