If you lived in Texas during Winter Storm Uri in 2021, you already know: a winter storm can be more than just inconvenient, it can be catastrophic. Millions of homes were left without power for days as the grid failed under the stress of extreme cold. At Zeta House, those events have been a guidepost for how we prepare for winter storms now.

While our current systems, like redundant heaters, HVAC units, and heavy-duty insulation, keep us comfortable during regular winter weather, we're taking lessons from Uri to future-proof Zeta House against the rare but severe storms that push infrastructure to its limits. One area we're actively researching is the integration of propane generators. Propane offers reliable off-grid power and can keep critical systems (like heating, refrigeration, and communications) running during prolonged outages. The goal is simple: Zeta House should be as self-sufficient as possible, even during worst-case scenarios. Uri taught us what can happen when backup plans aren't enough. We don't intend to repeat those mistakes.

While research into propane generators is part of our long-term planning, Zeta House is already equipped to handle typical winter conditions with ease. Here's what goes into our winterization strategy:

• Redundant Heating Systems: Our dual heating and HVAC systems ensure uninterrupted comfort. If one unit fails, another takes over.
• Insulation for the Win: Six feet of spray foam insulation means our interior stays a consistent 30°F warmer than the outside temperature.
• CO2 Monitoring: Sealed spaces are great for energy efficiency, but they also need fresh air circulation. Our CO2 monitors alert us when it's time to vent, ensuring the air inside remains breathable without sacrificing warmth.
• Dripping Taps: Our community manager ensures faucets are dripping during freezes to prevent pipe bursts, one of the most common (and expensive) winter headaches.
• Sealing Drafts: We've inspected and sealed every door and window gap to lock in warmth and block out the chill.

Outside, Zeta House's garden might look delicate under its snowy blanket, but it's as tough as Texas gets. Every plant is a native species chosen specifically for its ability to withstand temperatures as low as 20°F. Our garden thrives in extreme conditions while remaining low-maintenance. Sustainable landscaping isn't just about aesthetics, it's about creating systems that can handle whatever nature throws at them.

Preparation isn't just about physical systems. It's about staying informed. Tools like the Windy app gave us advanced warnings about the incoming winter storm accurate to the square kilometer and to the hour. That gave us plenty of time to warn Zeta House residents, stock up on essentials (hot drinks and snacks, obviously), and make final checks on our winterization measures. Early alerts mean less scrambling and more calm—and that's the kind of energy we like to bring to every storm.

As we enjoy this first snow, we're also thinking about how to make Zeta House even more resilient. Propane generators are a big part of that vision, but we're not stopping there. Future upgrades might include battery storage systems or solar integrations to complement our backup power setup. The ultimate goal is a house that doesn't just endure winter storms but thrives through them, completely independent of external power sources if needed.

Winter might bring challenges, but with preparation, technology, and a focus on resilience, it's nothing we can't handle.

Celebrate with us over a festive feast of food and drinks (provided by us), followed by a lively game night and other exciting activities. Feel free to bring a dish or item to share and make the evening even more special.

Learn more about our coliving and coworking offerings at https://zeta.house. Let’s come together to create an unforgettable Friendsgiving experience!

RSVP here: https://partiful.com/e/H0Q8RR0XH4KeatOVmVvR

Wow, what a night! Last Wednesday, Zeta House hosted our very first Friendsgiving, and honestly, it couldn't have gone better. We had amazing people show up, residents, neighbors, and friends, all gathered in our cozy coliving space to share some food, laughs, and great conversations.

We kicked off the night with a feast that was part potluck, part Zeta House-hosted spread. People brought everything from apple cider to congee, cakes, and snacks. It was such a beautiful mix of flavors and styles, and honestly, seeing everyone share what they made (or bought - no shame!) was heartwarming.

The theme that kept coming up throughout the evening? Gratitude. We're all so thankful to be part of this community, and it was clear everyone felt the same. Conversations drifted from the usual catching-up to deeper topics—like what it means to create spaces like Zeta House and how these experimental communities can shape our lives in meaningful ways.

It’s moments like these that remind us why Zeta House exists, to bring people together, not just to live and work but to connect and build something special. We're so grateful to everyone who came out and made this first Friendsgiving such a success.

If you missed it, don’t worry, this is just the beginning. Stay tuned for more events and more reasons to come together. Here’s to building something beautiful, one gathering at a time.

To celebrate, we held a house warming and birthday party at Zeta House.

We invited residents, neighbours, general contractors and all of the friends and partners who helped launch Zeta House.

We now have 6 bedrooms available for rent, 2 bedrooms have ensuites, 2 large bedrooms sharing 1 large bathroom, and 2 smaller rooms sharing 1 smaller bathroom.

