A group of residents at the Terra Nova Housing Co-operative have sparked a greater sense of home by building a place for their fine-feathered friends to live.
Perched on the side of a tall, white trellis at the entrance to the co-op are a collection of 85, brightly coloured, hand-crafted birdhouses that act as a point of pride and a friendly welcome to the tidy, 73-unit development.
“See that one, I call it the bed and breakfast,” says Aki Khoshaba, a 12-year resident who spearheaded the project to build, decorate and install the diminutive domiciles. “It’s got three levels.”
Khoshaba drew on his art and design background to fashion the wooden birdhouses which each have a distinctive look, ranging from the white painted, multi-storey B & B to a rainbow-coloured cylindrical home.
Khoshaba had been mulling the plan for the last two years and originally wanted to install the birdhouses in a large tree on the interior of property. That switched when he had the idea to fix them to a trellis at the entrance for more than just the co-op’s residents to see.
“I thought, why not use them as a signal, you know,” he said, “that would make people look for the birdhouses instead of just the address.
“It would act like a big, bright beacon.”
After getting the approval of the co-op’s board, Khoshaba went to work in his garage fashioning the birdhouses in his spare time. Then, residents were invited to gather for a painting party to not only add a splash of colour to the homes, but spark a sense of kinship.
“This has brought us a lot closer together,” said Laurie Scott, the co-op board’s president. “There are people taking part you wouldn’t normally see.
“It’s become bigger. This isn’t just about the birdhouses. It’s about us getting together and socializing,” she added. “People are talking about it. It’s a now a focal point and we’re very proud of the fact it’s not just about us now, but the neighbourhood.”
Many of those strolling past the co-op’s front driveway have been stopping to view the new birdhouse community and even snap pictures on their cellphones.
“Everybody wants to chat about it. They have questions,” Scott said. “It’s been great for the neighbourhood, and us, as well.”
A formal ribbon-cutting ceremony last weekend may have marked the completion of the birdhouse project, but thanks to the new-found community spirit it has instilled there are plans are to expand the effort next spring and add new shrubbery and a small pond that would be lit up at night.
“People here are really motivated now to take up other projects,” Khoshaba said. “It’s really great to see.”
