“At the moment I have all I need—and more! I am generously supplied with the gifts
you sent me with Epaphroditus. They are a sweet-smelling sacrifice that is acceptable
and pleasing to God. And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs
from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.
Now all glory to God our Father forever and ever! Amen.”
Philippians 4:18-20 (NLT)
Relatively
speaking we have a small home (less than 1200 sq ft) and we often say much of
the house sits empty most of the time. Smaller is good at a number of levels.
It’s
probably no secret that the American home is a bit of a porker. In 2013, the median
and average new, single family house was
2,478 and 2,662 square feet respectively–higher than previous, 2007 pre-
bubble figures. Compare this to 1950, when the average new home was a mere 983
square feet. And that’s not all. Fewer people are living in today’s home;
average household sizes have shrunk from about 3.37 in 1950 to 2.55 today. And
we are all probably familiar with the environmental implications of these
bigger, less occupied homes: they require more
resources to build and maintain,
they lead to sprawl, requiring
more resources to get to and from,
yada, yada, yada.
But
somehow the McMansion pill would be a bit easier to swallow if these big homes
were used. If every bedroom was slept in, every dining room dined in, every
rumpus room rumped in. Unfortunately, if we are to believe a group of UCLA
researchers, such is not the case. . . .
What did they find? Basically, that Family 11 used a small fraction of the available area, with almost all traffic centered in the dining, kitchen and family rooms; the latter room’s activity focused around the TV and computer. Based on the above diagram, I would guestimate that about 400 of the 1000 or so of the first floor’s available square feet are used. The rest of the spaces–the dining room, living room, porch–are, for all intents and purposes, extraneous architecture.
I’m the fish and way, way too often, I forget that I’m “wet”.
What did they find? Basically, that Family 11 used a small fraction of the available area, with almost all traffic centered in the dining, kitchen and family rooms; the latter room’s activity focused around the TV and computer. Based on the above diagram, I would guestimate that about 400 of the 1000 or so of the first floor’s available square feet are used. The rest of the spaces–the dining room, living room, porch–are, for all intents and purposes, extraneous architecture.
I’m the fish and way, way too often, I forget that I’m “wet”.
For
more:
follow on Twitter @jefflampl
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