30 Families Wanted to Build a Home Together. Two Architects Tell Us How They Made It Happen

What if you could build a big house and fill it with your friends, children, grandparents, babysitters, and anyone else who makes your life rich and full and you all owned it together? For many people, it sounds like a dream; for a developer or a bank, it sounds like a nightmare—or at least a major financial risk. But architects at French 2D, a Boston firm helmed by sisters Anda and Jenny French (above), have made it possible. Their new Bay State Cohousing community just north of Boston in Malden, Massachusetts, combines 30 apartments in a three-story building with shared outdoor space and exterior walkways around a semienclosed courtyard. It has an attached "common house" with a shared kitchen, living and dining room, and spaces for art and music. Flourishes are minimal, but plentiful shared decks create overall texture—and the whole thing was developed entirely by residents.