Description

The Jernstoberiet Cohousing Settlement was established in 1980 in Roskilde, Denmark as an expansion of a disused factory building, a foundry built in 1946, which was initially supposed to be demolished.[1] In the end, the high cost of demolition combined with a local cohousing initiative led to the conversion and expansion of the old factory building. The first Cohousing projects were organized in Scandinavia as early as the 1970s, with the goal of creating dedicated collectives with a community center to complement the adjoining private households (mostly in terraced housing or single-family homes, and rarely in the form of apartment buildings).[2] Cohousing projects were funded either privately or through the state, depending on local circumstances. The Jernstoberiet Cohousing Settlement was one of the first projects to be developed privately by the initiators.[3] While planning the project, the initiators were supported by a group of students and later by the architects Jan Gudmand-Hoyer and Jes Edvars. Planning was carried out in a participatory process that also included future residents, who later built quite a bit on their own.[4]

A total of 21 apartments with sizes ranging from 38 to 127 m² were completed.[5] The different sized housing units were intended to promote a mix of income classes and household types among the approximately 50 residents.[6] However, in the end the financial burden was so high that only well-educated people moved into the Jernstoberiet Cohousing Settlement.[7] The private apartments were similar to terraced housing and were connected to the collective factory hall. The kitchens of the units faced the communal area, while the living areas, with access to the private gardens, faced away. This turned the existing factory hall into a central hall and expanded the circulation area that acted as a covered courtyard, providing space for games and interaction, as well as extending the living area and supplying room for larger events such as festivals. To the rear of the hall, the two-story community building was designed as a room inside a room, within which were located a communal kitchen, dining room, and, upstairs, other spaces such as playrooms, a TV lounge, workshops, a sewing room, and a laundry room.[8] The final floor plan of the project is particularly interesting, as the original situation with the old factory hall required a very specific solution.

---

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.