Cohabs homes are designed with a very specific identity and vision which could be defined by elements of playfulness, colour, lighting and upcycling, amongst many other details. Could you describe your design strategy and what kind of look and feel you try to express in each of your homes? What are some of the underlying reflections behind this design vision?

Lionel Jadot: My vision comes from the simple idea that it’s possible to reduce the embodied energy linked to a construction site. This consists of never going too far in the renovation, in keeping as many existing elements as possible, like floors and walls, in the state in which they are. It is the acceptance of a certain aesthetic of the decrepitude that I stage, that I try to shake up.

It’s a bit like wearing a very old pair of jeans with a new, immaculate t-shirt: you create contrast, and energy. This certainly gives a unique look to our homes while also reducing the impact of bringing new materials to our construction sites, like varnish, paint, plaster, etc. All those products can suddenly be used in smaller quantities on our construction sites. Then you have to deal with what you find there, and create collisions between the experience of the house and the new energy that it must diffuse. There is always an element of improvisation and invention on-site to get the best out of upcycling and repurposing – it has to be spontaneous.

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To expand on this last question, how is Cohabs able to ensure a consistent look and feel throughout your locations? Your locations have similar sizes and designs, however, that is not always easy to deliver on when renovating existing locations. Is there some kind of plug and play development strategy that you have to ensure this consistency?

Lionel Jadot: So consistency is found, as explained above, in the process linked to the renovation and then through the implementation of elements specific to Cohabs, and constantly developed further. The vision is not to buy new furniture from a catalogue; either it’s second-hand that we find all year round, or it’s furniture created and manufactured according to a simplification of assembly and an efficiency of use while minimising the impact on materials, using damaged panels dedicated to destruction, local ecological recycled plastic... This furniture project is constantly evolving to respond to the comments of our members, to adapt to our homes, to use fewer resources to tap into alternative sources, and above all to create surprise and emulation. It includes all the lights; we create a lot of lights specific to Cohabs, pieces made in mini-series that divert and mix new and reused materials.

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Could you tell us a bit about how you use insights from existing homes and members to evolve the spatial design and identity in new homes? What is the strategic process between your product, experience and design teams to evolve the design of your homes according to both members needs / interests and innovative design solutions?

Laure Bommart: That’s a good question, as we’re strongly convinced that we can always evolve and do better. To be able to do that, we send NPS (Net Promoter Score) surveys to our members at least twice a year. On a more regular basis, we are also in contact with our members and gather more informal feedback that way. On top of that, we carried out a big R&D campaign last year to learn more about how our members actually use the common spaces and gather our members’ feedback on improvements we plan to do. That feedback really is our fuel for innovation and the key to always keep improving Cohabs.

Once the Community Team has that feedback, they dispatch it to the relevant departments. The Product Team is usually at the center of that feedback since they’re the ones responsible for its implementation into the next projects. We also have a dedicated R&D team, working every day on improving and challenging the existing product, so that we can make it more functional for our members. For example, we’re currently testing a new private room design, with a new shower, bed, dressing, desk, lamps...

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Can’t wait to hear more about that new room design! We also recently visited one of your locations in Ixelles which is an evolution of your past locations and aims to host some different age groups and lifestyles. What are some of the unique design features of this home in Ixelles?

Lionel Jadot: You’ve been to Châtelain 50! We launched this specific and even more high-end product in February of 2020. We noticed that there was a real demand from couples, older people (compared to our original target group, usually under 35 years old), or even separated parents who have children. The biggest difference is the size of the bedrooms, as well as the fact that they all have an en-suite bathroom. Some of those bedrooms also have a spare bed. All the common spaces are also bigger with premium furniture and appliances.

As per the actual design elements of this house, the stakes were different. We tried to provide more comfort and to increase the requirements – with larger bedrooms and independent bathrooms – while keeping the same philosophy as described above. The range of playfulness was identical, but we tried to push it even further by bringing in artists to make interventions according to the Japanese technique of suminagashi. It’s an ancestral method of painting in ink made on the water that allows for amazing random marbling effects. All the cabinet doors were made this way, which makes each room unique. The lights were also made from bent brass scraps. In fact, it’s an identical technique as in our previous homes but one that we took further in terms of detail and comfort.

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Do you have any other new products / homes in the pipeline that you would like to highlight? What are some of the innovative design elements of these new locations? Are there any experience design / positioning innovations you are rolling out as well?

Youri Dauber: Maybe the one we’re the proudest of is the adaptation of a whole house for PRM (People with Reduced Mobility) members to be able to live at Cohabs. More specifically, in the common spaces, we adapted the kitchen counter and table heights, the access to the outside area, the door breadth, the light switch height...

For the bedroom itself, we had to rethink the window opening system, the bathroom (accessible shower, toilet and sink), the bed height, desk height, dressing height... It was challenging and quite eye- opening! Unfortunately, it’s hard to open a lot of bedrooms like that because of the typology of houses we’ve bought so far, with usually a lot of stairs, no elevator... The objective is to have 2% of our whole portfolio dedicated to PRM members.

We also launched our solidarity initiative with the non-profit Singa at the end of 2019. We offer rooms at a very fair price to newcomers and refugees, and so far it’s been a huge success! With already 13 Singa rooms in our portfolio, we observed that newcomers integrated really well each time, and we couldn’t be happier to be part of that inclusion and experience- sharing process. By 2023, we want Singa rooms to represent 5% of our portfolio.

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Finally, what is a recommendation you’d make for emerging coliving brands to ensure they have a strong design identity and vision?

Youri Dauber: Listen to your members. They are the ones experiencing your product daily; they usually know better. Also, challenge the status quo and your product. Once you stop challenging yourself, you stop innovating and you die.

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