Coliving is often described as an improved form of shared accommodation. In a coliving residence, there are private spaces, common spaces and residents living together, just like in a shared apartment. But what makes the difference? A better-arranged space or a particular spirit? The location or the way it’s used?
Different coliving models
Coliving spaces are eclectic and diverse in form and function. There are huge differences in size, from a large apartment with just a few rooms to a building housing over a thousand residents. The life projects behind them can also vary greatly: from a simple solution for finding a place to live, to the desire to create something together (ecological home, creativity booster or sharing a common passion…)
So many coliving spaces, so many possible definitions. But the starting point is a specific type of space.
A special space and services
Coliving is defined as a space intended to be shared by several unrelated people, each with their own private area. This type of dwelling must be a real choice, not a necessity, and cannot therefore include retirement homes or boarding schools, for example.
In addition to space, services are also included. Everything is included – internet, electricity, water – so colivers don’t have to worry about anything or pay any extra bills. Cleaning is taken care of in common areas.
What’s more, in larger residences, additional services such as home shopping, exercise classes, video rooms and car-sharing can be offered.
Coliving is a space designed for shared living, with services to simplify daily life and lighten the mental load. There are no constraints or chores.
We often come to coliving for the appeal of the space and services on offer that we couldn’t afford living on our own. But we often stay for other reasons.
A way of life, a state of mind
Coliving spaces enable their residents to meet the paradoxical need to live both alone and together, a lifestyle that fits in well with current social networking trends. But whereas you can be alone in front of your screen and at the same time connected to others in a virtual way, here you are connected to others in real life, you can share moments, activities, while isolating yourself when you wish. Social ties are at your fingertips.
And when the colivers have been chosen according to their interests and lifestyles, they’re not just roommates or friends you live with, they’re a second family. The kind of family that feeds and enriches our lives. When you manage to find this kind of coliving, space becomes secondary; what counts are the people with whom you share a part of your life.
At the end of space makes life simpler and more pleasant, living together makes it richer and more enjoyable. intense. That’s why coliving spaces that have a real identity, a soul, are here to stay.