Cohousing furniture

Sammanfattning: A cohouse is a house with private apartments as well as shared areas and they can be organized in different ways. The purpose of the project was to learn more about cohousing. How the common rooms are used and what kind of furniture is preferred. My method was to read about the topic and then visit cohouses in Sweden and Germany to do interviews and study the use and function of the shared spaces. The houses I studied had between 30 and 100 residents. I found that in most cohouses people had common meals, meetings and parties with dancing. Sometimes the rooms were used for exercize and play. I often noticed a lack of flexibility in using the furniture in shared areas. In some places it was messy and unpractical. The result is a proposal of foldable furniture for a flexible use in the common spaces. It includes a folding table, a folding bench and a serving table that doubles as a storage for the other two. My conclusion is that there is a market opportunity for thought through solutions for the furniture in common areas. Existing folding furniture often lacks storage solutions, looks too technical or are made for outdoor use.