At first blush David Hornick appears to be the most
unlikely candidate to be spear-heading a housing development in the
state of Oaxaca, one of the southernmost and poorest states in Mexico;
his Spanish is sparse to be generous, until earlier this year he 
had
never ventured to this part of the country, he's never designed or
built a home, and he's lived virtually all his life in Schenectady, New
York, leading a more or less typical, middle-class Jewish existence.
But
Hornick had a vision, born of other life experiences which made him
more qualified than most to proceed with the project. "One thing about
me," he explained on his first trip to Oaxaca, "is that once I decide
to do something, you know it's already been thoroughly considered - and
then there's no stopping me."
For more than three decades Hornick
has been a family physician, diagnosing and treating exclusively aging
Americans ... through home visits. He and wife Roberta, his partner in
the medical practice, have learned that where and how we traditionally
live is rarely conducive to graceful and easy aging from a position of
economic security.
The answer, as I've come to conclude over the
past several months of tutelage from Hornick, at least for creating a
blueprint for the solution, is to import some of the characteristics of
collaborative housing (cohousing) and as many key elements as
practicable of universal design, into a region of the world where the
concerns can best be addressed - Oaxaca ... for starters. And that's
exactly what Hornick's done.
Collaborative housing
Cohousing
communities are usually designed as a series of attached or
single-family homes along one or more pedestrian walkways or clustered
around a courtyard. While the concept originated in Denmark, since the
early 1980s it has been promoted in the U.S., and since then similar
communities using the basic concept have developed throughout other
countries in the Western World such as Canada, France, Germany and New
Zealand.
Each community includes a larger building facility, a
"common house," constituting the social center of the complex where
neighbors can meet, dine, attend to activities which traditionally are
not required on a daily basis (i.e. laundry), and even host guests in
small apartments. The latter two points have implications in terms of
minimizing overall cost for each resident, since space not normally
occupied on a daily basis is omitted from individual homes.
While
in the purest of models residents actively participate in the design of
their own neighborhood, in this case prospective members are spared
that effort - Hornick has devoted his entire adult life assessing the
needs of Americans as their stages in life change. Accordingly,
substantial progress for the Oaxaca project has already been advanced,
and in fact there is a website in place, addressing those interested in
pursing a lifestyle change in the foreseeable future. It currently
includes photographs of the two proposed tracts of land, site plans and
architectural drawings of the two models of home.
Hornick prefers
to avoid commonly used terms such as intentional or collaborative
housing, as well as cohousing, in favor of simply "neighborhoods" and
"communities." The former import the idea of consensus decision-making,
which he does not believe is workable. He does envision, however, a
"resident council" (perhaps similar to a condominium's board of
directors) to assist with suggestions relating to the neighborhood.
This indicates that his approach is realistic and his model is
feasible. The project does require, he stresses, participants'
acceptance of, and working together to promote, certain basic goals:
energy efficiency; respect for the environment; the utilization of
locally produced "green" materials (in construction and otherwise);
affordability; and universal design which enables people of all ages to
grow and mature well.
Universal design
Universal
design (UD) can be defined as the creation of products (including
communication systems) and environments (including landscapes) which
are usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the
need for adaptation or specialized design. It has often been associated
with exclusively addressing the elderly and infirmed. And in fact there
should be no doubt that within the context of the Oaxaca project the
concept will be extremely attractive to those in their fifties and
older, many winding down their careers and embarking upon a new phase
of life, "retirement." But the project's use of universal design
addresses more - compatibility with a natural progression of functional
changes throughout the lifespan, according to Hornick.
So how
does UD address all ages and levels of capability, and thereby make the
project attractive to families at every life stage? Hornick explains:
"We're
all born helpless and short. We can't reach most light switches until
we are about four years old, long after we can stand and walk.
Functional capability improves (normally) up to our mid- to
late-teenage years, then begins to decline.
"Light switches can
be lowered to three feet to be reachable by children as well as people
in wheelchairs with limited shoulder mobility. Round door knobs can be
replaced by lever handles that accommodate arthritic hands, but also
permit people encumbered with arms full of groceries to open a door
with a free elbow. Steps can be replaced by ramps, even at the entrance
to a home. Lighting intensity can be adjustable to accommodate vision
as it dims with age. Shower stalls can be built without that little
step-up-and-over. And there are literally a hundred or more other
alternate designs and products available in the marketplace which can
be considered, which do not detract from either 'normal' functionality
or aesthetics of the home."
Hornick has been consulted on
seniors' apartment retrofitting projects involving production of
state-of-the-art adaptive design prototypes. The Oaxaca project enables
his wealth of knowledge and experience to be put into action using a
slightly different orientation.
We're in an era when an
increasing number of individuals and couples in North America are
becoming disillusioned with the work-until-you-drop mentality, the
less-than-optimum environments in which they've felt compelled to live
and raise their families, increasing inaccessibility to basic goods and
services including healthcare, and much more recently both insecurity
in the workplace and shrinking nest eggs.
The Oaxaca blueprint
Based
upon Hornick's due diligence, Oaxaca proved to be a potentially
attractive location to develop a prototype for what he initially
labeled, when he first contacted me for advice in November, 2008, a
"retirement community." That initial characterization was probably
meant to pique my initial interest without having me ask too many
hard-to-answer questions. I fell for it, and have been enthralled ever
since, hosting David at our home, introducing him to a number of
professionals he could potentially tap to advance the project, and
advising him regarding prospective plots of land.
