More than a year into the COVID-19 pandemic, with all aspects of life revolving around the home space, many people have had the time to rethink what they need from their living arrangements: security, health, companions and more. Coliving is gaining popularity and demonstrating its unique offering that fits into a set of modern living and working requirements for its intended audiences.

For many residents, the elements of community, connectivity, and physical and mental wellbeing have transitioned from being preferences to necessities in their housing selections.

Increased loneliness and mental illnesses due to isolation have emerged as major issues in recent times; remote working has demanded more technologically equipped and well-connected homes, and the feeling of being in a supportive community that can contribute to personal enrichment and professional growth has become more important - even before the global pandemic.

There are more profound impacts to these features. First of all, we live in a world where social cohesion and trust have been deteriorating as a result of growing inequality, racial tensions, socioeconomic class divisions and worsening upward mobility.

In addition, the digital divide has only accelerated during the COVID-19 period. While these are monumental matters to address which would require everything from political movements to changing economic policies, our housing arrangements could contribute to the solutions. While the average house size has increased by 62% between 1973 and 2015, household size has declined by 15% during the same time and affordability has declined as well compared to income. The growing burden of housing costs has also added limitations to young people’s choices in professional, personal and avocational pursuits.

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Coliving is in a unique position to foster communities of inclusion, diversity, support and resources while doing so in an affordable and accessible way. Well-planned coliving projects don’t have to be only serving digital nomads with a remote marketing startup, as some projects are including affordable housing qualifications as well, such as those through the New York government subsidised ShareNYC initiative. When a community becomes a place of physical and mental wellbeing, enhanced in-person and digital connections to the world, a stable foundation for career efforts and a reliable launchpad for creative pursuits, the value goes beyond a traditional landlord-tenant relationship. 

Second, on a larger scale, as coliving communities are becoming more mainstream, they have the potential to strengthen and invigorate the intangible impacts of the cluster effect. During the pandemic, while some are fleeing cities and other high-density dwellings in reliance of Zoom to conduct regular work, the synergy, networking and innovation based on in-person interactions are not easily replaced; which is why the appeal of clusters like Silicon Valley, Manhattan, London and Los Angeles remains. Coliving should aim to become hubs of activities which lead to attaining these longer-term goals.

Third, the redesigning of our living spaces is a perfect vehicle to incorporate and implement sustainability, from the development of real estate to the daily operation of the housing business. New design, fabrication and construction technologies are enabling us to deliver housing units in more affordable, sustainable and green ways, and efficient resource allocation, energy consumption and health and safety protocols would become essential pieces of a successful coliving ecosystem. One might argue that purposeful design, development and conscientious management are the prerequisites of achieving the various aforementioned benefits.

In the new economy, we see a blurred distinction between homes and offices, a greater need for mobility and flexibility, growing acceptance of shared consumption and smart living proliferating with increased connectivity. Meeting those new demands will require innovation in the way homes are designed and built. We are pushing the boundaries of what a smart home can mean in terms of creating environmental, social and economic impacts. At Fluxus, we are committed to improving quality of life through smarter ways of delivering affordable, energy- efficient and beautiful homes and coliving spaces for people across the economic spectrum.

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FluxHouse™ is designed to be sustainable in its production, construction and use. These homes are engineered with passive house principles and a minimal number of multi-functional components which are suited for large-scale manufacturing processes. Built-in pathways for digital connectivity infrastructure are an integral part of structural components. All non-structural panels are movable without any additional components. The number and area of transparent and opaque panels can be varied by the simple sliding operations. In this way, rooms within the home can be transformed and customised for different functions after initial construction, which could add to coliving property features as well.

We also developed an Artificial Intelligence-enabled design and management toolkit - FluxHouse™ Generative - for developers and governments to design, assess and deploy housing projects using our prefabricated building system. We use computational design software to respond to the brief and provide options that maximise the development potential. The algorithms are developed to automate the assembly of the components to form varying massings and layouts which directly respond to defined physical and environmental conditions. The resulting designs are tested on a virtual platform in terms of their viability, cost and other specific requirements. This means decisions and commitments can be made at an early stage to speed up the whole process and support a much more collaborative and transparent approach.

In terms of sustainability, manufacturing components in a factory have been shown to cut emissions by up to 60%, compared to conventional construction methods. When we incorporate abundantly available and recyclable materials into a small number of standardised components and streamlined processes, we can further enhance energy and resource efficiency.

Enabling technologies such as Internet-of-Things (IoT), building controls, robotics and digitisation can now be integrated into the building process with reliable quality and high performance. This enables smarter planning and design within our companies and amongst collaborators, safer working environments for construction workers, shorter and more predictable timelines for clients, while improving sustainability for everyone involved.

For residents, IoT infrastructures and interfaces are designed to incorporate other smart home technologies from the outset. Smart sensors would automate control over the environment of the property, improving living conditions and their wellbeing. Connected homes can also help reduce the carbon footprint of both coliving operators and their residents. For example, smart thermostats could offer residents and property operators around 20% savings on their energy bills by ensuring their spaces are only heated when needed. Coupled with energy-efficient building materials, we can substantially reduce property ownership and operational costs which will in turn narrow the affordability gap. Taking this to scale for widespread adoption could have a significant impact on energy efficiency and quality of life, while improving efficiency for technology-based management.

In imagining lifestyles in modern society and the post-pandemic environment, the home space needs to fulfill many of the changing demands from residents. With technology as an enabler, coliving is positioned to service an increasing segment of the population and deliver benefits beyond that of a simple lodging location. The process of realising this potential requires keeping wellbeing, community and the environment in mind, and designing a truly new way of living.

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