We have been working with Swansea Co-Housing and Christopher Gutteridge from the University of Southampton IT department, as well as schools in the area to design cohousing buildings for local residents.

Swansea Co-Housing have been researching opportunities to develop community focused, sustainable and congenial living spaces in the Swansea area. We teamed up to work on a project where local schoolchildren will be asked to redesign derelict buildings in Sketty via Minecraft for the purpose of cohousing.

The Minecraft world has been created as an exact replica of Swansea, including the site itself in Sketty, Brangwyn Hall and the local Uplands area. The two buildings that will be redesigined are in Sketty, and pupils will be able to go inside and assess roofing, flooring and other details using Minecraft: Education Edition.

We will be working with Ffynone House School and Sketty Primary to encourage pupils to design the new buildings. While these designs will not be implemented in the real world, they will inspire the pupils to consider:

• The local surroundings – for example, the buildings are in a local conservation area
• Council requirements
• The needs of local community members
• The needs of the cohousing community – often of mixed ages and ways of living
• The proximity to nearby amenities
• Sustainability – for example, using ground-source heat pumps or air source heat pumps
• Room sizes and requirements
• Accessibility requirements

The aim is to inspire young people to blend art with science and technology by getting involved in an innovative way of designing their local community. This will develop their creative and digital skills in a fun environment. It is also likely to introduce the idea of social, housing and family situations different to the pupils’ own.