Page 7 - C.A.L.L. #41 - Summer 2016

Communal Living, An

Alternative To Real Estate

Status Quo

More and more seek communal housing to answer soaring housing prices and the alienation of modern life.

Laura Weissmul er, May 5th, Worldcrunch. (First printed in Süddeutsche Zeitung)

MUNICH — For a communal housing project, there are bound to be endless discussions over commons
areas before the foundation stone has even been laid. There are also financial questions such as "can I
sell the apartment if I have to?" But the most pressing point is just how many people will be living more
or less on top of you for a very long time.

To many people, this description of communal living sounds like a personal nightmare. But there are
houses being developed in conjunction by multiple future owners who won't be given immediate
occupancy by a property
developer as is normally the
case. The future owners also
forgo the possibility of
making a sizeable profit with
their property later on.

Nevertheless, these kinds of
projects have their own,
growing fan base since rental
prices in larger cities are
rising inexorably. Many of
these city properties are also
very similar, and give you the
feeling of having been mass-
produced. But what many
people hope is that living
within a tightly knit
community will close a gap
they feel modern life has A typical community garden in Zurich (Switzerland) — Photo: Roland zh
created.

"These new types of living projects become more and more important as normal family systems fall
apart," says Hilde Strobl, curator of an exhibition at the Munich Museum of Architecture entitled, "Don’t
be afraid of participating!"

Her exhibition of 12 living projects demonstrates that the communal living movement transcends all
strata of society and age groups. The films that accompany the exhibition, shot by Munich-based
photographer Jörg Koopmann, help to illustrate the movement. They address such varying topics as the

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