Coliving for Well-Being: Designing Spaces That Support Mental Health and Community Interaction
Little Valentine’s communal garden area offers a natural space to mingle amongst nature.
Copyright: SHA Architecture & Design
Designing for Connection: How Coliving Can Heal Loneliness
There is a strong and undeniable link between social interaction and mental health. In recent years, loneliness has emerged as one of the most significant, and less visible public health challenges across all age groups, especially in urban cities.
With the rise of remote work and people living alone, we tend to isolate ourselves and spend long stretches of time without the everyday small but meaningful frequent encounters and social interactions that remind us that we’re part of a community, which weakens the social bonds that make us feel seen, heard and connected to one another.
Loneliness is not just an emotional burden, it’s a full body threat. The increasing isolation can have serious consequences on one’s mental and physical health, anxiety, depression, cognitive decline which can lead to serious auto-immune and cardiovascular diseases due to the weakened immune system as a result of stress.
For those who feel disconnected, architecture can be a silent partner in healing, when coliving spaces are thoughtfully designed with intention, it can turn empty buildings into active communities, where people meet and connect.
With studies showing that in European coliving environments 76% reported not feeling lonely compared to the EU average of 53%, demonstrating how well-designed coliving environments can significantly strengthen social connection and wellbeing (Conscious Coliving, 2024). Additionally, 95% of the residents of “La Casa” in France feel less lonely after living in La Casa, proving that well-designed co-living spaces that include quality shared spaces and inclusive services can significantly boost overall mental health and quality of life.
The Architecture of Interaction
Designing a Coliving space is not just about creating constant social events or forcing interaction, it’s about building a safe environment where relationships can grow organically through a mix of planned and unplanned gatherings and moments. Casual everyday interactions, such as a quick chat in the hallway, sharing coffee in the kitchen, greeting someone on the stairs, even the smallest interactions can significantly lift mood and reduce feelings of isolation and loneliness.
What matters in shared living spaces is not just the frequency of the small interactions, but the perception that support is available and just a few steps away. Simply knowing you can reach out to someone if needed means you are not alone, and creates a sense of security and calmness, which decreases daily stress and the mental toll of loneliness.
When thoughtfully designed, the shared areas where people pass by each other and might stop to chat, such as the living room, the corridors, the stairwell and the kitchen create multiple layers of bonding and chit-chatting opportunities. For instance, a wide stairwell with a bench, a kitchen with a comfortable seating and warm lighting, a rooftop with a nice view, a laundry room with a large table for chatting and folding clothes, or perhaps a gaming or movie room, all of these small design changes offer a reason to linger and encourage communal activities and late-night tea chats.
These small moments build familiarity, comforting habits, and over time it can build trust and create long lasting relationships that help us heal, feel heard and seen, and ready to face our mental health struggles knowing we do not have to face them alone, a quiet antidote to the loneliness epidemic.
Surveys among residents of coliving buildings, especially including those carried out by Conscious Coliving show reduced feelings of isolation, improved mental health, better life quality and overall higher satisfaction compared to those living in traditional apartment complexes. Architecture doesn’t just house people, it creates spaces that bring them together and makes them want to spend time with other people, through care and creativity.
Little Valentine’s communal area created to foster a strong sense of community among residents.
Copyright: SHA Architecture & Design
Reclaiming Community Through Design
In the end, Coliving spaces, when intentionally designed to foster community through group events, shared meals and common interest activities, offer more than economic efficiency, they gently invite people together and provide a model for how we might live together better, not just side by side, but with shared purposes and connection.
The links between social interactions and mental health is well established, living with others naturally increases the human contact we need to combat the feelings of isolation, and opens the opportunities to interact with people from all backgrounds, cultures and professions, which can be stimulating and educational, and can also make you shift focus from your own problems or negative feelings, and more open to try new activities and encourage better habits, like regular meals, going outside more often, exercising and in the long run many do form meaningful bonds that go beyond surface level interactions.
Coliving means having people nearby who can offer support, encouragement, or simply just a listening ear or a distraction from the daily chaos. This helps people feel part of something bigger than themselves, and in the long run, provide a sense of connection and belonging that combats negative feelings such as anxiety and isolation, and supports long term health and well-being via regular social interactions.