Small Is The New Big: A New Attitude For Changing Times

Posted by admin on January 6, 2010 · Leave a Comment

By Marianne Amodio

I was a renter for many years. When I moved to Vancouver, that hardwired dream of single family home ownership was socked away into the “it can never be” part of my brain and I tried to forget about it. As the years went on, that elusive dream came back again and again. Finally, I decided that if I had to vanquish the home of my dreams, well, maybe I could still get something.

I knew that I couldn’t afford a traditional home. So I went looking for something else: something old, unrenovated, even ugly. Something, that maybe, through some hard work, I could turn into a home that was truly mine. I remember when I first went through the apartment I now own; there were about 5 other people, most of whom walked away with a look a disappointment on their faces. The place was indeed ugly. It hadn’t been touched since the 1970s when it was first built. But the neighborhood was great. There was a skylight! And this old quirky functioning wood burning fireplace. I began to examine the possibilities.

Through months of stressful and rewarding renovation, I can now proudly say that my home is complete. It suits my family perfectly because all our needs were thought out and designed for. The spaces are small, but they function well and they look good. And when I take my few steps to my backyard (otherwise known as “the seawall”), I am reminded that living smarter might actually be better than living bigger. When we think of the words “custom home” we think immediately of large mansions for the wealthy; something that is perhaps out of our reach. There is no doubt that my home is a custom home: designed for me and by me.

Over the past year or so, there has been a shift in attitude that we can all feel and see. People are beginning to embrace notions of thoughtfulness, environmentalism and thinking more and more about what is enough to keep them happy. The days of excess, of the idea that bigger is better and wanting more and more has weighed on our pocketbooks and likely, on our spirits. We are in a quieter, more reflective time this is easily perceptible in how we choose to build, or the home we choose to buy. Small is the new big is a philosophy that espouses quality over quantity: that a small amount of a higher quality material is more valuable than a large amount of a cheaper material; that a small space that is designed with you and your family in mind is more valuable than an anonymous “great room” and that your surrounding community plays a large role in what we call “home”.

We are a generation caught between the new and old ways of living. Most of us grew up in houses in single family neighborhoods where the bigger car, the bigger house, the bigger tree house was indicative of status and our value as people. Now is the time to embrace the new ways of living: through creative thinking and innovative planning we can live within places of comfort, warmth and longevity. It doesn’t have to be big; it just has to be smart.

Marianne Amodio is a registered architect with the Architectural Institute of British Columbia and principal of marianne amodio architecture studio, a practice specializing in custom single family and multi-family homes, renovations, additions and laneway housing. Her website is at www.maastudio.com.