Scott Lloyd (TEN) and Alexis Kalagas are a part of the exhibition Mission Neighbourhood – (Re)forming communities with the project The Distributed Cooperative.

Can we rethink collective living at a neighbourhood scale? The Distributed Cooperative, by Swiss architectural practice TEN and Australian urbanist Alexis Kalagas, explores how the amenities in cooperative developments can be dispersed across a neighbourhood. Identifying unbuilt odd lots as an opportunity, the project explores how a network of interventions on these sites could combine affordable housing with shared spaces like communal kitchens and libraries, expanding possibilities for social encounter and creating more inclusive communities.

Connecting peer-to-peer financial models and forms of participatory governance, The Distributed Cooperative offers an alternative to the dominant market-driven real estate paradigm and trend towards hotel-style residential development. Distributing collective resources, the project reimagines the boundaries between the (private) dwelling and the (shared) neighbourhood.

TEN is an architecture, design and research association working on the principle that value is an outcome of design effort. Its engagement on public themes of interest and open research on the built environment is shaped by its common statute. TEN is composed as a record label, providing new formats for interdependent work groups with emphasis on design by research. It aims to conceive, explore and produce ideas that both state and expand upon emerging practices in the built environment.


Alexis Kalagas is an urban strategist and writer based in Melbourne.