11: Better living through Baugruppen

12/30/22 • 20 min

Housing prices in the US are completely out of balance. Affordable housing is difficult to attain in entire metropolitan areas. There are few options for middle class households, and even fewer for working class residents.

We need a reset on the American dream.

From one that is sprawling, unaffordable, lonely, carbon intensive, and exclusive – to one that is community-oriented, multigenerational, family-friendly and sustainable. One that is inclusive and accessible. Perhaps most importantly, one that is climate-adaptive and resilient to events exacerbated by climate change: energy spikes, heat domes, cold snaps, and extended wildfire smoke events.

In this week’s episode, we’ll be talking about one solution that could provide a path towards boosting middle class housing opportunities: Baugruppen.

Further reading...
Catch Mike Eliason's 2014 series on Baugruppen over on the Urbanist. Larch Lab's page on Baugruppen, with several links and examples.
‘Baugruppen Communal Dwelling Sans Granola,’ Michael Eliason’s Ignite Seattle #33 video.

‘Don’t Call It A Commune: Inside Berlin’s Radical Cohousing Project,’ Metropolis.
‘Baugruppen: It’s a Cooperative Living Concept, and It’s Perfect for Boomers,’ Treehugger.

Nightingale Housing, Austrialian non-profit developing socially, financially and environmentally sustainable housing similar to Baugruppen.

‘I Want to Live in a Baugruppe,’ Dave Roberts summary of Baugruppen, for Grist.

Lastly, to stay up to date with what Michael Eliason is doing at Larch Lab, be sure to sign up for newsletter updates.

We need a reset on the American dream.

In this week’s episode, we’ll be talking about one solution that could provide a path towards boosting middle class housing opportunities: Baugruppen.

‘Don’t Call It A Commune: Inside Berlin’s Radical Cohousing Project,’ Metropolis.
‘Baugruppen: It’s a Cooperative Living Concept, and It’s Perfect for Boomers,’ Treehugger.

Nightingale Housing, Austrialian non-profit developing socially, financially and environmentally sustainable housing similar to Baugruppen.

‘I Want to Live in a Baugruppe,’ Dave Roberts summary of Baugruppen, for Grist.

Lastly, to stay up to date with what Michael Eliason is doing at Larch Lab, be sure to sign up for newsletter updates.

Previous Episode

10: Re-compaction with Aufstockungen

Aufstockungen is the German term for vertical additions. These are rooftop additions common throughout European cities - where many structures were built with concrete, block, or stone.
Vertical additions offer a really interesting path towards re-compacting (densifying) existing neighborhoods in an incredibly sustainable manner.
They preserve more affordable, existing housing.
They reduce sprawl.
They allow the incorporation of new housing without sealing new surfaces - thereby reducing the urban heat island effect, and allowing more area for mitigating storm inundations and flooding.
It is also an approach that can be utilized to add to a number of different building types - not just housing, but schools, offices, institutions, etc.
Further reading...
Aufstockungen: Innovative Density, Mike Eliason's 2014 piece on vertical additions, via the Urbanist. Viel ungenutztes Potenzial: Dachgeschoßwohnungen am Gemeindebau (Untapped potential: Attic apartments in municipal buildings), Der Standard article on the potential for vertical additions and attic housing in Vienna's municipal housing.
Wohnraumpotenziale in urbanen Lagen: Aufstockung und Umnutzungvon
Nichtwohngebäuden, (pdf) TU Darmstadt study on the potential for new housing via vertical additions and office conversions, in the cores of German cities
Sauerbruch + Hutton's mass timber addition to an existing DDR Plattenbau, for the Berlin Metropolitan school, via Baunetz.
AO Architekten's mass timber addition to the HTL in Graz, Austria, via Detail.
Lastly, to stay up to date with what Michael Eliason is doing at Larch Lab, be sure to sign up for newsletter updates.

Next Episode

12: Strike Zone

Strike. Verb. A disaster, or other unwelcome phenomenon that suddenly occurs and has harmful or damaging effects on something.
Zoning has afflicted our cities - some might say even damaged them - through their lack of flexibility and sterility. A hundred years on, the experiment of zoning is a massive failure.
However, it doesn't have to be this way. Other countries don't even have single use zoning like single family zoning in the US... Many others have zoning that is dictated at the federal level.

In this week’s episode, we’ll be talking about the absurdity of zoning in the USA, and why other countries are able to see better outcomes in their versions of zoning.
Further reading...
Catch Mike Eliason's piece on Seattle's single family zoning history on the Urbanist. Larch Lab's page on Baugruppen, with several links and examples.
‘Cities across America Question Single Family Zoning,’ Emily Badger, New York Times.

‘Japanese Zoning,’ Simon Vallee, Urban Kchoze.
Lastly, to stay up to date with what Michael Eliason is doing at Larch Lab, be sure to sign up for newsletter updates.