A Compact Design for an Energy Efficient Home

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Ira Friedlander and his son, Nuri, sought a place of creative solitude and a center to safely explore the outdoors. They found it on three acres in Shaker country.
Ira Friedlander and his son, Nuri, sought a place of creative solitude and a center to safely explore the outdoors. They found it on three acres in Shaker country.
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Diagram: Floorplan for Friedlander's small energy efficient home.
Diagram: Floorplan for Friedlander's small energy efficient home.

What can happen when quality is consciously substituted for quantity in an energy efficient home?

A Compact Design for an Energy Efficient Home

The most basic rule of house building is that, no matter how modest the design, there’s never enough money. The fundamental question then is, on a finite budget, what’s most important to you? Some adopt the warehouse approach, maximizing square footage. For others, baubles please: an Italian marble spa, perhaps, with gold-plated faucets. Even something that seems as eminently practical as energy efficiency can become a single-minded obsession.

In this game of priorities, the trick is to strike a balance without feeling compromised. To do so requires strategy. When Ira Friedlander decided to build an energy efficient home for himself and his son, Nuri, he started from a strategic position. Their home would be as small as possible while being comfortable. Quality of space would substitute for quantity.

By deciding to see how little area they needed, Ira and his collaborator, architect-builder Hadi Clements, started from a focus of strength. They would concentrate Ira’s funds, Hadi’s skills and their combined intellect on little more than 900 square feet–700 indoors and 200 in outdoor decks. (See the diagram of the home floor plan in the image gallery.)

  • Published on Jul 1, 1987
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