About

Where this came from

This site came out of a conversation about wanting to live in a place that is both a food-forest eco-village and a Berlin-like city — two dreams that seem opposed until you notice one building holding both: gardens, shared rooms, and children underfoot in the middle; trams, strangers, and a bakery at the edge. The resolution is not a compound in the countryside. It is one mid-rise courtyard building in a real city. Then another.

Sources

Building facts are drawn from each project's own publications and architects' project pages. Approximate figures are marked as such throughout. Zoning notes are plain-language summaries of public documents — not legal advice.

R50 — Heide & von Beckerath heidevonbeckerath.com ↗
Swan's Market — EBALDC ebaldc.org ↗
Mehr als Wohnen mehralswohnen.ch ↗
City of Berkeley zoning berkeleyca.gov ↗

Credits & license

Original text and diagrams on this site are offered under CC BY-NC 4.0 — copy the brief, redraw the sections, start one in your city. Photographs keep their own licenses and credits; see IMAGE-CREDITS in the repository. Every speculative drawing is labeled illustrative.

Corrections are welcome and wanted — especially from residents of the buildings in the atlas. If a fact is wrong, open an issue on GitHub and it will be fixed with a note.

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If you would live in this building, help write it →