Robin Allison is a New Zealand architect and the designer of a

co-housing Cohousing is an intentional community of private homes clustered around shared space. The term originated in Denmark in late 1960s. Each attached or single family home has traditional amenities, including a private kitchen. Shared spaces typica ...

community in west Auckland. The community is New Zealand's first purpose-built co-housing development.

Biography

Allison grew up in

Bucklands Beach Bucklands Beach is a suburb east of Auckland's CBD in New Zealand. The suburb is in the Howick ward, one of the thirteen administrative divisions of Auckland Council. Demographics Bucklands Beach covers and had an estimated population of ...

, Auckland. In 1973, she moved to Dunedin to study medicine at the University of Otago. She soon changed to study anthropology and psychology and then left university the following year. After some years working and travelling overseas, she moved back to Auckland and enrolled in architecture at the University of Auckland, starting her course in 1980. Allison had two children while studying, and completed her degree in 1986. After graduating, she tutored in solar design at the University of Auckland. From 1990 to 1992, Allison worked for Housing New Zealand and wrote the guidelines for thermal performance and environmental performance for Housing New Zealand's revised code for the design of their housing units. In 1993 she established her own sustainable architecture practice. Her residential projects featured passive solar building design principles and were designed using earth and untreated timber framing. In 1995, Allison initiated a project to develop a co-housing development located in

Rānui Rānui is a suburb of West Auckland, New Zealand, which is under the local governance of Auckland Council. The area is densely populated but close to the western fringe of the Auckland urban area. The word 'rānui' in Māori means 'midday'. D ...

, west Auckland, called Earthsong. She developed the project vision and group agreements around decision-making, group process and eco-design, as well as the construction aspects of managing contracts, budgets and detailed oversight of the building. The project was completed in 2008. In 2020, she published a book describing the process of developing the community. Allison is a fellow of the New Zealand Social Entrepreneur Fellowship.

Publications

* Allison R. (2020). ''Cohousing for life: a practical and personal story of Earthsong Eco-neighbourhood''. Mary Egan Publishing.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Allison, Robin Living people Year of birth missing (living people) University of Auckland alumni New Zealand women architects 20th-century New Zealand architects 21st-century New Zealand architects 21st-century New Zealand non-fiction writers