We have a large shared kitchen as well as an coworking office and a wrap around deck. Our coworking office is still under development, we are installing new furniture and office amenities like whiteboards and printers.

For now, you can sign up for staying at Zeta House at one of our room listings on AirBnB.

• https://airbnb.com/h/zetahouse-c1
• https://airbnb.com/h/zetahouse-c2
• https://airbnb.com/h/zetahouse-a2
• https://airbnb.com/h/zetahouse-b1
• https://airbnb.com/h/zetahouse-b2

The exploration took us from San Francisco, San Jose, Los Angeles, to eventually Austin with a side of Phoenix and Houston.

Austin surprised us with the density of community, energy and activity, the perfect demographics, favourable legal environment, and an axis of attractions that suited the creation of a coliving and coworking space. The economic macro-trends of Austin and the Texas triangle was also a rising tide for population increase.

There were also several key people located in Austin Texas who had similar ideas and had already setup coliving spaces. These people were critical to solidifying the vague idea of a coliving space into Zeta House.

While the city had the right foundation, the next step was determining the exact property that would work. There were several dimensions we had to consider and constraint-optimize on, and that's how it led us towards setting up in East Austin.

Walkability​

Walking is the most natural mode of transportation for humans. It was critical that one could walk from the property to nature, restaurants, cafes, supermarkets, community events and be able to bridge to other kinds of transportation networks. Walkability also implied cycling and scootering was safe and easy.

Walkability is not something you can understand from the map alone. It is necessary to walk the neighborhood from early morning to night, from being in the cold, to being in the heat.

Proximity, quality of the streets, the amount of traffic, level of shade, air quality, feeling of safety at night all factor into walkability.

Being walkable meant that a car was not a necessity. And as we have found out in Zeta House, that the car is not a must-have but instead an optional add on to people's experience if they wanted to visit areas away from the Austin core.

Nature​

The biggest natural feature of Austin is the Colorado River/Town Lake/Lady Bird Lake. This added a significant aesthetic appeal to the city. It was important to be within walking distance of the river.

The lake is formed by dams on each side, and paddle boarding, kayaking, fishing, boating and turtles are significant attractions.

Economics​

Based on our observation, Austin exhibits both technology-oriented economics as well as Texas-oriented economics.

Austin is known as Silicon Hills. It's still a baby compared to San Francisco. But the ground reality is that with the rise of remote work, this doesn't really matter.

Texas also benefits from being a net energy producer and having a border with Mexico enabling lower-cost manufacturing and services. This all contributes to a lower cost of production, enabling more efficient usage of resources.

Incomes would have to be able to support the rental costs of the property, and in turn the rental costs would also have to support the interest costs and property taxes. Austin's median income is currently between 70 to 80,000.

Culture​

Austin feels like a small town community combined with a pursuit of change and growth. As of now (2024) you can still see cranes on its downtown skyscrapers, within 15 minutes drive, you'll see highways still being built. It has very young energy.

East Austin historically was redlined by the I-35 highway, therefore it's development is relatively recent. There are still lots of undeveloped land. East Austin still retains the weirdness of Austin compared to West Austin, which is far more manor-like (bougie). This has created a unique situation where East Austin has suburban-like living but it's walkable to the city downtown.

https://www.unitedstateszipcodes.org/78702/ - Austin is one of the youngest cities in the US

Productive youth is demographically one the most important signals for future growth.

Hospitality​

The neighbourhood by which a property is located in serves as an extension of the life-support system for the entire population. It's important to avoid monoculture in both natural and artificial ecosystems as it is prone to cascading failure.

Therefore nearby restaurants, bars, clubs, cafes, churches, music, fields, courts, event-spaces would create an environment of diverse activities. This overlapping ecosystem is more like an organic system that avoids urban/suburban deserts that tend to characterise many mass-manufactured suburbs.

Events​

Austin is also known for 4 major events:

1. South by South West (SXSW)
2. Austin City Limits (ACL)
3. Formula 1 United States Grand Prix
4. Trail of Lights

SXSW is an unique event in the US blending Music, Film, Media and Technology. It has a global brand and attracts visitors from the entire world. It's also within walkable distance from East Cesar Chavez.

All these 4 events attract around 400,000 visitors annually.

Public Transportation​

The US has a poor reputation in public transportation for a variety of reasons.

However the only operational train-line (not including inter-state) to downtown ran through East Cesar Chavez to East Austin and further north.

Expansion plans for the transportation network would likely expand using this red line as a starting point.

While these are in the planning stages, if and when they are completed they would enable a much higher density of population in the city core. Especially as the roads in the city core are already gridlocked at rush-hour every day, and that doesn't include all the major events that attract visitors.

