When I bought my 864 ft2, 1929 Inglewood house in Calgary in 1981, I learned that it had been enlarged in 1960 by Bruno and Maria, postwar Italian immigrants, by adding 10’ (240 ft2) to the back and excavating a basement by hand, with buckets. Two adults, five children, one small bathroom. In 1981 Inglewood was considered a slum, but I met everyone on the street almost immediately, knew their names and bits of their histories.
Inner city neighbourhoods being the low-hanging fruit for densification, I now know no one on the street other than my next door neighbour, an original postwar German immigrant family. There are now many new two-storey infills, one or two people in them with at most one child who no one ever sees. As you point out Lloyd, it is the expansion of bathrooms and kitchens that means that what was an 800 ft2 house across the street with two people in it, is now a 5500 ft2 house with two people in it. It isn’t densification as much as it is largification.
Upshot, maybe, is that no one has to rub up against, or make way for, anyone else, even within the family. Civility on the decline.
In Colorado there are affordable housing projects that are "Deed Restricted". This means that once a person fits the criteria for an affordable home, the home may only increase by a factor set by the county; generally the cost of living over the years owned. One way to increase the value of such a home is some are designed to allow for "easy" upgrades, so sweat equity can increase the price of sale in the future.
My wife grew up in a storey & a half "war time house" & the half storey above wasn't developed. Her parents later added a WC & two bedrooms upstairs. This is the kind of "easy upgrades" that designers have built into some of these affordable deed restricted homes in CO.
How about pre-approved plans of multi unit microhousing for urban back yard? Say four 200sf+, stacked units, all in under 1000sf. The next spiral of the DADU.
Besides more efficient kitchen layouts, a couple of things would make living in smaller spaces much easier:
1. A sink in every bedroom (so everyone isn't fighting over the sink)
2. Separate shower and toilet rooms (so using one doesn't lock out the other)
3. Soundproofing every wall, ceiling, and floor (rock wool between studs and joists, mass loaded vinyl, double 5/8" drywall on resilient channels and isolation clips)
Great read Lloyd. What happened in the last 50-60 years? These designs are fantastic. Building these types of family homes to net zero operational emission standards, with low carbon building materials is the only way forward.
I live in a 100 year old 1 1/2 story heritage style home. Needs an energy retrofit which will commence shortly and happen over time. Low carbon materials of course. Its more than enough for us.
I also like the idea of stacking the last design into a triplex.
When I bought my 864 ft2, 1929 Inglewood house in Calgary in 1981, I learned that it had been enlarged in 1960 by Bruno and Maria, postwar Italian immigrants, by adding 10’ (240 ft2) to the back and excavating a basement by hand, with buckets. Two adults, five children, one small bathroom. In 1981 Inglewood was considered a slum, but I met everyone on the street almost immediately, knew their names and bits of their histories.
Inner city neighbourhoods being the low-hanging fruit for densification, I now know no one on the street other than my next door neighbour, an original postwar German immigrant family. There are now many new two-storey infills, one or two people in them with at most one child who no one ever sees. As you point out Lloyd, it is the expansion of bathrooms and kitchens that means that what was an 800 ft2 house across the street with two people in it, is now a 5500 ft2 house with two people in it. It isn’t densification as much as it is largification.
Upshot, maybe, is that no one has to rub up against, or make way for, anyone else, even within the family. Civility on the decline.
That is an important term "largification." great comment
In Colorado there are affordable housing projects that are "Deed Restricted". This means that once a person fits the criteria for an affordable home, the home may only increase by a factor set by the county; generally the cost of living over the years owned. One way to increase the value of such a home is some are designed to allow for "easy" upgrades, so sweat equity can increase the price of sale in the future.
My wife grew up in a storey & a half "war time house" & the half storey above wasn't developed. Her parents later added a WC & two bedrooms upstairs. This is the kind of "easy upgrades" that designers have built into some of these affordable deed restricted homes in CO.
How about pre-approved plans of multi unit microhousing for urban back yard? Say four 200sf+, stacked units, all in under 1000sf. The next spiral of the DADU.
that is a very good idea
Besides more efficient kitchen layouts, a couple of things would make living in smaller spaces much easier:
1. A sink in every bedroom (so everyone isn't fighting over the sink)
2. Separate shower and toilet rooms (so using one doesn't lock out the other)
3. Soundproofing every wall, ceiling, and floor (rock wool between studs and joists, mass loaded vinyl, double 5/8" drywall on resilient channels and isolation clips)
4. A balanced ventilation system
Great read Lloyd. What happened in the last 50-60 years? These designs are fantastic. Building these types of family homes to net zero operational emission standards, with low carbon building materials is the only way forward.
I live in a 100 year old 1 1/2 story heritage style home. Needs an energy retrofit which will commence shortly and happen over time. Low carbon materials of course. Its more than enough for us.
I also like the idea of stacking the last design into a triplex.
Thanks you for sharing