Downsizing

     When I was a kid it seemed that a lot of the big, beautiful houses in Mt. Holly were divided into apartments.  They no longer served as stately single family homes.  Families lived in the developments in ranchers and split levels.  Families of four, five, or even six got by on 1400-1600 square feet.  We didn't have a separate room dedicated to laundry.  The washer was in the basement (which also housed an extra TV, and maybe, a ping pong table).  There was no foyer or mud room.  Visitors walked directly into the living room from the front door or the kitchen from the back door.  We didn't even know the term en suite.  Jack and Jill were a couple of clumsy kids, not a dual entry bathroom.  We fought for our turn in sole bath which was usually located in the hall outside the bedrooms.
     In the 1980's, as baby boomers got richer (and maybe their kids demanded their own rooms), McMansions started sprouting up.  Since then, it seems that houses get bigger and bigger.  Mike and I marvel at the grand edifices that pop up on any spot of open ground.  "Who can afford this?" we say time and time again.  What will happen to these big places after the kids grow up?  Will they be divided into apartments like their Victorian predecessors?  It seems to us that houses are getting too big to be sensible.
     Maybe they are also getting too small to be sensible.  Jay Shafer builds tiny houses, some of which are on wheels.  His designs are cute, but I don't know if they make any sense for more than one person.  I think an Airstream makes more sense than Shafer's houses on wheels.  I also don't know if the bigger homes would meet zoning requirements in more developed areas.  Still, these places probably make great vacation homes in remote areas.    http://www.tumbleweedhouses.com/

The Bodega model is 356 sq. ft.

 
     I just read an article about Van Bo Le-Mentzel's one square meter house experiment.  http://news.yahoo.com/behold-worlds-smallest-house-totaling-one-sq-meter-133000787.html  Mr. Le-Mentzel is an architect in Berlin, Germany.  He, along with BMW Guggenheim, is asking people to design and build one square meter houses.  These "houses" will be displayed, and even rented out for $1.30 per night, during the experiment.  When the project is over on July 29, 2012, contributors can retrieve their houses and take them home.  Le-Mentzel fled his homeland of Laos as a refugee; hence, his fascination with portable housing.

Would a homeless person roll one of these around instead of a shopping cart?

     Mr. Le-Mentzel's plywood and plexiglass boxes provide better shelter than a cardboard box, but if I had my druthers, I would rather live in a van down by the river.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3sJa_qJYgM