Mies van der Rohe's architectural aesthetic was expressed by “Less is More.” Today's phrase, in light of the MacMansioning of America, should probably be “Enough is Enough.” But lest the concept suggest some sort of diminution or restriction or impoverishment, we need someone like Sarah Nettleton, an award-winning AIA architect, certified in the practices of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), to adjust the perspective. Her book is called The Simple Home: The Luxury of Enough. What a great title.
For two decades or so, even in the face of post-9/11 oil urgencies and the acceleration of global warming, developers have overwhelmed the landscape with bloated starter-castles (much as Detroit has encouraged the blistering of our roads with Hummers and Escalades). Young couples and families have been brainwashed into buying these houses, often at sub-prime interest rates, and now look -- environmental and fiscal disaster. There's been an obvious disconnect, brought on by hyper-consumerism in America, between what people think they want, and what they might actually want if given half a chance to consider their priorities. The disconnect seems to cause a tremendous yawing, back and forth, between the urgent desire for more and the urgent need to hassle with less.
This is our rant, not Nettleton's. She's more graceful in trying to make the connection again, with chapters covering what she calls the Six Paths to Simplicity:
- Simple is Enough
- Simple is Thrifty
- Simple is Flexible
- Simple is Timeless
- Simple is Sustainable
- Simple is Refined
Of these, the first is paramount. Why do we allow clutter to overwhelm us? Why would we have a 5000-square-foot home when we rarely if ever use 3000 square feet of it? Why would we feel compelled to heat, light, clean, and insure so much unused space? It’s tough on the environment, tough on the bank account, and, inevitably, tough on the psyche. How can we get to a point, in architecture and in our own perceptions, where we can find luxury in what we need and can arrange properly, separate from what someone else might have?
Flexible, Thrifty, and Timeless tie into this. In a typical American house, for example, the kitchen serves as nerve center, sitting room, homework room -– you name it. If you were freed from the strictures of thinking you also needed a separate family room, study, living room, and dining room, you might be able to conceive a space flexible enough to serve your needs more efficiently and more pleasingly.
While there are plenty of books on the topics of simpler living and smaller homes, Nettleton's is distinguished by superior photographs, typical of the Taunton Press, that illuminate a refined and responsible architectural philosophy.
Here are excerpts from the book, published on Taunton's Fine Homebuilding site.
~ Doug Logan, New Energy Watch
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