RE: [GBlist] monster houses

["Craig Koszman" <Koszman_C@rmow.whistler.bc.ca>]

the answer is not what you want. It is what you need! Maybe an average could be taken of housing needs all over the planet and that could be a benchmark. a 14000sf house would certainly be at the high end.

>>> Gilbert Midonnet <gilbert.midonnet@btec.com> 01/03/02 07:25AM >>>
1. What is the definition of a monster home?
 
>2,500sq ft
>5,000
>10,000
 
2. How many people are using it?  (square feet per person)
 
In other words one person in a 2,500 square foot house is using more space
than an extended family (parents, 2 children, one set of grandparents and an
elderly aunt) in a 14,000 square foot house. (14,000/7)
 
3. What are the uses? 
 
a. How much of the square footage is actually indoor/outdoor space
(greenhouses/atriums, etc...)
b. Home offices (parents don't commute to work everyday hence less
transportation pollution and business rents less office space)
 
 
 
I live in NYC in a 1200 sq foot house.  My wife and I are calculating the
square feet we need for ourselves, home offices for the two of us,  space
for a set of elderly parents to move in, space for kiddies. Not here yet :-)
 
Ideally we would create two homes in one, separated by an enclosed
atrium/garden. Including the enclosed atrium, garage, workroom, tool shed
we're over 10,000 sq feet.
 
 
-- gilbert midonnet
 
 
 

-----Original Message-----
From: E. Beal [mailto:eojb@visn.net] 
Sent: Thursday, January 03, 2002 9:51 AM
To: greenbuilding@crest.org 
Subject: [GBlist] monster houses


Dear Folks on the GBList,
 
I'm a design writer.  My work gets published in "style" magazines,
newspapers, etc.  (I write as "green" as I can; for example, a couple of
years ago I did a solarization article for Log Home Illustrated Magazine,
and I've serveral articles on the solar home tour for the local newspaper
here in Cleveland, OH.)
 
Here's a question for us to mull over:

With regard to the 14,000 square foot home that's been the object of some
discussion on the list, is it homeowners demanding bigger and more luxurious
and more resource-consuming homes for themselves or is it architects (who
want to "leave something for posterity and make a living"), builders and
interior designers/planners (ditto the above), and product manufacturers
(who just want to make a living) who present people who want to buy and
build their own homes with only the bigger-is-better
options/products/materials?
 
Homebuilders are only going to be able to want (OK, maybe it's lust-after)
what they are shown.  In other words, they aren't going to be able to
imagine/envision a resource-consuming, trophey home if they have not been
presented with it as an (sometimes the only) option.
 
I'm not beating up on builders and architects and interior designers (and
"style magazines, too) with this question.  I really wonder where the
"homeowners' wants/needs/desires and the designer/builder/decorator's need
to make a living (and ego, too) intersect.
 
Oh well, this is another one of those food for thought questions.
 
Eileen Beal, MA
Writer - Editorial Consultant
3205 Meadowbrook Blvd., Apt. 7
Cleveland Heights, OH  44118
(216) 320-1358
eojb@visn.net <mailto:eojb@visn.net> 



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