Smaller is the new better.
The Los Angeles Times, in May of 2009, reported that homes in Yuma, Arizona are being built smaller (1,700 sq. ft.) to align with the contracted economy. This is a change from the 2,600 plus sq. ft. homes of the recent past.
“The National Association of Home Builders recently surveyed its members and found 90% of them are building smaller now. The strongest motivation is clearly the sagging economy.”
For some home builders, it isn’t a matter of choice—it’s a matter of survival.
It was also cited that, “Even as the typical American family has gotten smaller, the average size of a finished home has risen to more than 2,500 sq. ft. in 2007, from 1,660 sq. ft. in 1973”
The Director of Sales for one developer in Yuma said. “Families and lifestyles are changing. In 2005 you couldn’t build it big enough. Now it’s all about back to the basics.”
The Not So Big House and Not so Big Life
Sarah Susanka has had as an architect, a philosophy for years, from growing up in England where space in homes is at a premium, that smaller is better. Or, as she has put it in her best selling books, The Not So Big House and Remodeling the Not So Big House.
This idea of smaller or to simplify has taken over her life and she shares her thoughts on this in her book, the not so big life:making room for what really matters.
She tells us in the not so big life that, “We are facing an enormous problem in our lives today. It’s so big we can hardly see it, and it’s right in our face all day, every day. We’re all living too big lives, crammed from top to toe with activities, urgencies, and obligations that seem absolute.”
Susanka says, “We need to remodel the way we are living, but not in a way that gives us more of the same kinds of space we already have; that would simply create an even bigger life. What we need is a remodeling that allows us to experience what’s already here but to experience it differently, so that it delights us rather than drives us crazy.
Another architect’s take on smaller
Architect, John Bertram lives in a 900 sq. ft. Neutra home. He says, in the Los Angeles Times in August of 2009: “If you are too enchanted by the architecture, the tendency is to view a house uncritically and judge it largely on aesthetics and much less about how well it functions.” |
Our Homes
A House for the Way We Live
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Sarah Susanka is architect for Not So Big House series.
Susanka pix by Cheryl Muhr. |
| Since 1998 the message from the original, The Not So Big House, book has been quality before quantity, which started a movement for how people think of their homes. |
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By Helene Vachet
Reissued and expanded, Sarah Susanka’s The Not So Big House and Creating the Not So Big House are not only a visual treat but provide a blueprint for modern living. Susanka says that our suburbs are filled with large homes that have no soul. We must be clear, she is not against owning or building a house because it’s large: she only objects to size when large isn’t functional. Many people build or buy houses to show that they have achieved status, to impress their relatives and friends, giving little thought to how they will live within the house. We learn that the quality of space is much more important than the square footage. She urges us not to spend our budget on spaces that we will never use but to tailor our houses to fit our needs. These ideas are also true for the Not So Big Remodeling. While working with clients in the Minneapolis area, Susanka first found that people wanted something different but didn’t know how to ask for it. Soon she started lecturing and developing a vocabulary and terms for what her clients wanted her to articulate architecturally.
Susanka points out that when most people contemplate building a new house or remodeling an existing one, they spend most of their time examining floor plan options and square footage. However, there are other dimensions that give character to a house and make an impression. Such details as beautiful stair railing, well-crafted molding around windows and doors, and useful and finely tailored built-ins attract us to older homes but can be achieved by a tasteful remodel or from the purchase of an older home. She suggests that a good architect will suggest reducing the square footage to allow for more detail.
Rethinking you house to discover the places that are used everyday is the essence of The Not So Big House. On the adjoining page to a picture of a party where all of the guests are in the kitchen and the living room is empty, she points out that “dinosaur” rooms need to be replaced with spaces that reflect the way that we live. The core of The Not So Big House is an interconnected area that encompasses kitchen, living and dining functions, which are visibly and physically open to each other.
To make any floor plan work, says Susanka, their needs to be a balance between open spaces and closed, between public and private. Whether a space may be considered public or private does not depend solely upon having a door but also on its scale and visibility. As part of this theme, there needs to be a room that provides acoustical privacy. Susanka calls this “the away room,” a necessity in a house shared by many family members. This is a quiet retreat for adults to read or work in the evenings.
The Not So Big concept doesn’t necessarily mean small. There is no one correct size or budget for this concept. Susanka provides us with a rule of thumb — “It’s about one third smaller than you thought you needed, with dollars reappointed from square footage to characteristics that turn a house into a home.”
The plan of this house is personal. It appeals first and foremost to homeowners to provide them with a custom plan that provides livability and comfort that they never have experience or thought possible.
In terms of a setting, the Not So Big House is a good neighbor. It respects the views from adjacent homes and fits into the existing neighborhood in scale and character.
There are certain architectural features that crop up again in the Not So Big House such as alcoves and multipurpose areas that are often overlooked. They can be used as an office, a younger child’s bedroom or just a quiet retreat. Susanka loves the Japanese trim band as a detail that accentuates the surface of a wall and distinguishes one part of a room from another. Visual clues provide a degree of separation between open spaces without resorting to a solid wall to accomplish this task. She also uses varying ceiling heights creating a hierarchy of places from sheltered and intimate to open and expansive.
Susanka has always loved all things to do with the spatial experience. Sitting in the cupboard under the stairs as a child in England and viewing the rest of the house from her space, may have been the inspiration for her future profession as an architect. She grew up used to nooks and crannies, deep window seats and all features that makes you feel wrapped in the comfort of your home.
Each chapter starts with a wonderful quote from someone associated, usually, with architecture and the arts as a keynote to what follows. One of my favorites is by William Morris who said, “Do not keep anything in your home that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.” Another quote to ponder is Susanka’s, “We long for a sense of shelter and comfort from our homes, but tend instead to use words like ‘spacious’ and ‘expansive’ to describe what we think we want.”
There is a spiritual dimension to building and remodeling, which becomes apparent, not only from reading her books but also from our conversation. Susanka feels inspired. Architecture to her is not merely a job; it is a way of conveying to others the connectedness of all things. Her designs are a reflection of her inner self, and the inner and outer are reflections of each other. Also, as a teacher of meditation, this insight is prime to centering oneself.
In The Not So Big Life, her last book so far, Susanka uses architectural terms to teach us to live the spiritual life. She shows us how we create psychological walls, just as we build walls in a house, to prevent communication and how to remove these walls.
Susanka’s gift is being able to translate complicated professional understandings into simple language that people can grasp readily. She thinks of herself as a translator who can pass along and make assessable complicated understandings to the larger population.
Helene Vachet extensively remodeled her home in 2005, and this project was presented in New Perspectives as, “Gothic Meadow Cottage” in the summer, 2006 issue. Unknowingly, at the time, many of the features of the not so big house were employed in the remodel: using a theme to unify the house — Gothic, differing ceiling heights to add interest and to define space; adding window seats for more space, storage and interest; and, most of all, employing lots and lots of detail to add richness and a feeling of permanence.
This review is the result of a conversation held with Sarah Susanka on Thursday, September 17, 2009 in addition to reading the books.
Ms. Vachet is a retired educator. Her last position was assistant principal in charge of counseling and guidance for the Los Angeles Unified School District. Currently she is a staff writer for New Perspectives Magazine and enjoys many writing projects, gardening with native plants, organic, gourmet cooking, walking with her dog, and watching movies, and playing Scrabble and Rummikub with her husband.
Architecture to Susanka is not merely a job; it is a way of conveying to others the connectedness of all things.
Creating The Not So Big House, p. 130 — an inglenook makes a wonderful conversaion area.
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