Big Book of Small House Designs

Modern Scottish Manor House

English Suburb
1,050 gross square feet

The objective of this design is to create a strong house that incorporates both modern and traditional elements, and that introduces novelties where possible to maximize aesthetics and utility. The ideal occupants would desire an imaginative spatial layout, despite modest means.

The central design concept is a wall that spirals, evolving like a seashell forming an organic sequence of three spaces that repeats on the two upper levels.

Kitchen and bathroom services occupy the central core, which opens to form the dining room (ground floor), bedrooms (first and second floors), and finally the primary space—a double-height living room. The living room opens onto the garden terrace and is oriented for passive solar gain, with a curtain wall facing south. An insulated solid wall to the north minimizes heat loss.

Nigel A. Holloway

Perspective

Site Plan

Floor Plans

Ground Floor
1 Studio
2 Living Room
3 Dining Room
4 Kitchen
5 Cupboard
6 Entrance Hall
7 Terrace

First Floor
1 Bedroom 1
2 Bathroom 1
3 Landing
4 Linen

Second Floor
1 Bedroom 2
2 Bathroom 2
3 Laundry
4 Balcony
5 Terrace

Elevations

North

East

South

West

Axonometrics

First Level

Second Level

Third Level

Solar-Efficient Saltbox

Northampton, Massachusetts
1,230 gross square feet

Located in a Massachusetts college town, this two-story home nestles among old lilacs, maple and black walnut trees, and evergreens. The design effectively uses passive solar heating and cooling. To achieve maximum efficiency it features a southern orientation with a minimum fenestration on the north. In the winter, solar energy is collected directly through the two-story solarium and south windows. In the summer, deciduous trees on the south side interrupt the flow of solar energy before it strikes the ground, windows, and wall surfaces.

The first floor consists of public or shared areas. The second includes a master bedroom that enjoys a private deck, another bedroom that opens below to the solarium, and a full bathroom connected to laundry space. All living areas downstairs and the bedrooms upstairs share the south view.

Hasan Akkurt and Cigdem T. Akkurt

Perspective

Site Plan

Floor Plans

First Floor
1 Entry
2 Living Area
3 Pantry/Storage
4 Kitchen
5 Dining Area
6 Solarium
7 Mechanical Room
8 Toilet

Second Floor
9 Master Bedroom
10 Deck
11 Laundry

Elevations

North

East

South

West

Cutaway

Friendly Neighborhood Home

Winston-Salem, North Carolina
1,230 gross square feet

We designed this affordable home as a prototype for the Northeast Winston Redevelopment Area in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The area features small frame bungalows and clapboard farmhouse-style duplexes ranging from forty to seventy years old. The house and garage form components of an extended L-shaped plan. Depending on site conditions, the pieces can be rotated or reflected to provide different arrangements.

By balancing public and private zones, sun and shade, curb appeal, outdoor spaces that expand the rooms, and indoor-outdoor circulation sequences, this design constitutes a thoughtful addition to the neighborhood fabric. Styled in a manner that appeals to prospective first-time home buyers, it relates well to neighboring houses and is conventionally constructed.

Reed M. Axelrod

Perspective

Site Plan

Floor Plans

First Floor
1 Living Room
2 Dining Room
3 Stair to 2nd Floor
4 Stair to Basement
5 Kitchen
6 Bathroom
7 Covered Porch
8 Garage
9 Outdoor Terrace at Rear Yard

Second Floor
1 Master Bedroom
2 Bedroom 1
3 Bedroom 2 or Office
4 Bathroom
5 Linen Closet
6 Hallway

Elevations

Axonometric

Cottage in the Woods

Snowy Regions of the U.S.
1,250 gross square feet

The cottage nestled deep in the woods recalls childhood fairy tales. This winter residence alludes to these images through the use of the steeply pitched roof, the wrap-around porch, and the projected bays. The walls dematerialize in the main living space, allowing residents to feel as if they are sitting under a light canopy in the midst of the forest. The layering of the columns provides a constructed forest, as a foreground to the natural one beyond.

Employing the most efficient principles of mechanical systems, bathroom plumbing is stacked, the heating system is forced air, and the main duct runs in a plenum under the stairs to service each floor.

Christopher Blake

Perspective

Site Plan

Floor Plans

First Floor

Second Floor

Basement

Elevations

South

North

East

West

Section

Private Lakeside Retreat

Mascoma Lake, New Hampshire
995 gross square feet

The rectangular configuration and mostly blind side wall (west) allow for sitting on small lots (rural, suburban, or urban) while still maintaining privacy. The primary living space is barnlike (20 feet high), with a loft over the back portion, giving occupants both light and openness plus protection and shelter. The space can be occupied in many different ways, depending upon the season and the lifestyle of the occupants. The stairs perform a number of roles: bringing high, filtered light into the entry; acting as the hallway to the bathroom, separating it from both the private and public areas; and providing a pantry/washroom at the half-level below, near the kitchen.

William H. Boehm

Perspective

Site Plan

Floor Plans

Loft

Basement

Main Level
1 Carport
2 Entry
3 Dining
4 Kitchen
5 Living
6 Deck
7 Bedroom
8 Bathroom
9 Laundry
10 Mechanical
11 Basement

Elevations

Northwest

Northeast

Southwest and Southeast

Axonometric

Evergreen Hide-Away

Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin
1,200 gross square feet

The design concept for this home evolved after seeing a lakeside property, secluded and surrounded by rolling hills covered with tall evergreen trees, in Wisconsin.

