What is the mission of your co-housing project?

I see the home as a place to meet others, a place where you can grow and feel free. I also believe there are layers to a home. Yes, you have your own bedroom where you sleep, but in the next layer you have your co-housing community that you feel relaxed and at home with, and in the layer after that you have your neighborhood, where you know the person who makes your cappuccino or helps you repair your bike when it’s broken. To me, this is the way forward, for me personally and for us as a society. We need to get more involved with and engaged in each other’s lives, and in our local community. That’s how we can create meaningful lives and a real feeling of security and freedom.

How did the project come to life?

This has been years in the making, but it took time to finally find a building we weren’t priced out of. It was built in the ‘30s as an institution for men who were mentally ill, and many details in the interior still tell the story of the kind of life one lived here. There’s also a beautiful garden, more like a park, surrounding the building, where the men living here once grew vegetables for other hospitals in the city.

What inspired you?

I think it’s in my nature to get totally absorbed in the things that I believe in. I grew up with my mother who was schizophrenic, and due to her illness and other circumstances, there weren’t many other people in our lives. I didn’t have many adult role models to learn from. I knew that when I got older and had kids of my own, I wanted them to grow up in a loving community with other grown-ups and kids around.

How many people live in the building?

There are about 40 people living here now, across 20 different apartments, some bigger and some smaller. On the ground floor, we have a big kitchen and dining room where we all can be together. There’s also a large playroom for the children. In the basement, we’re about to build a workshop, but there’s still so much space left where we can create something useful, beautiful, or just fun.

What is it like to live the way you do now?

It’s great. We’re of course tired after the move and all the work connected to that, but at the same time, I believe we’re in the honeymoon phase now. Everyone is in a good mood and wants to socialise, do things together and get to know each other. We’re also continuing the renovation work of the building. It’s funny how you might make many decisions involving hundreds of thousands of Euros every day when buying a home – but then you spend weeks pondering over the wall colour.

Have there been any challenges or disagreements along the way?

There are difficulties arising almost daily, but that’s part of life and part of this project. I feel safe for myself and my family in Malmo; I love this city, but our building is still partly a construction site, and we had a break-in earlier this week. There are also always things we need to agree on. For example, should we have a fence around our huge garden or not? There are valid reasons for both options, but we need to decide soon.

Is there a part of your apartment, or any furniture, that you are extra fond of?

Both! I love the dining room in our apartment, with windows facing the big garden in three directions. And I’m especially fond of our big new dining table where we’ll hold great dinner parties with a lot of friends. The chairs around the table also have a special meaning to me. They are classic Alvar Alto chairs from my childhood home. My parents separated when I was young, and at that time they also split the chairs between them. A lot of time has passed, and a lot of things have happened, but now all the chairs are reunited here in our home. One way or another, that feels symbolic – and it makes me happy to think about it.