Student living for adults

[Donk]

Urban housing needs have been the same for generations. A child is brought up in a family home and stays in it until marriage, when he/she starts a new family in a new family home.

Things have changed. Young adults go to college and live in shared accommodation. On graduation they sometimes move back home, but often they carry on with shared accommodation, sometimes for many years. My son is over 30 and has lived in halls of residence or house shares since he was 18. I know a lot of young people in their 20s and 30s who have been in live-in relationships but had to get out. "I felt suffocated. I needed my own space" is a common explanation.

There's a new breed of people, unwilling to compromise their personal freedom. And there are a LOT of them. Mostly they're living in house-shares, often not getting on too well with their housemates. Or they're living quite alone and hating it.

What we need is a Hall of Residence for adults. Something like individual bedsits with minimum cooking facilities (refrigerator, kettle, microwave), minimum bathroom (washbasin, WC, shower), with communal lounge, kitchen, bathroom facilities. They get their own space, but they also get to feel part of a community. They can cook and eat in their room, or do something adventurous in the main kitchen, for themselves or for the group. They can choose what they want to watch on their own TV or go to the lounge and watch sport or Dr Who or whatever in company - some TV is much better watched in company!

It makes sense to me, so why aren't developers building them?

[freeztar]

Well, "adults" covers a broad range of age. The first thing that comes to mind is retirement communities. Retirement home - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For adults such as myself (in 30's), I can't think of any such place. It seems that the big development trend (a 'new Renaissance') in Atlanta is to buy up large spaces of unused/cheap/available land and create mixed-use developments. I suppose this is the closest thing I know of for what you suggest.

[Donk]

Retirement homes here are mostly of two types, neither fitting my ideal:

(1) Hostel/hotel style, where bedrooms are small and mainly just for sleeping in; residents spend most of their days in the lounge or garden, eating staff-prepared meals in the dining room;

(2) Apartment style. Contact between residents is little more than in any apartment block. Sometimes they have dayrooms with organised events, but that's dependent on the energy and enthusiasm of the warden. The residents aren't usually expected to organise anything for themselves.

When he was at university, my son and his friends started a tradition called Free Food Friday. There were ten students in his group, with a shared kitchen. Each would take it in turn to give a meal to the rest on Friday evening. At first this was often just a takeaway meal, but as they grew in culinary skill (and the money started to run out), they started to compete in creating tasty (and cheap) dishes. He's kept the same tradition going through a half-dozen house-shares since. It's a great way to socialise, something that even rugged loners secretly need.

There's something about preparing a meal for the tribe, then sitting down to share it, that satisfies something very deep in the human psyche. It worked well for my lad and his friends when they were 18; it's still working 12 years later. If architects and developers were to create something like this, I'm pretty certain it would be hugely successful.

[ChunTzu]

I would think it has something to do w/ the idea of the "American Dream" or the like. Most people consider "success" to include owning their own little slice of heaven with a living room, kitchen, bedroom, etc etc. This does not mesh with 'student housing for adults'.

Having studied architecture and worked at a firm for a period of time, I can also definitely say that a major purpose in designing buildings and residences is to make something that will sell and remain economically viable, not shake up the world with good ideas. Which is a shame. This is not a blanket statement, though it does represent a significant portion of the profession.

Plus who hasn't had negative roommate experiences?

edit: I'm also told by some urban planning friends that mixed-use buildings, as mentioned by freeztar, is supposed to be the new, hip, solution to over-crowded, uneconomical urbanism.

[minna]

Mixed-use developments, that's interesting! I'm seeing more and more of them in the last few years. I went to Tianjin, China two years ago and I was told they were building a commercial complex closed to where I stayed. It will include a six star hotel, shopping centres, apartments and offices. In Australia too I'm seeing more of them...however they ones I've seen are more high-end apartments, with pools, gyms and loads of services.

I do see sustainability problems with the sort of housing Donk is talking about, cheap, basic and somewhat temporary. This sort of housing would rely on a steady stream of young, single, urban people looking for cheap housing. However the problem with that target market is that they are largesly seeking temporary housing, approx 4-5 years max (or until they get married and have kids). Secondly they are also the type of people largely affected by the economic environment. When the economy is looking good, and they have more to spend, more will look for more luxurius housing (reducing demand), and when the economic is going down, like now, there will be a increase in demand.

But to create those sort of cheap, basic housing you need to employee economies of scale. Hence you probably need to create a lot at once to make a impact to this problem. But with the uncertainties mentioned above, such projects would be quite risky for developers.