Comments on: WSJ Article Advocates Small Homes

By: Dimwit

Dimwit — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 23:00:23 +0000

I like how Steve’s design is traditional looking. It would be acceptable in any burg in N.A. The biggest issue I have with all these designs is that every one of them is designed for California it looks like. I’d love to see how a garden wall works in N.D. in Jan. Having “moisture membranes” in the U.P. in Feb.!

Really though, any dialog is good. At least people are becoming sensitized to the suburban blight that’s been happening for the last 50 years.

By: Steve Mouzon

Steve Mouzon — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 16:27:38 +0000

I’m the architect of the fourth design, which is called SmartDwelling I, and is actually much smaller than it looks… only 1,200 SF of heated space. My colleagues at the New Urban Guild (www.newurbanguild.com) learned a lot of lessons when we fostered the Katrina Cottages movement after the hurricane a few years ago, and which we’re applying to the SmartDwelling Project. SmartDwellings will average about half the size of what Americans have been building pre-meltdown.
FWIW, many of the principles which underlie the SmartDwelling Project can be found on http://www.originalgreen.org. Check out the blog… this post is the first of what I plan on being a long thread looking at tiny buildings:
http://www.originalgreen.org/OG/Blog/Entries/2009/3/23_Tiny_Places_-_Mike_%26_Patty.html

By: Kent

Kent — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 22:23:29 +0000

Good point, I agree the houses they drew up are rather on the large size, and they didn’t really say anything about downsizing till the end.

By: D Henningsen

D Henningsen — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 19:44:29 +0000

“Advocates” might be a little strong …as you said, at the very end of the article they mention “size”. Yesterday when I saw this WSJ article titled “The Green House of the Future” and the size of the homes pictured, I only chuckled – were they referring to the structures we live in or our environment?

By: Kent

Kent — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 16:06:09 +0000

Your right Jesse, but getting the message to the masses is important and big magazines such as the WSJ will have more readers than the Tiny House Blog, etc., so I’m excited to see it published…Kent

By: Jesse

Jesse — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 15:57:45 +0000

Thanks for this link, I stopped reading the WSJ years ago!

The hardest part of this whole idea is that last line – getting Americans to downsize their mcmansions (I don’t only mean the 5,000 sq ft ones!) is going to take a seismic shift in thinking. Heck, just getting some people out of their SUVs and into a compact wagon can be like pulling molars! But I agree that every little step helps, as long as you watch where you step!