One of the biggest factors that affects personal resource use is home size. According to Size Matters, we have seen average home sizes increase in the United States from 1,100 square feet in 1950 to 2340 square feet in 2002. And the number of household members has dropped from nearly 4 to close to 2.5.
A note on small structures:
“Building small makes ‘natural sense.’” says Duo Dickinson, a Connecticut architect and author. “First, you build what’s needed and then what’s wanted. The problem is that many people don’t know the difference.”
It would be impossible to get universal agreement on how “small” a small house should be. Prison cells are small, but hardly livable. “For the designer, the key is to make the house fit the clients,” says Dickinson. “A house fits when living in it is effortless.” Like a tailor fitting a garment to the exact dimensions of a human form, a designer should strive to size building elements for the occupants’ values and way of living.
After attending a Little House on a Small Planet workshop at the Crestone Sustainable Energy Fair, I’m not actually a fan of the idea of “building” anything, but I like the general ideas about small spaces. I think most of what we need is already built. Shay Solomon, workshop leader (and author of Little House on a Small Planet) gave great tips that work even if you live in a big house.
Space use is a tough sell because you can’t go out and fix it today (like a leak on a kitchen sink to decrease water use or like unplugging a cell phone charger to decrease electricity use). And small spaces aren’t without some actual costs. It was a pain to get a mortgage for our small space (the amount of the mortgage and the size of the space made it difficult). And it looks as though it’s a bit more difficult to adopt children in a small space. However, I think the size of our homes is something that should be on your mind (and my mind) as we make choices in the future in our resource use.
Resources
November 3rd, 2007 at 9:13 am
Ms. T, you’re preaching to the choir! I did a post on the need for smaller homes a while back on my blog, and I’m so glad you’re talking about it now. Everything, I mean EVERYTHING is connected. Smaller homes use les resources, less power, less water, do less harm, cost less so they don’t run you into debt…the number of ways they help the world is infinite. Spend your money on energy-saving appliances (or a clothesline), or on details and high-quality construction that’s not disposable, not on wasted, open space that you have to heat and cool. Beautiful! Well done, Ms. T!
November 3rd, 2007 at 9:20 am
Ooh. If you leave me a link here, I’ll link to it. I’d love to read your perspective as an architect.