the face of consensus

[topaz]

This weekend Mosaic Commons had its Private Unit Design workshop.

Weekend-long workshops are always exhausting.  This one was no exception.  On Saturday we settled on designs for all five of our unit types.  We examined full baths and half baths.  We debated ducting options and closet arrangements.  We agreed to make the 2-bedroom units all townhouses rather than stacked flats.  We made all sorts of choices on accessibility issues.

Today we examined building types (duplex and triplex designs).  We discussed whether to jog or not to jog.  We considered shared porches.  We measured and we taped and we stickered and we penciled.  And we made a wrenching attempt at unit selection.

The Private Unit Design component of cohousing design is one of the stickier, emotionally fraught parts of the process.  It's an attempt to find the uneasy balance between providing for everyone's personal needs and sticking to a site design that is simple enough to build.  No one wants to be told that they can't build their home the way that they want to build it, but to get through this process we all have to be prepared to do exactly that.  It means a lot of compromise.  A lot.  And in a group where everyone has already compromised a lot to get to where we are.  This weekend I watched people who I love dearly struggle to find ways to meet their neighbors' needs.  It was a fierce and beautiful sight.

It is a motley bunch of oddballs we have fallen in with here.  I am continually amazed at our ability to keep moving and get the hard decisions done.  It may be a funny-looking crew but it is, ultimately, my community.  And it is my home.

This is what consensus looks like.



Thanks, everybody.

Comments

[keyne.livejournal.com]

<hugs you>

[opadit.livejournal.com]

Ack! Cohousing flashbacks and it's not even 9:00 a.m. on a Monday!

(Other than that, congratulations!)

[dancingwolfgrrl.livejournal.com]

That's an awesome picture. I can't even imagine the amount of work you guys must be going through, but it sounds like you're starting to get to the stage where you see amazing, tangible results, so yay for that :)

[blk]

That is definitely an awesome picture. I'm really happy for all you guys.

[rintrahroars.livejournal.com]

You should all be so proud! Congrats for reaching this milestone!

[sconstant.livejournal.com]

Not to quibble, but these look more like the hands of consensus.

[ceo]

With a little cropping, that picture would make an excellent icon.

[weegoddess.livejournal.com]

My thoughts exactly!!

[smooch]

[redheadedmuse.livejournal.com]

funny-looking?

[jasra]

Very neat!

Compare with:

[hissilliness.livejournal.com]

[harimad.livejournal.com]

Was it deliberate that consensus has no faces?

[qwrrty.livejournal.com]

Not really. (TAKE THAT, sconstant!) I saw the line of hands go up next to me and took a picture as quickly as I could. But I was very pleased by the fact that you couldn't see anyone's face in that picture.