Discover the huge possibilities to be found in a small house! Whether you're building from scratch or retrofitting an existing structure, these 50 innovative floor plans will show you how to make the most of houses measuring 1400 square feet or less. Gerald Rowan focuses on efficient layouts and creative ways to use every inch of your space, including closets, decks, porches, bathrooms, attics, and basements. Artist renderings bring each house's exterior to life, and detailed interior drawings illustrate special space-saving features. Compact Houses includes one- and two-floor designs and plans with one to three bedrooms.

This book demonstrates, through discussions on sustainability and regional identity, and via a series of case studies, that the courtyard housing form has a future as well as a past.

Small houses are no longer synonymous with cheap houses and lack of privilege. Instead, they symbolize a range of culturally coded values: compactness, efficiency, discrimination, discreteness, minimalism. Opening with a detailed exploration of the social and historical background behind compact housing in the twentieth century, this book goes on to feature 37 illustrated case studies that represent some of the best examples of small houses built worldwide within the past decade. Plan areas range from 7 to 150 square metres (75 to 1615 square feet) and each project embodies a particular design approach towards compact accommodation. The case studies are organized into three chapters - Rural Retreats; Urban and Suburban Bases; and Small Clusters and Multiples - and include work by such architects as Toyo Ito, Lacaton & Vassal, LOT/EK and Kazuyo Sejima.

Striking full-color photography complements a study of the use of theourtyard in indoor and outdoor design, capturing a diverse array of exampleshat range from ancient Rome and medieval Europe to modern-day San Diego,racing the history of the design style, and explaining how a courtyard canet the mood and tone of any structure.

Presents 22 articles from past issues of Fine Homebuilding that feature houses under 2,400 square feet.

This volume showcases 55 architect-designed compact houses, including beach cottages, mountain houses, ski chalets, and vacation homes. Each project profiled includes a case history describing the design challenges the architect faced and how these were overcome.