Sarah Susanka, Revolutionary Architect

Creator of the Not So Big House

Mar 4, 2009

Susanka's visionary Not-So-Big-House concept features comfort, function and aesthetics over massive, often impersonal spaces. In Susanka's world, bigger is not better.

The square footage of the average American home has more than doubled since the 1950s. Over the years, smaller homes became associated with less desirable neighborhoods, lack of design features, and the absence of quality building materials. Big was what everyone wanted, until architect Sarah Susanka reinvented the concept of home with her revolutionary series of Not So Big House books and designs.

Susanka Designs for Today's Lifestyle

As a young architect Susanka observed that many big houses lacked personality and functionality. These homes had what Susanka calls "overdecorated and under inhabited” rooms that left their owners adrift in large expanses of uninviting space. These houses did not nurture or support the lives of the people who lived in them. In response, Susanka began designing homes tailored to the way people really live in the 21st Century.

Key Elements of the Not So Big Design

Susanka observed that people rarely used their large formal living rooms and dining rooms, so she eliminated them from her Not So Big House designs. Rather than thinking in terms of just space, she focused on function and quality. A Not So Big House is at least a third smaller than most people think their homes should be, and yet Not So Big Houses offer comfort and functionality superior to McMansions. Susanka’s designs incorporate beautiful materials like wood moldings, stone, custom windows, and well-planned lighting. They also feature built-ins, soffits to help define space and function, and details that delight the eye as well as the spirit.

New Language of for Home Design

In addition to restructuring the home, Susanka developed a non-technical, but highly descriptive Not So Big House vocabulary. This makes it possible for architects, home builders and home owners to think about and discuss critical features of the Not So Big House. Words like, "sheltering space" to describe the human affinity for cozy, comfortable spaces, and “walk toward the light” to describe the desirable experience of entering a room or corridor, with a window or door across the room.

New Book on Remodeling

For more than a decade Susanka’s ideas have been gaining an appreciative audience among designers, builders, and homeowners. Susanka has published a series of best selling, Not So Big House Books that explain and illustrate her design concepts, including her most recent book, The Not So Big Remodeling: Tailoring Your Home for the Way You Really Live. (Taunton, 2009).

Other books by Sarah Susanka:

Anyone planning to build a new house, or remodel an old one, should read at least one of Susanka's Not So Big House books. Like a fabulous dress, a Not So Big House fits perfectly, is made from beautiful materials, is just right for any occasion, and lifts your spirits.

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