David Llorente and his son Iu are members of the housing cooperative La Chalmeta, in the Sants-Montjuïc district of Barcelona.
In this conversation, they share two complementary perspectives on community living: from the experience of a more individualised housing model to the natural way in which Iu has grown up sharing spaces and services with neighbours. The interview brings us closer to everyday forms of building community, where shared laundry facilities, the garden, the co-working space, and common areas emerge as infrastructures that enable a more sustainable, flexible and collective daily life.
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Before moving into La Chalmeta, how did you imagine this idea of sharing life? What expectations and fears did you have?
David: My expectations were quite high, but everyone had their own ideas. We are a diverse community in La Chalmeta: single people, families with children, elderly residents… In our case, we came from a rented flat in Eixample where there was practically nothing communal. Laundry and home life were completely private; it wasn’t even allowed to go up to the roof. So laundry stayed within your home, and that was the whole experience.
Iu: For me, joining a cooperative felt like something new. Sharing common spaces with neighbours or going from one flat to another because we already know each other is a different way of living that I like. At first it can feel a bit scary having to talk to so many new people, but then you realise they’re just normal people like you.
What is laundry like at La Chalmeta? How does the system work and how do you organise the task at home?
David: The laundry room is on the ground floor, in quite a large shared space. Having the washing machines downstairs gives us more space at home. When we need to do laundry, we go down and start a load; while the machine is running, you can do other things or go for a walk. You might also bump into a neighbour and end up chatting there.
At home we are a family of four and we split the task. When the laundry bag is full, we go down. Over the week we do laundry every two or three days. One particularity is that we hang clothes in shared patios for each floor. So you don’t need to coordinate every time with neighbours, but you do notice whether the space is full and adapt accordingly.
Compared to how you used to do laundry, what would you say you have gained or lost?
David: In the end, not much changes; you simply share maintenance, detergents, and everyday situations informally. The key point is that you remove the washing machine from your home, which makes a big difference in small flats. Moving it into a shared space has not been an issue.
You might be more aware of timing for hanging clothes or finding machines in use, but there are no strict rules or spreadsheets to manage it. We are a community of 32 homes, but only 8 currently use the shared laundry with 5 machines. This allows for a very informal system: you learn neighbours’ habits, you know who washes during the week or at weekends, and you try to avoid overlapping. It works very well.
Have you noticed that sharing the laundry has changed your relationship with neighbours?
David: Yes, you naturally form groups based on affinity. The people who choose to use shared laundry end up creating a sort of group. With the neighbour next door, for example, we often meet while hanging clothes and take the opportunity to chat and catch up. Going down to the ground floor means you meet people who might be having lunch or playing there, which encourages social interaction.
To what extent do age differences or different lifestyles affect how people imagine shared laundry?
Iu: We are all a bit different. There are families with small children who may not be able to afford going six floors down to do laundry because it means leaving the children alone for a while. Others who live alone tend to do it at weekends.
David: We also found people who would not share washing machines due to privacy concerns. There were initial reservations about the idea of someone else’s clothes coming after yours, but in reality it’s very clean; you’re not sharing anything “dirty”. Our community accommodates all kinds of situations: from someone who finds a missing sock and returns it because they know who it belongs to, to people who barely share a minute in this laundry world.
Iu, since you’ve basically grown up in this home, sharing laundry feels normal to you. What do your friends think when they come over?
Iu: I’ve brought some friends over, and we sometimes go to the communal space because it’s quite big and has a sofa. They walk in and see the washing machines and find it a bit strange. Then I explain that we live in a cooperative, that it’s different, and that we share the space so anyone can use the machines whenever they want.
What have been the keys to making this shared laundry work with minimal conflict?
David: Not having rigid control and relying on informality. It’s about respecting how each person does things. Once you join the laundry group, you accept that you share maintenance and costs.
We had to agree on how to bill water and electricity, since the laundry has its own metering system, but once that was settled we had no problems. Another key moment was deciding where to hang clothes; it was a long discussion about whether to use the patio or the roof, but after four or five years, those habits dissolve and shared use becomes normal.
Beyond laundry, what other shared spaces or dynamics exist in the building?
David: Mainly the ground floor, where there is a kitchen, a dining space, and a ping-pong table. On the fifth floor there is a roof terrace with a developing garden and a table for eating, and on the top roof there are solar panels. We also have a co-working space currently shared with a company, but which residents can also use to work or study.
There is also a space being turned into a DIY workshop, and a group of residents is planning a shared gym. These spaces are occupied quite informally. Uses have been gradually regulated to avoid friction, and it’s working well. These spaces are also sometimes shared with external groups or neighbourhood visitors.
And if we think about services or forms of sharing beyond physical spaces, such as social support or neighbourhood networks, do you have any?
David: At the moment, community or neighbourhood-based initiatives haven’t really been developed yet because we’ve only been living here for a few years. Perhaps the opportunity hasn’t come up yet, but we do accept visits and requests from external groups to use the space. We’re open to these kinds of situations developing in the future.
What advice would you give to people considering a more community-based way of living?
David: They need to understand that it involves letting go of many habits from individualistic culture. When you start sharing something as everyday as laundry, you realise how many personal routines and quirks we have. In the end, laundry is simple: you still wash your own clothes, not your neighbour’s, so there is no loss of privacy. It’s about bringing a bit more humanity into everyday life.
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