Olamina Commons - MicroVillage Ideas

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Olamina Commons - Urban Microvillage & Community

Mission of the project

We are co-creating Olamina Commons, a residential microvillage where abundance, decision-making and responsibilities are shared.

This project embraces the power of collaboration, equitable living and community practices grounded in a new way of listening with care to one another.

We are inspired by...

Learn about Missing Middle Housing

Opticos Design

https://opticosdesign.com/

Opticos work with the city of Winston Salem lead to adoption of new planning and development ordinances that enable building missing middle housing. See the 2019 presentation here: https://www.cityofws.org/DocumentCenter/View/1467/Missing-Middle-Housing-May-2019-PDF

How to turn a neighborhood into a village

architect Mark Lakeman, founder of Communitecture Architecture and the City Repair Project.

Other projects from Communitecture: Cully Green Cohousing, Cully Grove Cohousing, Sabin Green Cohousing, Mason Street Townhomes (Cohousing), Peninsula Park Cohousing, Ruth's Littlest Village (Cohousing) https://www.communitecture.net/

Earthseed is a center for community resilience through cooperative ownership of land and resources. Earthseed is a transformational response to systemic oppression, committed to centering People of Color and other communities pushed to the margins.

Projects include Tierra Negra Farms near Durham, a collective of farmers, educators and cultural workers, striving to model a community-controlled food system that is just and sustainable.

https://www.instagram.com/tierranegrafarm/

https://earthseedlandcoop.org/

Building affordable duplexes that help residents generate wealth

Donovan Adesoro explains a project:

$50K lot, $250 build, Buyer has $1800 mortgage with $1200 rental income

Neighborhood gets revitalized

Foundation for Intentional Community https://www.ic.org/

Lauren Oya Olamina: Theologian of Our Time by Tamisha A. Tyler explains why it is time for Olamina

https://www.fsrinc.org/lauren-oya-olamina-theologian-of-our-time/

Building Small

Jim Heid, FSLA

Integrating the best thinking in economic resilience, authentic placemaking, and social responsibility https://www.jheid.com/small/

This is what 36 dwelling units in an urban location on 5 acres looks like.

Shared resources include: pool, chickens, garden, lawn, children's house, common house, work shop, art room, guest house and abundant fruit trees.

https://www.sonoracohousing.com/

The CoHousing Company

https://www.cohousingco.com/

Investing Strategies

Lili Invests breaks down house hacking (rehab, not new construction)

South Park Village

America’s First Black-Owned Tiny Home Village near Atlanta

Developer Booker T Washington

https://southparkcottages.com

Microlife Institute, Atlanta Georgia

https://www.microlifeinstitute.org/

CoHousing and Intentional Communities in North Carolina

Emergent community in Mt. Airy with land, seeded by Whole Systems https://growingsystems.org/about/

Village Hearth LGBTQ 55+ community in Durham https://www.villagehearthcohousing.com/ (2BR, 2B 1,152 sq ft $439K, 900sq ft condo $418K)

Durham Central Park Urban Cohousing https://www.durhamcoho.com/ (2BR, 1.5B, $625K)

Elderberry Village Rougemont https://www.elderberrycohousing.com/ (325 sq ft Tiny Home $165K)

Building Visions

$95K 460 sq ft cottage made of mix of new and reclaimed materials https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQfqgwzXjdw

Tiny House Village sampler

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMJUkGDGKJg

Panelized homes by Topsider

(either for the main house or for the cottages?)

https://www.topsiderhomes.com/visit-topsider-homes-factory.php

Yes, you can permit a tiny house on a foundation. Your home can be as small as 200 square feet with at least 1 room no less than 120 square feet and a minimum ceiling height of 7 feet. All hall ways will be required to be minimum of 36″ and any actual stairs will have to built to code.

https://nanostead.com/#gallery

Site Visions

This is what upscale urban development can look like

3 acres
29 free standing homes
330 to 700 sq ft homes

This is the site plan for South Park Cottages in Georgia (SOLD OUT)

https://www.gacities.com/Resources/Reference-Articles/Combatting-the-Challenges-of-Affordable-Housing-in.aspx

This is what a pocket neighborhood in a high density neighborhood can look like.

1.37 acres
8 Cottages, 4 ADUs
Cottage (1220 sf), ADU (400 sf)

https://opticosdesign.com/work/wine-country-pocket-neighborhood-riverhouse/

This is what typical Winston Salem suburban sprawl looks like

0.21 acres per densely packed 1900 sf house, built on slab

Minimal open space. Significant portion of land for cars, not people

This is what we are disrupting

Mix of single family codo units with shared inside 'street' with 3 common rooms on each street.

The community features 34 privately owned townhomes, a 5,000-square-foot common house with a communal kitchen and dining room, shared laundry, underground parking, organic gardens, and preserved green spaces.