Sarah Susanka, photo by Cheryl Muhl.
People in the News
Catching up with Sarah Susanka
The architect, author, and green-living visionary talks to ACCENT and shares why ten years later Not So Big is still a big deal


Cover Image, The Not So Big House 10th Anniversary Edition: Sarah Susanka with Kira Obolensky.

A decade ago, before green meant much more than a color to most of us, author and architect Sarah Susanka published The Not So Big House after being dismayed by overly big house designs that did not fit the way people really lived. The book’s message that bigger isn’t necessarily better and its instructions on how to incorporate harmonious, thoughtful details struck a chord and spawned a series of publications. The eighth “Not So Big” book will be published in January 2009, and Susanka celebrates the 10th anniversary of the original with The Not So Big House 10th Anniversary Edition, by Susanka with Kira Obolensky, published by The Taunton Press this fall—a time when her design principles seem just as relevant as ever.

“‘Not So Big’ is once again a hot topic,” says Susanka. “In the last two years there has been a huge shift in the attitudes of homeowners toward sustainability, conservation, and energy efficiency. With the recent increases in oil and gas prices, with the surprising frequency of catastrophic events,  from September 11th to Hurricane Katrina, and with the growing awareness about global warming, people have become more cautious and savvy about how they spend their money. Everyone seems to want to do their bit to help minimize their carbon footprint.”

When defining what it means to be green building, Susanka points out a key factor that seems to be overlooked by most guidelines. Though most direct the builder through each step of the building process—from locating the house to best take advantage of natural sunlight to designing for energy efficiency—just as important, however, is that a house’s design be beautiful so it will last for many generations, sparing future resources and adding “soul” to the community that surrounds it.

“This is one of the most sustainable things one can do because when a place is beautiful, it is not only well looked after by its present owners, but by all the owners to come,” says Susanka.
“This helps to create truly livable houses and communities with a sense of soul to them—because they are able to age gracefully rather than be torn down and thrown away—and it means that all of the raw materials that have gone in the making of each home are used in the most effective way possible,” says Susanka. “They will continue to serve their function not just for decades, but for centuries.”

She sees the trend as something that will continue to grow, becoming incorporated as a standard design principle in both houses and communities. “Houses are likely to become better tailored to the way we actually live. They will grow to be more personal expressions—as our families grow and change and as we ourselves age—that fully support both who we are today and who we are becoming.”

Getting the details right and building beautifully are key to design in the “Not So Big” future. “There will also be more beautiful places in which to live, made so through greater involvement by architects and designers and through the craftsmanship of builders and artisans who really appreciate the potential inherent in the materials they work with,” says Susanka.

Neighborhoods should also be designed for how we really live, according to Susanka, who remembers growing up in England, where the small-scale town “felt so alive, and part of that is the way the people are able to interact because of the shaping of things. [Communities] were never on a grid.”

More vibrant communities, she explains, successfully integrate the places where we work with the places where we live. “In residential neighborhoods where basic needs are provided by stores, restaurants, coffee bars, grocery stores, you don’t always have to get in a car,” she explains.

“The point of most of what I talk about is vitality,” Susanka says. “Places feel alive when people use them and they support the way we want to function.”