The Danish term bofællesskab (living community) was introduced to North America as cohousing by two American architects, Kathryn McCamant and Charles Durrett, who visited several cohousing communities and wrote a book about it.
Durrett and McCamant designed Muir Commons, the first cohousing community in North America, and has designed or consulted on the design of over 50 cohousing communities in North America.
After living in Windsor and Santa Rosa, she and her husband were among the founders of the Two Acre Wood cohousing community in Sebastopol, California, where they lived since 2000.
The multigenerational cohousing project was given focus in a series of workshops organized by Katie McCamant and Charles Durrett of the Cohousing Company, beginning in January 2010.