We won! Our nomination was successful and our home has been awarded a GRAY Awards in the Breakout Category, Visionary. The GRAY awards, the international design competition, is the premier destination for recognizing creative excellence culminating with the industry’s most exciting celebration of the year. View list of winners
Great news! Our home been nominated as a finalist in the 7th Annual GRAY Awards: Breakout Category, Visionary (3rd project listed). See below! Read full article
With the snip of a pair of large, shiny scissors, four-year-old Leo cut the ribbon to officially open Our Urban Village, the co-housing project where he lives with his parents. “We are very social and we also like the idea of getting to know our neighbours and doing activities with them. And also getting Leo …
Read more South Main co-housing project welcomes residents in search of community
Mark Shieh understands the power of transformative spaces — he started his career working as an Imagineer for the Walt Disney Company, designing theme parks. “I still have a little of that pixie dust in me,” he says, recalling how transfixed he was by the magic of Disney’s parks and how they felt like the …
We are thrilled that our future home, TOMO House, was discussed during a recent piece on CBC’s “Spark”, a show that explores technology innovation and design in our daily lives. The host, Nora Young, was leading a discussion of what “home” will look like in 50 years alongside Sonia Solicari from the UK’s Museum of …
One of the great things about cohousing is that you get to know your neighbours before you move in. It takes time to build a cohousing project. But during that period, you’re forging friendships with the people you’ll be living with later. Here are just a few things our community members share. Sharing skills When …
For Tara Gallen, it started with a cargo bike. Ms. Gallen was looking through a Facebook page for families who bike and saw mention of a co-housing style project that was cargo-bike friendly. Because cargo bikes are wide and awkward, they don’t fit into the average bike storage room. Tomo House, on Vancouver’s Main Street, …
“Once you get them built [it’s great]. It’s getting them built that’s a bitch. It’s a good way to live.” Pushing forward an innovative housing project in a pricey market such as Vancouver takes a level of commitment few have the capacity to maintain over the longterm. But Kathy Sayers is among those who’ve persevered …
Read more Vancouver’s first ‘cohousing lite’ housing project close to breaking ground
Most multi-family housing projects have amenity rooms, but with the cost of land rising and new units getting smaller, many of these common areas are being downsized. Often they are only 450 square feet. “You put in a few exercise bikes and you’re done,” said Vancouver architect Marianne Amodio. “They are getting smaller and smaller.” …
Read more Architects and planners aim to create family-friendly apartment housing in the city
Multi-family housing collaboration Can we design multi-family housing to nurture strong, supportive social relationships? Hundreds of hours of research led us to believe the answer is Yes. Tomo House brings this idea to life. Tomo House has brought Happy City into a unique collaboration with an enlightened developer (Take Root), a creative design team (Lanefab …