A small entryway expands into a large open interior space. The home features a very open kitchen, dining room, and family room. Vaulted ceilings in the main area provide inhabitants a feeling of greater space.

The family room opens onto a deck area that overlooks the lake to the north. Windows on the south side have been limited to reduce solar heating of the interior.

A geothermal water pump provides heating and cooling as well as hot water. All rooms have ceiling fans and operable windows that allow for natural cooling at night. All appliances and fixtures are water efficient.

James M. Corkill

Perspective

Site Plan

Floor Plan

Elevations

South

North

East and West

Axonometric

Solar Ranch

Northeast U.S.
1,000 gross square feet

The “Solar Ranch” brings relatively unobtrusive, high-performance, active solar heating and passive cooling to conventional suburban neighborhoods in an elevation-flexible, fundamental box. The design arises from an arrangement and rescaling of five 10-foot by 20-foot function-labeled modules. The resulting fundamental envelope configuration allows flexible solar positioning and a variety of floor plans and elevations.

Primary solar features include a Mylar “Space Blanket” vapor barrier (80 percent thermally reflective), a cooling tower, and a semiautomatic, active, liquid-convection solar heating system intended for areas with 4,000 to 8,000 heating degree days. This system is capable of building up a charge in excess of 10 million Btus.

Ten 320-square-foot wall-mounted collector boxes, containing approximately 2,000 feet of 1-inch low-emissivity/high-absorption coated copper tubing, are covered with single-pane low-E glass and use antifreeze as the medium. Heat storage employs a pressurized, insulated, 2,500-gallon coated concrete storage tank, installed vertically in the cellar below floor grade. Where a cellar is not feasible, a coated steel tank may be located horizontally in the garage.

Other solar heating components include (1) the delivery system: two-zone, thermostatically controlled, radiant floor coils, with a backup electric furnace and temperature-activated storage tank bypass; (2) the collector night shield: storage-tank-to-storage-tank collector bypass and one-way directional valves; and (3) domestic hot water heating: preheating of the cold water supply via a coil looped through a thermal storage tank, with a backup electric water heater.

James F. Finigan

Perspective

Site Plan

Floor Plans

Alternate

Elevations

Southeast

Northeast

Southwest

Northwest

Axonometric

Abstract Farmhouse

Midwestern, U.S.
1,237 gross square feet

This is a Midwestern home in every sense, abstractly based on simple farmhouse plans of earlier times. The house is compact and efficient. Outdoor spaces are modest in size but integral to the overall scheme. The sloping site allows the basement level to provide additional living space, as a walk-out.

The primary design focus is a two-story volume, around which the remainder of the plan is organized. From an interior standpoint this creates a sense of spaciousness. From a practical standpoint it provides excellent natural ventilation with the use of an attic fan. The interior balcony also serves a dual role. It allows for spatial communication between the master bedroom and the living room, enhancing the natural ventilation, but also provides a needed sense of scale to the upper portion of the two-story space — scale that is conspicuously absent from most vaulted rooms in homes today.

Jeffrey Fleming

Perspective

Site Plan

Floor Plans

First Level

Second Level

Foundation/Basement

Elevations

North

East

South

West

Axonometric

Rustic Retreat

British Columbia, Canada
1,250 gross square feet

This two-story design reflects the owners’ desire for informal comfort, privacy, views, and a rusticity that blends with the natural environment.

A raised wooden deck wraps around the base of the house; a wide overhang on the south side protects it from sun and wind. Reached via covered stairway, the functionally compact entry expands immediately into a large two-and-a-half-story living space illuminated by a large east-facing window. The window adds visual dimension and view space as well as a feeling of integration with the forest.

Smaller dining and kitchen areas with adjacent service/storage space complete the simple, rectangular ground-floor plan. Accessible by stairway, a second-story bedroom wing and hallway overlook the informal living space, where an overhead fan aids air circulation.

Kenneth E. King

Perspective

Site Plan

Site Influence Plan

Floor Plans

Ground Floor
1 Covered Patio Walkway
2 Entrance
3 Hallway
4 Storage
5 Sauna
6 Powder
7 Living
8 Dining
9 Kitchen
10 Guest
11 Deck

Second Floor
1 Deck
2 Master Bedroom
3 Bathroom
4 Bedroom
5 Upper Volume of Living Room

Axonometric

Sunshine Home

Southern Ontario, Canada
1,025 gross square feet

Located in southern Ontario and economical to construct, the house efficiently uses both space and energy. To provide richness in spatial expression and experience, the design lets the inhabitants wake up to, and perform most major activities with, the sun. Window seats, covered porch, open balconies, and decks offer variety.

The greenhouse/patio provides for indoor gardening and outdoor living space. With its 8-foot ceiling, the basement may be turned into a den/office or a bedroom (especially desirable if raised) or a walk-out basement. Landscaping on site promotes a variety of outdoor activities and experiences.

The design realizes energy savings through the southern orientation, the landscaping, the use of environmentally friendly and recyclable materials, and energy-efficient systems. Materials and components, including a combination natural gas furnace and heat-recovery ventilator, were chosen to achieve the lowest energy impact and costs. Energy-saving plumbing and electric fixtures further reduce waste. Thus the house is designed to reduce, reuse, and recycle.

Remus S. L. Tsang

Perspective

Site Plan
1 Driveway
2 Carport
3 Entry
4 Walkway
5 Sculpture
6 Bench
7 Deck
8 Storage
9 Rock Formation/Garden
10 Trellis Walk
11 Play Area
12 Hot Tub/Sauna
13 Landscaped Area

Floor Plans

Basement
1 Future Washroom
2 Furnace
3 Recreation