EC08: Interior Design Innovations, Digital Nomad Hotels and Utopian Experiments.

🔁📝Last week, we exploredhome ownership models and fundraising trends in coliving, and how they tie into today’s discussion on design innovations. For a quick refresher, take a look at last week's post below:

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What Does The Future Of Living Look Like?

Interior designer Roddy Clarke wrote a great pieceon what new elements will shape our homes in the future.

To go straight to the point, here are some futuristic interior design and tech elements to think about now:

• 'Grown' Furniture : furniture created by training plants around custom frames, using organic materials like mycelium and hemp.
• Smart Recycling Bins : bins capable of scanning and identifying types of materials for efficient recycling and consumer awareness.
• Smart Walls with Micro-Algae : walls that purify air and engage in photosynthesis, balancing indoor CO2 levels.
• IntegratedGreen Spaces and Vertical Farms : incorporating greenery and vertical farming into building designs for self-sustainability and environmental repair.
• Self-aware Nanobots for Air Purification : nanotechnology for air purification and environmental adjustment based on global conditions.
• Robotic Home Assistants: advanced AI and robotics for tasks like unpacking shopping or assisting in meal preparation.
• Smart Windows with Adaptable Views : windows that can change views digitally, adapting according to user needs.
• And my favorite - Intelligent Air Purifiers and Robotic Vacuums: Appliances designed to maintain healthier indoor environments, including tracking and maximizing benefits of natural daylight.

What do you predict? Write us back with your thoughts, we’d love to read!

How Lonely Are We?

French coliving operator LaCasa(one of our favorite inspirations) just posted about a French studyrevealing some crazy statistics:

• 12% of people live in complete isolation, without anyone they could call a friend (that is insane…)
• 33% of French residents only have one social circle, whether it is friends, family, work or neighbors.
• 15 million people declare to feel lonely - that’s more than 1 in 5.

That’s where coliving can make a change. As LaCasa showed through their own surveys:

And that is a strong statement!

What Does A First Coliving Experience Look Like?

For many, living with others has not always been life-enhancing. It was great to read an article on Business Insiderof someone staying in a coliving space and realizing that living with others can actually be better than living by yourself.

The phrase that made me smile: “I loved connecting with my fellow residents, who were remarkably open.” - because not only does coliving attract human-centered people, but living with others also helps you open up.

And that, dear friends, is the true power of coliving: engaging with others can show you who you really are.

A Brief History of America's Utopian Experiments in Communal Living

If you’re into some good historical coliving stories, then this is for you:

Between 1800 and 1859, at least 119 utopian coliving experiments were established, inspired by idealists dissatisfied with society.

These communities, often with socialist or communist leanings, aimed to create a society without capitalism, class distinctions, or competition, replaced by collectivist cooperation.

They envisioned a society where property was communal, competition was nonexistent, work was shared equally, and a simplistic lifestyle ensured a decent living for all.

Nevertheless, it all never really went according to plan. Brook Farm, established near Boston, attracted intellectuals like Nathaniel Hawthorne and Ralph Waldo Emerson and was initially somewhat successful with its school.

Ultimatelly, these projects struggled to balance individualism with collectivism and faced internal and financial challenges. Ripley shifted to a more rigid collectivist approach influenced by Charles Fourier's utopian socialism, which hastened the community's demise.

Enjoy the full read here.

A New Remote Workers’ Hotel Is Born

The municipality of Torremolinos (Spain) approved a project to replace an old hotel with a new coliving concept for remote workers and digital nomads.

The Oceanika complex will offer 180 apartmentsand an extensive amount of shared space. It will offer both short and medium/long term options, all under the hotel-style practice of no deposit and no long-term contracts.

We should stop thinking of digital nomads as tourism. Remote workers are their own economy, and they bring with them the possibility of actually moving to the town long-term, bringing in their businesses, as well as bringing in their community.

Some places have already beared the fruit of digital nomad initiatives: since the Digital Nomad Madeirainitiative was launched in the 5,000-people town of Ponta do Sol (Portugal), an initiative driven by NomadXand Startup Madeira(the government’s business promotion arm), thousands of nomads have stayed on the island and brought millions of revenue.

Moreover, new innovative and tech businesses have been created on the island, bringing new air to the local startup ecosystem.

Are you located in a small town? Then you shouldn’t think twice about creating your own remote work economy! Contact nomadx.com for more information on how to turn your town into a digital nomad hubspot.

Some Coliving Jobs

1. Fratries (Paris) is looking for a development manager
2. Node (Barcelona) is looking for a junior operations intern
3. Node (Dublin) is looking for a property manager
4. The Base (Berlin) is looking for an operations manager

Everything Else Coliving

• Swiss coliving space Aviv is crowdfunding- from their community and beyond.
• La Française makes first coliving investmentin senior cohousing Chez Jeanette
• Coliving startup Union Living is raising fundsto add 1,000 beds in Mumbai to its current 1,050 unit portfolio
• Learn more in ArchDaily’s new articleabout the alternative models of housing, such as the Baugruppenconcept where residents become the developers, or the Open Houseconcept, a hybrid between cohousing and conventional real estate development.
• Some refreshing investment data: read more by Savillsabout how 51% of European inventors plan to invest in coliving over the next three years.
• How to create an engaging, supportive community with the practicalities of running a profitable business? Read Mayank Pokharna’s thoughtsand inspirations on that subject.
• Coliving operator lyf expands in the Philippines to Cebu
• Serviced apartments, which blur in more and more with coliving spaces, are getting traction - for example with LHN’s Coliwoo serviced apartment franchisein Singapore. You can also read this to get an overview of coliving spaces in the city.
• Sidney just received two new applicationsfor a 500-unit coliving.

Want to be featured in the next newsletter? Tag #everythingcoliving on LinkedIn or Twitter for us to find your company updates!

That’s it for this week! We hope you enjoyed and wish you a good weekend,

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🆕 Up next, we’ll explore...office space trends and coliving conferences in EC09, followed by crowdfunding for digital nomads in EC10.