Chris ScottHanson, Cohousing Professional

Christ ScottHanson (seated facing the camera, center right) listens as the group clarifies its vision for Bay State Commons.

Christ ScottHanson is the author of the classic texts on cohousing, The Cohousing Handbook: Building a Place for Community, and has been working with developing communities since the beginning years of cohousing in the United States. He has worked with dozens of communities from the early days of organizing, land acquisition, finance and budgets, construction, development professionals, design considerations, permits, approvals, and membership. He is a principal in Urban Cohousing Associates, working in Canada as well as the United States.

Neshamkin French Architects

Based in Boston and founded by award-winning architects, Linda C. Neshamkin and John W. French in 1985, Neshamkin French Architects is one of the most respected architectural and planning firms in New England. They bring 30 years of experience and a team of consultants, which includes landscape architects, civil engineers, and mechanical, electrical, and structural engineers. Thus Neshamkin and French provide us with a single-source for the professional services we need.

They have a long list of awards and recognition for their work in preservation, affordable housing, and smart growth as well as architectural design.

French+2D

Jenny French and Anda French of French+2D.

Jenny French and Anda French are principals of French 2D, PLLC, an architecture studio based in Boston.  French 2D’s work combines formal exploration, experimental collaborative methods, and applied research in commercial, residential, and civic projects.

We work on housing and mixed-use with a focus on strange housing types that combine familiar ideas of home with more radical organizations and typologies (see our current cohousing project in greater Boston and our microhousing project recently completed in Boston).

We work on civic installations and exhibitions or sets in the city that bring people together for familiar rituals in unfamiliar spaces (see our experimental serial dinner-party and our fuzzy bartering environment).

French 2D received a 2020 P/A (Progressive Architecture) Award from Architect Magazine and was named an Architectural Record Magazine Design Vanguard winner in 2019. The firm was featured as Architect Magazine’s October 2017 Next Progressives and invited to create an installation on Boston City Hall Plaza for HUBweek 2017. French 2D was one of five finalists in the 2013 MoMA PS1 Young Architects Program.

Karen Gimnig

Karen Gimnig is Bay State Commons’ process consultant. She is a team builder, motivational speaker and relationship coach, with a passion is to help groups achieve their goals for collaboration and community culture.  She believes that our need for connection with the people around us guides us toward effective relationships.

As an Imago Facilitator, Karen uses the theory and practice of Imago Relationships to guide teams and communities through the complexity of working together. She helps groups and individuals identify root causes of challenges and then walks beside them offering gentle support as they seek solutions.

​Karen enjoys working with non-profit organizations, communities (including communities of faith), and work places. In particular she supports groups using consensus, sociocracy or agile technologies for working together.