This paper researches the formation of the Swedish variant of cohousing (kollektivhus) by examining the ideas and cultures which inspired it and asks the question: what has been the contribution of the architect within this history?
Re-writing the script for life at home has been a collective task involving many agents of change and, perhaps most interestingly, the role of the architect in Sweden has extended beyond usual domains of operation to be crucial to the genesis and sustenance (as well as delivery) of the cohousing movement. Through writing radical manifestos, creating resident groups and indeed living in their own projects, architects have been instrumental in developing what is now a self-sustaining movement for progressive housing of a social ambition.
Significantly though, it is the transition from a top-down institutional application of the concept to a grass-roots driven movement – and the accompanying integration of end-users in the design process as experts in living - that proves to be the defining moment addressed by this research.