Legal Environment​

Texas has no state income tax. It however has one of the highest property taxes in the US. This creates a favourable environment for high-income workers while also forcing the land to be used for productive purposes, instead of being sat-on. Property owners are therefore forced to ensure that the land is used profitably. This creates a dynamism in the land-usage compared to more geriatric states.

There is also contention between local city politics and state politics when it comes to how land owners make use of their property - especially in the case of the short-term rental market. Restrictions are likely to be reduced as population demand for housing increases, and increased desire for density.

The Actual Property Itself​

After all the constraints were considered, 3 main areas in Austin were considered suitable.

Although area 1 (East Cesar Chavez) was considered to to be the area that best fit all dimensions, 2 other areas were considered: West Austin and South West Austin.

In the end, we found the perfect location for Zeta House in East Cesar Chavez.

This was due to to the property itself.

Many single family homes in Texas are built around the single family. However this leads to a particular architectural layout where there is a large master bedroom that takes up a lot of space and many smaller bedrooms.

Zeta House's master bedroom isn't really all that different from the other bedrooms. This meant that it allowed the other bedrooms to still have generous space.

Furthermore, the property possessed a living room that was situated above the kitchen and away from the bedrooms. This created a very nice physical work-life separation.

The property was located on 2 corners, enabling up to 3 ingress/egress points, which was important for further expansion in the future.

Externally the property was very unique. With white stucco walls and castle-like iron fences and gates, arranged in a north-south axis that would enable cross-shade from the hot Texas sun.

https://drajmarsh.bitbucket.io/sunpath3d.html

Internally, the bathroom layout was also suitable to coliving, with large sharable bathrooms and smaller ensuites. Hardwood floors would simplify cleaning and suited natural materials and color pallete.

However the property would need renovation work: rooms, gardening, deck and more, but that will be a topic for a subsequent post.

Coliving is a modern form of communal living where residents share not just physical living spaces but also social and collaborative environments. It combines the practical aspects of shared resources with the flexibility and community-driven ethos often lacking in traditional shared housing arrangements.

Rather than merely reducing per-resident cost by sharing facilities (kitchens, dining rooms, living rooms, bathrooms), coliving focuses on active social engagement between residents and the shared facilities are the physical-platform by which this is achieved. Thus sharing facilities should not be considered a detriment to each resident, but an enhancement to resident lifestyle, economics, and health.

Why do we focus on social engagement, what exactly does this entail?

Social engagement is about is creating trust between resident members to allow residents to work together towards collective-action goals that would otherwise be difficult to achieve alone.

This means engagement can mean any activity to increase trust between residents. Generically the definition of trust is the ability for party to be vulnerable to another party on the presumption that they will act in ways that benefit the trustor.

Check out https://ncase.me/trust/, it's the most intuitive way of explaining trust

To be more specific, many things can increase trust (religion, culture... etc), but Zeta House focuses on these areas of trust (not exclusive-to):

• Entrepreneurship
• Technology
• Startup Society
• Decentralism
• Futurism
• Optionally a strategically ambiguous techno-anarcho-libertarian-alternative mindset

These ideas were inspired by other coliving movements such as the Cabin City - an actualisation of the network state philosophy, and Creators ATX - Christian coliving community based in Austin.

Network State Dashboard

This entails a unique set of social activities at Zeta House that overlaps with other coliving spaces.

• Coworking - is the primary draw (and one of the key additional physical features to the property)
• Meetups (focusing on tech and tech-adjacent concepts)
• Digital Native Events - broadcasting meetups to the internet, and marrying the digital with the physical
• Occasional communal dinners - sharing food has been theorised to lead to the invention of language - occasional eating together shares culture, and people may be less guarded than other scenarios
• Consultation/Advise/Allowing members to share knowledge, skills, concepts, funding, human and financial capital

In particular, the coworking side is the most important social activity in Zeta house. This is why Zeta House is a coliving + coworking site.

Unlike simply a shared office or rented desks, the coworking experience is directly linked to the coliving experience. Every room is assigned a "workspace" in the office room. We distinguish "workspace" from regular desk, because we envision it to be more than just a basic desk.

This means that each workspace becomes dedicated to the resident, and the resident must feel comfortable leaving their valuable equipment in the office.

AI imagined coliving + coworking space

The coworking space represents the key collective action trust-building physical space. Even though residents may be working on their own projects, they collectively can contribute resources towards building things in common or enabling each other's success through sharing skills, knowledge, technology, tools and experience.

Zeta House isn't necessarily right for everybody and every circumstance. Life circumstances change, and residents may grow out of Zeta house. In that case the location represents a phase in people's lives, but an very important, dynamic, engaging and exciting phase. A phase that represents growth.