Description

The Collective, a Co-Living organization, currently operates three locations in London. Two of them are exclusively for co-working, while the Old Oak residential property in the northwest of the city unites co-working and Co-Living. Two more locations similar to the Old Oak are in the planning stage. The idea is to create a new way of living, working, and spending leisure time. The residents of the Old Oak are young working people, often in the prefamily phase, but the Old Oak is one of the few Co-Living properties to provide housing to parents or single parents with children. A total of 550 people live in the ten-story building, completed by PLP Architecture in 2016.[1]

The Old Oak offers a variety of individual apartments, most of which have an intermediate zone with bathroom and kitchen between the collective circulation area and private areas. This intermediate zone is often shared by two parties. The private living spaces are rented fully furnished, are minimal in size, and are supplemented by extensive shared offerings. For example, there is a communal kitchen with dining and lounge area on each floor, which can be used for private events.[2] There is also a library, a quiet room, a movie room, a game room, a spa, and a laundry room spread throughout the floors. A concierge desk offers 24-hour concierge service on the ground floor, along with a restaurant and bar, an events room, a gym, and co-working spaces. The connection between home, work, and leisure results not only from the wide array of services offered; the Old Oak also provides a community manager, who organizes regular events and occasions to enable residents to get to know each other, interact, and — according to the The Collective homepage — make them feel at home.[3]

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Originally published in: Susanne Schmid, Dietmar Eberle, Margrit Hugentobler (eds.), A History of Collective Living. Forms of Shared Housing, Birkhäuser, 2019. Translation by Word Up!, LLC, edited for Building Types Online.