Over the past week, we have been working with the future residents of K1, Cambridge, on the first stage of their custom build journey towards designing and purchasing their new homes.

Since May 2015, TOWN has been working with Mole Architects and Cambridge Cohousing on a masterplan for the K1 site. Evolved from an original brief prepared by Cambridge Cohousing members, the plan lays out development along three traditional Cambridge terraced streets, together with a purpose-built apartment building.

Over the same period, TOWN and Mole have also designed four ‘shell’ dwelling types. They’re called shells because they’re quite basic in form and structure, with the internal layout and external appearance being determined by the purchaser (more on this another time).

• Type A: a terraced house measuring 4.2 metres wide and 7.8 metres deep.
• Type B: a terraced house measuring 5 metres wide and 7.8 metres deep.
• Type C: paired flats measuring 7.8 metres wide and 7.8 metres deep (modelled on a Tyneside flat, with each flat having its own front door)
• Type D: a purpose-built apartment

The neat thing about dwelling types A, B and C is that, having the same depth (all 7.8 metres), they are largely interchangeable on a plan and can be slotted into a terraced row in pretty much any order and combination. This allows for a terraced street to look and feel quite unified but at the same time to have a huge range of dwelling types and sizes contained within it (a must for making mixed communities).

So this week, prospective K1 Cohousing residents have been selecting their house type, and their plot location on the plan. The group has decided to allow members to choose their plot in order of the date that they joined Cambridge Cohousing. Therefore the member who joined up earliest gets to choose from any plot on the site – and so on.

So how did the process work out? Well, we’re pleased to say that at the end of the week, every member of Cambridge Cohousing (33 so far, and counting), has selected a plot and a house type. It has been a pretty smooth process all in all and K1’s future residents are now a step closer to seeing their dreams become a reality.