Add To Collection
Add to Collection
Bozeman Cohousing
Bozeman Cohousing
Bozeman, MT, United States
View Original
Add To Collection
Add to Collection
View Original
Add To Collection
Add to Collection
View Original
Add To Collection
Add to Collection
View Original
Add To Collection
Add to Collection
View Original
Add To Collection
Add to Collection
View Original
Add To Collection
Add to Collection
View Original
Add To Collection
Add to Collection
View Original
Add To Collection
Add to Collection
View Original
Add To Collection
Add to Collection
View Original
Add To Collection
Add to Collection
Bozeman Cohousing
Bozeman, MT, United States
Firm
Type
STATUS
Built
YEAR
2025
SIZE
25,000 sqft - 100,000 sqft
BUDGET
$10M - 50M
Bozeman Cohousing is the first net zero energy cohousing community in the United States and the first cohousing community in Montana. The project consists of 43 homes and extensive common spaces, sited on 5.3 acres. The design team set out to create a community design model, weaving together space, light, and material to create beautiful environments, while embracing an architect-activist role in the social and economic context of the project.
Bozeman Cohousing was developed through a participatory design process. The Architect facilitated design workshops with the future residents using consensus decision-making to create a community-based and occupant-centered project. As a result, the site planning emphasizes walkability over car access: clustered parking is at the periphery while pedestrian paths and courtyards connect the homes, creating a safe, community-oriented environment. Furthermore, to engender layers of social intimacy, the 43 homes are organized into four smaller pods, each with its own unique architectural identity. The pods each open onto the community’s central open space and common facilities, while privacy is provided in back yards around the perimeter of the site.
The design of the dwellings emphasizes diversity and identity, while promoting affordability. To support accessibility for all residents, Universal design and age-in-place techniques were implemented. The nine dwelling configurations ranging from studio to three-bedroom all employ compact but comfortable design. The studio units, when sold, were the most affordable market-rate housing in the city. In addition to the inherent affordability of this design approach, two subsidized permanently affordable homes were created through the participatory design process, funded voluntarily by the future residents and matched by the developer with additional city funding. The design team also leveraged a project need to create broader housing affordability reform, successfully passing a zoning amendment to better accommodate middle housing typologies city-wide.
Sustainability is the core value of Bozeman Cohousing, which the Architect focused into the net-zero energy goal and achieved through a combination of passive strategies, efficient systems, and on-site generation. For instance, a passively conditioned atrium creates a delightful all-weather lane connecting eight homes to common facilities. Also, the team modeled and selected the cost-optimal set of high-performance envelope strategies that could be implemented in production construction, including continuous exterior insulation and aerosolized air sealing. For climate resilience as well as efficiency, heat recovery ventilation provides healthy indoor air even during peak fire season. The project is all electric, using heat pump water heating, space heating, and clothes drying. And utility bills to date indicate that the project is on track to net zero! In many ways, the design team integrated sustainability strategies into the architectural narrative. For instance, unhealthy trees removed during construction were felled, milled, and finished collaboratively by the future residents and the Architect, honed into the custom common dining room tables.
Bozeman Cohousing represents a trailblazing model for ethical, environmentally responsible, and community-driven development. Built on a tight budget, it is a tactile example of how inspired design can confront the environmental and housing-affordability issues of the West.
Bozeman Cohousing was developed through a participatory design process. The Architect facilitated design workshops with the future residents using consensus decision-making to create a community-based and occupant-centered project. As a result, the site planning emphasizes walkability over car access: clustered parking is at the periphery while pedestrian paths and courtyards connect the homes, creating a safe, community-oriented environment. Furthermore, to engender layers of social intimacy, the 43 homes are organized into four smaller pods, each with its own unique architectural identity. The pods each open onto the community’s central open space and common facilities, while privacy is provided in back yards around the perimeter of the site.
The design of the dwellings emphasizes diversity and identity, while promoting affordability. To support accessibility for all residents, Universal design and age-in-place techniques were implemented. The nine dwelling configurations ranging from studio to three-bedroom all employ compact but comfortable design. The studio units, when sold, were the most affordable market-rate housing in the city. In addition to the inherent affordability of this design approach, two subsidized permanently affordable homes were created through the participatory design process, funded voluntarily by the future residents and matched by the developer with additional city funding. The design team also leveraged a project need to create broader housing affordability reform, successfully passing a zoning amendment to better accommodate middle housing typologies city-wide.
Sustainability is the core value of Bozeman Cohousing, which the Architect focused into the net-zero energy goal and achieved through a combination of passive strategies, efficient systems, and on-site generation. For instance, a passively conditioned atrium creates a delightful all-weather lane connecting eight homes to common facilities. Also, the team modeled and selected the cost-optimal set of high-performance envelope strategies that could be implemented in production construction, including continuous exterior insulation and aerosolized air sealing. For climate resilience as well as efficiency, heat recovery ventilation provides healthy indoor air even during peak fire season. The project is all electric, using heat pump water heating, space heating, and clothes drying. And utility bills to date indicate that the project is on track to net zero! In many ways, the design team integrated sustainability strategies into the architectural narrative. For instance, unhealthy trees removed during construction were felled, milled, and finished collaboratively by the future residents and the Architect, honed into the custom common dining room tables.
Bozeman Cohousing represents a trailblazing model for ethical, environmentally responsible, and community-driven development. Built on a tight budget, it is a tactile example of how inspired design can confront the environmental and housing-affordability issues of the West.
Product Spec Sheet
Were your products used?
Join as a manufacturer to add your products.