Small
Homes
Distinctive
and Innovative Small Homes from Across The Country
From the
Editors of Fine Homebuilding
Small Houses that Make A Huge Impact
Small houses are of particular interest to
American homeowners searching for unique and affordable ways to
live. Architects and builders can be highly innovative in designing
and constructing small homes -- creating multi-use rooms, coming up
with unusual ways of dividing interior spaces, and using exterior
details to make a small house look bigger and grander than it really
is.
In this collection of 24 houses by some of
Americas best residential architects, originally published in Fine
Homebuilding magazine, you will find wonderful examples of
distinctive and highly livable small homes -- most of them with less
than 2,000 square feet of floor space.
- Includes over 175 photos and 45 drawings
and floor plans of small houses that make a big impact
- Reveals how architects and builders
overcome the challenges of building smaller homes
- Includes work from some of Americas
premier residential architects
- Covers family homes, senior-friendly
homes, and guest houses, as well as successful co-housing
developments.
Introduction:
In the late 1940s, William Levitt started buying up potato fields
on Long Island, New York, and building houses. To meet the needs of
servicemen returning home from World War II, he built one-story,
two-bedroom Capes that measured less than 800 sq. ft. Fifty years
later, the average new home in this country is three times that
size, and it gets bigger every year. I'm not sure why we want bigger
and bigger houses (unless it's to store all of our unused exercise
equipment), but I wish it weren't the case.
Smaller houses require fewer resources to build. They're less
expensive to heat, cool, and maintain. And generally speaking, I'd
rather see money spent on great details than on drywall acreage. The
tide may yet turn. That first wave of baby boomers, many of whom
were born in Levittown, are approaching 60 now. And they're starting
to think about smaller, one-story houses that would be easier to
clean and to get around in.
With the hope of encouraging smaller homes, we've collected 22
articles from past issues of Fine Homebuilding that feature houses
under 2,400 sq. ft. (anything smaller than the national average
qualifies as small in our book). Written by builders and architects
from all over the country, these articles cover a diversity of
styles, materials, locations, and programs. But each of them
explores one central issue: how do you make the most of a small
space?
-- Kevin Ireton, editor in chief
Table of Contents:
Introduction
When Builder Weds Architect
Mike Guertin
Downsizing with Style
David O'Neil
A Basic Box Isn't All Bad
Kelly Davis
In the Belly of the Barn
Brian Reading and William McHenry
A Rustic Country Cottage
David Edrington
A House Designed by Consensus
Scott Gibson
Building Smaller, for Now
Robert Knight
An Industrial Loft in Texas
Richard Wintersole
A House Disguised as a Cottage
William F. Roslansky
A Deliberate Neighborhood
John Abrams
A House with Wings
Dan Rockhill
Modern Living in a New England Village
Scott Simons
Red House
Paul and Peggy Duncker
Designing a Historical House
Kevin McKenna
A California Home Designed with the Future in Mind
Bruce Kelley
Texas Saddlebag House
Todd Hamilton
Built Intending to Stay
Mark Primack
Guest House by the Bay
Peter Zimmerman
Round Roof in the City
Dan Parke
Simple House, Contemporary Look
Rob Kovitz
A Cozy Vermont House
Leslie Hill
Part Office, Mostly House
Kathryn Porter
Credits
Soft-cover, 8-1/2 x 10-7/8 in., 192 pages, with color
photos and drawings
Published 2003
ISBN: 978-1-56158-654-7
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