Yesterday, I presented some of my research on cohousing as part of a public programme with the RIBA to challenge the preconceptions of this type of housing. I focussed on the Wranglestrasse project in Berlin - it had no grand utopian ideal - instead, it was a group of people wanting to design their own homes, and building together was an affordable way of doing so. They shared the design process and have created eight flats which share a rear garden, roof garden, storage and district heating. A huge saving for them was the tax advantage, as they paid stamp duty on the land rather than the whole development, which saved them 80%.

My collaborative research with the cross-practice group Appropriate Housing continues to explore co-housing; the way these communities have housed themselves innovatively and affordably, and how these lessons can be applied in the UK amidst the housing crisis.