LIVING SMALL

摘要

While the Square footage of the average single-family house in the United States has increased over the last 40 years from over 1,000 square feet to nearly 2,650 square feet as of 2018, per the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), there has also been a rising movement for smaller living spaces that promote sustainability, recycling, and minimalism. Small homes in the United States are those that are under 1,000 square feet, while tiny homes are under 400 square feet. The focus on small, sustainable living spaces is not new. Sarah Susanka, an architect and author, has been touted as the originator of the tiny house movement. Her approach to home design has always prioritized quality over quantity, and in 1998 she published the first of nine books devoted to her design principles, beginning with The Not So Big House: A Blueprint for the Way We Really Live. Jay Schaefer, the founder of the Tumbleweed Tiny House Company, first started showing small houses on wheels in the early 2000s, and two of his Small House Society cofounders, Shay Salomon and Nigel Valdez, published their guide to the modern small house movement in 2016, Little House on a Small Planet.