Trend: smaller, more open spaces

There’s a good article on MSN about how a large portion of the American population is looking into “downsized” homes.

[Architect Sarah] Susanka’s idea was so simple it was radical: “It’s time for a different kind of house,” the architect wrote, manifesto-like, in her 1998 book “The Not So Big House.” “A house that is more than square footage; a house that is Not So Big, where each room is used every day. A house with a floorplan inspired by our informal lifestyle instead of the way our grandparents lived.” She derided most spraddling suburban tract homes, with their unused dining rooms and their too many bathrooms, as spacious but not particularly comfortable — less nests than “massive storage containers for people.”

There is a really interesting table at the bottom of the piece, recreated here.

Average size of new homes built in various developed countries
Country Sq. feet
United States 2,349
Canada 1,800
New Zealand 1,900
Australia 2,200
U.K. 815
Ireland 930
Japan 1,000