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Building scale sustainable design
Published in Rob Fleming, Saglinda H Roberts, Sustainable Design for the Built Environment, 2019
Rob Fleming, Saglinda H Roberts
Smaller residential structures equal less capital output, less time and money for maintenance, and in some instances greater mobility. In 1997, Sarah Susanka started the small house movement that emphasizes a smaller footprint with greater attention to detail and higher-quality construction. This was in response to the phenomenon of “McMansions” – large-scale, mass-produced track housing based on the idea that bigger is better, sacrificing quality and design for size. She has gone on to write about the lifestyle changes that value quality over quantity in every area. Small houses can be 1,000–2,000 s.f. The tiny house movement is said to be popularized by Jay Shafer who lived in a 96 s.f. house for a year. Tiny homes are generally under 500 s.f. and are often mobile. They have been adopted by people with active lifestyles as a second home, those conscious of environment and resource use, as well as for providing alternatives to homelessness. The energy savings and reduced environmental footprint of a tiny house are remarkable. The ability to live happily in such tight quarters is a cultural and experiential question. For many, the trade-off of space is worth the benefits of low-cost and low-impact living. The tiny home movement has matured with tiny home eco-villages coming into existence that include a large shared space to be made available for group functions and events.
Tiny Houses
Published in AbdulLateef Olanrewaju, Zalina Shari, Zhonghua Gou, Greening Affordable Housing, 2019
Another difficulty with estimating building cost of tiny houses is that these are often built for cash, or using scavenged or recycled building materials. Mortgage finance is not available for temporary dwellings such as tiny houses; and other than cash, these are financed by short term loans (i.e., personal or vehicle loans), mortgages on land, credit cards, family loans, microloans, gifts, crowdsourcing, joint purchases or even proceeds of an annuity.
Observations of energy consumption and IEQ in a ‘Tiny House’
Published in Building Research & Information, 2020
Indicating a shift in perception towards smaller and efficient living spaces that are less than 400 ft2 (37.16 m2), the Tiny House (TH) movement essentially advocates social, economic and environmental sustainability especially when it comes to meeting the shortage of affordable dwellings (Morrison & Morrison, 2017). Although the TH movement promises environmental sustainability and efficiency, not much research has been undertaken to prove the environmental impact in terms of how the building performs in terms of energy consumption, thermal comfort and indoor air quality (IAQ).