Vindmøllebakken – Gaining by Sharing is an innovative housing project in Stavanger, established in an otherwise homogeneous housing market. It was designed to offer people of different ages and life situations an alternative where residents live more closely together and share more, providing greater personal, environmental and economic advantages. The project consists of 40 flats. The owners share 520 square meters of communal areas.

Architect: Helen & Hard

Builder: Solon Eiendom and Indigo Vekst

Main contractor: Kruse Smith

Partners: Gaining by Sharing

Landscape architect: Multiconsult Stavanger

Timber construction: Holzbau Saurer

The project has a high emphasis on universal design principles – Design for All, and the residents themselves took part in several phases of the planning process. Resident involvement was essential to forge a positive social community and housing form adapted to a diversity of residents of all ages and life stages. Throughout the entire process, the architects, builder, local politicians and residents boosted each other upward and onward as part of a joint and shared vision. The Gaining by Sharing philosophy is designed by Helen & Hard architects and Indigo Vekst in partnership with Gaia Trondheim. It links the environment, material use, architecture, quality of life, and economy for all residents' mutual benefit. The project has won several prizes, amongst them the Innovation Award for Universal Design, by DOGA – Design and Architecture Norway.

Vindmøllebakken is part of a larger urban development in Stavanger, which aims to contribute to urban concentration and small scale housing – a positive addition to the existing surrounding wooden houses. The project had an extra focus on repurposing, preserving historical elements and strengthening existing qualities of the area. An innovative building system in wood and strategy for an urban village structure adapted to the area's existing small houses reflects a process featuring innovation on several levels. Vindmøllebakken is the result of a partnership based on trust, in which the diversity of the parties involved has demonstrated flexibility, cooperativeness and understanding. Everyone in the project dared to challenge the conventional process and roles of housing development.

This film was made possible with support from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Norway, and is a part of a series of six short films, all about social, environmental and economic sustainability.