By ERIN CRAWFORD
REGISTER STAFF WRITER
Small has a defender in Sarah Susanka.
The architect, who was hoisted to national prominence in 1998 as author of the best seller "The Not-So-Big House," is about to release her latest book, "The Not-So-Big Life."
She'll be in Des Moines on Wednesday to talk about sustainability, a topic touched on in all her books, whether about landscaping, home design or lifestyle choices.
The event is sponsored by the Center on Sustainable Communities, a local organization working with industry and community members to encourage green building and sustainable building practices.
"The word ('sustainability') has come to mean how we build, but it's a much bigger issue !-- 2013(unknown) --› how we sustain our lives for the long haul. We need to look at all of our life processes," Susanka said in a phone interview with The Des Moines Register.
Anyone thinking about building a new home should attend the event, said David Fish, COSC Advisory Council member and owner of Fishaus, a local craftsman builder.
"She's presenting another option than the way it's typically being done, so it's another alternative to consider and we feel it's a good alternative," he said.
Fish said Susanka eloquently put words to the frustrations he was feeling 10 years ago while doing carpentry on high-end homes.
"I was complicating their lives," he said of the homes he was helping construct.
"Even in the high end, people were pushing the envelope of what they can afford, and there's a lot of maintenance that goes along with keeping those structures going."
Since then, Fishaus has constructed two homes designed by Susanka's former firm, SALA Architects in Minnesota.
The design principles she outlined in "The Not-So-Big House" don't define a specific look. Instead, she showed an attitude:
- Bigger is not always better. Build a home that suits your life, rather than the most square footage you can afford.
- Choose quality - elements that add character, materials that will last - over quantity.
- If building a new home, leave out rooms you use fewer than six times a year.
"Why not spend money on the space you use every day, and recognize your friends will want to hang out where you do, and make that space do double duty?" Susanka asked.
Not-so-big houses tend to be more sustainable by nature. Smaller houses use less material and require less resources to maintain, heat and cool. And with higher-quality materials being used, they last longer.
Interest in sustainability and simplifying is on the rise, Susanka said.
She attributes the growth to increasing oil prices and national disasters, such as Hurricane Katrina, that have caused people to do some self-examination.
Susanka herself has been just as instrumental in creating this interest, according to local architects who follow her work.
"Sarah was a visionary to the point of identifying (this trend) and saying it's an alternative," said architect and COSC Advisory Council member Linda Alfson Schemmel, who has helped clients build "Not-So-Big"-style homes.
"Architects have all these good ideas, but unless people can see it in three dimensions, they can't envision it. She was brave enough to find the clients and do these designs, so we could say, 'This is it.'"
Having helped people look at their homes, Susanka wants to give people the tools to examine their lives. It's all about how to start making changes, sometimes small ones that make life simpler.
"How do we bring balance to our lives?" she asked. "In the same way our houses have gotten bigger and bigger, the same thing has happened with our business. We get faster and faster, more and more e-mails, and yet there's something that says, 'Why am I doing this?' "
All that bigger/faster makes it hard for people to change, even when they want to. The problem Susanka hears about most is that people don't know how to start simplifying.
"I always tell people, don't worry if it's not the perfect first step. Just start. As you do that, answers will come your way.
Reporter Erin Crawford can be reached at (515) 284-8438 or ecrawford@dmreg.com
DETAILS
WHAT: "Not So Big Steps Toward a More Sustainable Community," a public lecture by Sarah Susanka
WHEN: 7 p.m. Wednesday
WHERE: Hoyt Sherman Place, 1501 Woodland Ave.
TICKETS: $37.50; purchase at 309-3266 or online at COSC.com.
DETAILS: Center on Sustainable Communities Web site, www.icosc.com, or Susanka's Web site, www.notsobig.com.
SUSANKA RECOMMENDS
Want to get started simplifying? Here are two books to read first:
- "Your Green Home: A Guide to Planning a Healthy, Environmentally Friendly, New Home" by Alex Wilson
- "The Not-So-Big House" by Sarah Susanka
Photos_By: Fishaus LTD. Photos:
Designed in 1999 by SALA Architects and constructed by local craftsman builders Fishaus, this Ankeny home follows the "Not-So-Big" mold. It has about 2,300 square feet.
Attention to details, such as the beautiful woodwork here, is a mark of "Not-So-Big" homes, though these homes don't necessarily follow a particular style.
Fishaus builder David Fish said using choosing high quality
sustainable materials is better for the environment in the short term, and
makes a house last over the years, too.
The "Not-So-Big" philosophy emphasizes creating spaces that
fit homeowners' lives, rather than building customary rooms. Often, this
means building a smaller home.
|
