Design and Shared Space
Communal space can include very different types of spaces; a communal garden, a shared gathering space such as a lounge, or a place to eat, cook or do the washing. The importance of communal gardens were mentioned frequently in our interviews and focus groups and they have a dedicated theme (see Gardens). This theme focuses on other types of communal and shared spaces. Having a shared space that everyone can use without having to ask for a key, or book through a system, is a primary importance for some of the residents we spoke to. They value communal spaces it as a place to gather for events and entertain visitors.
“You live your life. But you’ve also got that communal area. And you can do things. You haven’t got to be stuck.”
(Resident 45)
A shared lounge, provides opportunity to host social events and extend those to the wider community, friends and family, as “You can bring them into the lounge.” (Resident 7). Using shared spaces is another way to meet other residents as well, especially if you are new to the almshouse.
Shared internal spaces such as corridors, entrance halls or landings can have several functions. Access corridors and landings to individual dwellings are shared spaces where residents have an opportunity to both meet each other and to contribute to the overall ‘feel’ of that space (see Safety and Stability and Maintenance and Opportunity). This includes being able to personalise those spaces with plants, chairs, artwork. Provision of the opportunity to personalise these spaces can be included in the design of corridors, entrance ways and landings, wider corridors can act as social spaces:
“… the passageways are going to be wider, where you could congregate – call it what you want – and have a seat outside”
(Resident 15)
Residents across sites valued being part of a friendly community. Having conversations with neighbours and being able to have other people around is valuable for residents, especially those who were previously living alone. Communal spaces within the almshouse are crucial to facilitating this kind of environment as they allow impromptu social interactions to take place:
“… they sit out in their back doors, and it’s automatically in a circle, and so it’s conducive of community building”
(Resident 24).
A diverse range of scheduled events and activities can also help, allowing people to meet each other and interact in a fun environment. Positive interactions between residents as well as between residents and staff were highlighted. With staff, helpfulness and a level of ‘informality’ and familiarity with residents contributes to that overall friendly atmosphere:
“You meet people in the hallway. I mean, it’s like, you know, you’re not alone.”
(Resident 25).
There is a balance to be struck for some people between living in a ‘community’ and being too dependent on neighbours, one resident summed this feeling up:
“I wouldn’t go to next door and say, ‘Have you got any bread? I’ve run out.’”
(Resident 1)
Communal lounge areas can be under used, although remain valued as meeting places, or as places to stop for a quick chat rather than spend an afternoon. Just knowing that the communal space is there is really valued by some, and it particularly helps them to know there are other people close by they could go and talk with, even if that is a quick hello:
“I can take a walk down to the lounge, see who’s there, have a cup of tea”
(Resident 11).
The lack of communal or shared space can mean there is much less opportunity for almshouse residents to make connections with each other:
“… what a place like this could do with is … a little club area or something where people could go, even if you only put music on … that’s the sort of thing that we could do with …”
(Resident 35)
Where communal spaces do not exist residents access nearby spaces for communal activities, such as going to the local church or using a community hall to take a fitness class, although this is reliant on transport and the ability to get out and about or access transport.
Another aspect of communal space is the communal space in the wider context, beyond the confines of the almshouse itself. This is talked about through the interviews and focus groups in terms of having views, across and out over communal spaces, this could be views out into the street beyond, into a shared courtyard or garden, or the pleasure gained from ‘people watching’:
“We used to sit in that porch and watch other people go up and down the hill. Wave to them, or be out in the garden and they were over there and we were here and we used to talk.”
(Resident 36 and 37)
Shared communal space is where incidental meetings as well as planned meetings or events can take place, for all people connected to the almshouse. This could be residents, staff and visitors or people coming in to run specific events. Using communal areas as thoroughfares can be a useful device to help people stay visible. This is true for both residents and staff. If people have to move through shared space to get to either an office, their flat or a shared kitchen then they can be seen, which helps to keep people connected and reinforces feelings that you are not on your own, that there is always someone else out there to talk or wave to.