Latin American
locations have distinct advantages over Canadian and American
prospective project sites. While remaining north of the Rio Grande may
initially appear attractive because of language, ease of access for
friends and family as well as for return visits, and cultural
familiarity, Oaxaca was selected because of its own unique set of
pluses:
1) Access via ground transportation is consistently being
improved and upgraded through Mexico's system of toll roads, already
extending from various locations along the the U.S. border, directly to
the City of Oaxaca; and via more convenient flight paths (such as being
able to avoid Mexico City by using Continental's non-stop service from
Houston, and Mexicana's from Los Angeles);
2) Its highly agreeable climate, 12 months a year, attractive both
on an individual personal level and for providing solar energy;
3) Proximity to Pacific Coast beach destinations such as Puerto Escondido and Huatulco;
4) A modest cost of living (i.e. labor, public transportation,
entertainment, food and taxes) relative to the U.S. or Canada, and even
to the northern half of the country;
5) Availability of reasonably priced tracts of land, fertile
enough and with sufficient rain and ground water to support partial
self-sufficiency in terms of agricultural production;
6) A number of prospective development locations from which to
choose, no more than a half hour's drive from downtown Oaxaca, assuring
proximity to restaurants and cafés, galleries, museums and other
cultural institutions, as well as health care professionals and
hospital facilities;
7) Its burgeoning expat community (including programs facilitated
through the English language Oaxaca Lending Library) together with
support from the Canadian and American consulates;
8) Local populations which welcome non-Mexicans, motivated by both
a recognition that Canadian and American immigration translates into
more work and higher wages for a relatively depressed economy, and an
innate desire to embrace foreigners with open arms;
9) An understanding on the part of many of its professionals,
trades and business people, and government, of what the project hopes
to achieve, and the potential for the growth of more of the same in
other parts of the state.
Each of the two "eco village" sites
identified on Hornick's website is equally attractive, meets all
criteria, and easily facilitates advancing the set of common goals. The
San Juan del Estado development consists of 25 acres and is about 30
minutes from downtown Oaxaca, and San Lorenzo Cacaotepec sits on 75
acres and is only 15 minutes from the city. Each is about 10 minutes
from the town of Etla, known for its bustling Wednesday marketplace and
production of dairy products, in particular the well-known Oaxacan
cheeses (queso, and the more popular "string cheese," known as
quesillo).
Each of the two developments will contain 30 detached
homes of about 1,000 square feet, the common house, sheltered walkways,
green and garden areas, and its own sources of water and energy as well
as waste-disposal facility, thereby providing for independence from the
vagaries of municipal, state and federal government utilities.
Hornick
emphasizes that with more than 300 sunny days per year, the communities
will be able to generate and store electricity using photovoltaic
technology. Hot water will be produced using solar water heaters.
Interior temperatures will be kept comfortable all year round using
passive solar heating and cooling techniques - such as constructing
walls of locally mined stone (known as "cantera"), clay brick or adobe,
depending on relative direction of the sun and prevailing winds.
But
self-sufficiency has its limits, and to some extent dependence on the
broader Oaxacan community will be a key element. Hornick plans to
develop relationships with residents of nearby towns and villages who
are interested in employment as housekeepers, gardeners and personal
care aides. In addition, there's a well entrenched practice in the
state of Oaxaca whereby expats engage locals in an intercambio language
arrangement, whereby a couple of hours a week informal meetings are
held to help Oaxacans with their English and expats with their Spanish.
Hornick
assures: "...both [locations] will have access to health care services
via home care professionals who will live onsite and also via internet
video teleconferencing with professionals at recognized centers of
excellence." For several years he has been advancing his own medical
practice along such lines. Naturally, in today's technological world he
does not see distance, political boundaries, or differences in language
and other aspects of culture, as impediments. "Of course there are
challenges, but with perseverance they are readily overcome," he
continues. "Look at where I was just a few months ago, with merely an
idea and my index finger pointed to a strange location on a globe - and
look at where we now are." Indeed, Hornick with his team of
professionals (including Prometeo Sánchez Islas, Dean of the School of
Architecture at a Oaxacan university) continue to work diligently on
the project.
While visiting Oaxaca Hornick paid particular
attention to indicia of cost of living, to the point of photographing
sale prices in a supermarket (which attracted the attention of store
management). He is currently attempting to pin down other costs such as
transportation; medical insurance and other expenses; housekeeping,
maintenance, landscaping and gardening (although he believes that it's
important for residents to participate in such activities for exercise
and to maintain a sense of function and purpose). "I'm trying to come
up with a 'soft' figure to enable interested parties to determine if
they can survive on social security alone." he reassures. But one thing
is for certain - cost of living should be less than 50% of what most
live on in the U.S. or Canada.
The horizon
Hornick
plans to begin pre-selling houses at summer's end or perhaps into
autumn, at a small discount for those electing to participate early on
in the project, as a kind of kick-start to the development. For him,
and for most on his team, the motivation is pure altruism, having
identified a sense of urgency on the part of many American, Canadians,
and even Mexicans, and being in the enviable position of being able to
address it in this fashion, without profit motive.
In a sense
he's a pioneer, having started with a dream for a better, more
respectful, easier and self-fulfilling life for others in a new
environment, virgin land to continue with the metaphor. He plans to lay
down roots in Oaxaca, and carry on a medical practice, encouraging
others of similar means to follow suit.
It was clearly different
for those who had the fortitude and the instinct to find something
better hundreds of years ago in opening up the American frontiers.
Today there's more of a necessity, yet with virtually no gamble
involved. After all, investing between $100,000 and $150,000 to have a
quality constructed new home, in a safe, secure southern climate, while
at the same time substantially cutting expenses through supporting a
sustainable living environment, shouldn't be too difficult a lifestyle
decision to make - especially for those who have already been
contemplating change.
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