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Fri
Nov 11
2011

K’House, a Cohousing Project from Indy Hall is Coming to Kensington

Local coworking group Independants Hall is taking the next logical step in their mission to create community in the creative scene in Philadelphia, embarking on a cohousing project called K’House (pronounced like Ka-boom, in case you’re wondering). The new cohousing building will be located at 1711 N. Howard St. in Kensington, on a block with decent existing housing stock and a number of currently vacant lots.

Future K'House site

Looking north up the street

With a design by DIGSAU and working with Postgreen on the development side, Indy Hall will build a totally unique six-unit property with numerous common spaces for residents to enjoy. Each of the six units will have a kitchen and a living area for when residents want to keep to themselves, but the draw of the building will be the community areas. Those areas will include a shared living room, a usable basement space, a large kitchen and dining room, and a green roof deck.

Rendering, includes front lawn and bike parking

Living spaces in the rear of the building

While at first glance, this new building is pretty far up there, north of Cecil B. Moore Ave., the location is actually pretty great. It’s a couple of blocks from the Berks El station, so residents will be just a few stops away from Old City, where many likely work out of Indy Hall’s offices at 20 N. 3rd St., #201. And it’s literally two blocks from Fishtown, and all the coffeeshops and bars/restaurants you can handle.

For those interested in hearing more about this exciting new project, there is a meeting/bonfire/bar crawl at the site tonight at 6pm. Yes, you’re welcome for the advance notice.

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COMMENTS
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Posted in Kensington | Tagged , , , , , | 11 Comments
  • http://www.dangerouslyawesome.com alexknowshtml

    Thanks for sharing the updates! We’ll be having more events in the coming months, lots more advanced notice available. 

    I’d also encourage anyone interested in the project to drop by Indy Hall and check out the drawings and meet some of our community members. Just drop me an email, alex@indyhall.org, and let me know when you’d like to meet!

  • Omp835

    Doesn’t sound like anything new. Sounds like they are building a boarding house. What do the neighbors, er, NIMBY’s think.

  • http://www.dangerouslyawesome.com alexknowshtml

    You could also say that Indy Hall is “just a shared office”, but our community members will tell you for certain it’s not :) check out this rough cut of some member interviews we shot recently: http://www.youtube.com/alexknowshtml#p/a/u/0/p8pRI5AkrOI

    The defining difference between Indy Hall’s coworking space and a “shared office”, and K’House and a boarding house, is community intent. Rather than build around services for transient tenants, we’re focused on helping develop the community elements – most specifically the relationships between the people who share the house as well the community around us. Check out more about what makes cohousing different at https://www.cohousing.org

    As for the neighbors – everyone we’ve met so far has been interested and supportive, especially once meeting some of our crew. We’ll be pretty active over the next 6 months in the neighborhood – from helping with tree-plantings and other neighborhood projects to organizing some more of our own events. This whole project hinges on being really great neighbors, both inside the house and in the community within which we’re building.

  • http://twitter.com/brianbrews Brian Marsh

    Intent & usage is what makes it innovative!  This project is sure to have an immediate and positive impact on the neighborhood (this goes for any neighborhood, really).  Very cool.

  • http://www.dangerouslyawesome.com alexknowshtml

    Thanks Brian! You nailed it with “intent”.

    Hope you’d join us at an upcoming event. Feel free to drop me a line with any questions or ideas!

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1355687257 Dale Dragon Ensign

    oh, I ride my bike up past that on the way home every day after work.  Sounds like a really cool idea, lets get more of them!

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1355687257 Dale Dragon Ensign

    oh, I ride my bike up past that on the way home every day after work.  Sounds like a really cool idea, lets get more of them!

  • http://www.dangerouslyawesome.com alexknowshtml

    Awesome recommendation, thank you!

  • http://www.dangerouslyawesome.com alexknowshtml

    Come by for one of our events, Dale! Sign up on our website for email updates. http://house.indyhall.org

  • http://nakedphilly.com/kensington-2/future-of-1700-block-of-n-howard-st-more-interesting-than-wed-realized/ Future of 1700 block of N. Howard St. More Interesting Than We’d Realized | NakedPhilly

    [...] couple of weeks ago, we profiled K’House, a proposed cohousing project from Indy Hall, which will be constructed on the 1700 block of N. Howard St. While we were up there [...]

  • http://nakedphilly.com/kensington-2/progress-at-the-khouse-site-in-kensingson-but-not-what-we-expected/ Progress at the K’House Site in K’ensingson, But Not What We Expected | NakedPhilly

    [...] a year ago, we told you that the folks from Indy Hall were teaming with the folks from Postgreen to establish a co-housing projec… at 1711 N. Howard St., just a few doors up the street from the First Steel homes. We were in that [...]

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