Designing for Multi-Generational Living

From cohousing to home extensions, how the design of our homes and communities can reconnect families and build support networks.

by Sam Goss, Founding Director, Barefoot Architects

It is the school summer holiday. Like me, millions of families around the UK will be juggling

commitments to work, childcare and rest. Paying the bills for most people means everyone

working as much as possible - in careers that have taken them away from their roots. With it,

the connections to wider family and support structures have been fractured. My parents are

beginning to be too old to easily look after my three bundles of energy, and at times in the last

year have needed our support if anything. As a society we're putting off having children until

later in life, and this is exacerbating the issues.

Within this context, at Barefoot architects we are constantly looking to design solutions to

complex social problems such as these. Can caring communities be developed which address

these issues? Can homes be designed in ways that support multi-generational family living?

Do these things already exist? Well, the answer is yes – we think they can be. It would not be

an overstatement to say that nearly every project we have been commissioned for in the last

decade has sought to incorporate some aspect of design to suit multi-generational living, or

ageing in place.

From larger projects like Hazelmead – Bridport Community Cohousing, through to smaller

private homes developing annexes under Permitted Development Rights, we have worked on

architectural projects that enable multi-generational, mutually supportive physical

environments. These schemes operate within the context of both the typical nuclear, and

blended families, and for un-related but intentionally

relational communities.

Cohousing is a model which cannot ever replace a properly functioning social care system, but

can create an environment of housing where people care about each other. Our project

'Hazelmead' for Bridport Community Cohousing CLT is a striking example of this, where the

residents of the 53 homes all know each other. They are not all necessarily best friends for life,

but do live in a place where mutual support between the neighbourhood is commonplace.

When someone is ill, food is left at a doorstep; when a nurse visits an elderly resident support

is given by a friend. Children play freely on car free streets amidst the houses and wild spaces.

It's noticeable how they know all of the adults on site – not simply their parents, and there is a

level of familiarity, care and support which defies the norms of most housing developments.

This has been intentional, facilitated by a different design process of a place which explicitly

sought to be more affordable, more sustainable, and more neighbourly. The project is for 100%

affordable housing, kept in perpetuity via the Community Land Trust which owns and manages

the site.

Currently on site in a village just outside of Bristol within North Somerset's Green Belt we are

developing a former historic farmhouse and surrounding site into 4 homes within an 'eco-

community'. A private project for a passionate client seeking to demonstrate how multi-

generational 'family and friends' living can be lower impact on the environment and provide

sociable support structures. Two new partially subterranean homes are being built within the

land as single storey accessible dwellings for both sets of the clients' parents, whilst an

annexe flat adjacent to the converted farmhouse will provide space for a carer, adult children,

friends, or visitors – built over the top of a shared workspace for home working within the

setting of a biodiverse shared garden, with amenities that exceed what might be afforded by a

single family alone.

The homes are configured neatly around a courtyard walled garden where kitchens and

entrances all open onto – encouraging social interaction and connectivity, whilst balancing

more private living rooms and sunken gardens to the rear. Called the 'Wapan' houses, the

project is 'regenerative' by design, following circular economy principles by reusing salvaged

material from the old farmhouse to build the new homes and improving the biodiversity and

wildlife on the site as a result of the project.

Previously, some private clients came to us as a blended family looking to develop their typical

Bristol semi into a multi-generational home - for them, their children and ageing parents. The

house needed to be bigger, and required a separate enough, spacious, and dignified accessible

space for parents. Working within the constraints and opportunities of Permitted Development

Rights we added a hip to gable loft conversion for them; a single storey rear kitchen extension

for the family; and via a glazed link an annexe within the garden for parents. A side extension

already functioned as a bedroom for their elder child.

The project capitalised on these simplified planning laws enabling their home to function for

the future – with parents able to move in with them, and offering two way support and a

balance of shared and private spaces. Their relief at being able to live in this way and stay in

the city that supports both of their jobs was invaluable.

As part of a competition submission for Bristol's Goram Homes we explored as many different

ways to develop multi-generational living. In fact, we called the proposal 'Multi-house' and

were shortlisted by the developer. The project explored how multiple generations or families

(of siblings, friends etc) might be able to live together in a new, larger clustered house

typologies – 'multi-houses' around shared living spaces, gardens and car use, balanced with

private kitchens, bathrooms, stair cases and bedroom areas.

'Multi' units of between 2 and 5 homes were explored, of a range of sizes to suit living with

adult children, grandparents, siblings or friends in a more shared, intentionally multi-

generational way.

So amidst a loneliness epidemic, increased housing costs, and many social challenges, we

believe there are real, tangible, exciting solutions to how we live together and solve these

problems. From affordable community cohousing projects through to private homes designed

to fit families of the future we are pursuing the real housing solutions for the 21st Century. We

passionately believe in cohousing and community led housing models as a different way to

develop the support structures needed by people of all generations.

This doesn't just solve problems, but creates joyful places for people to live in support of each

other – giving a sense of place, purpose and empowerment that we so desperately need.