Most people think of space as something static and fixed that can be described in terms of square footage and ceiling height. How wide is the gap in outlook between architects and the rest of us? Here's a good example. Learn how architects use the concepts, and you will look at the spaces that you live in with a different eye. Space, light and order are the focus of Susanka's other book, 'Home by Design.' These are the basic ingredients of architecture, she says, and they can be endlessly manipulated to produce a stunning variety of houses.Īlthough this sounds straightforward, she tells us that architects define these terms more broadly than most people. The memorable details in the 23 houses Susanka describes in 'Inside the Not So Big House' generally fall into three broad categories: They enhance the space itself, they affect the quality of light in it, or they create a sense of continuity and underlying order as you go from room to room. Some of her descriptions in 'Inside the Not So Big House' can also be refreshingly disarming - a dish rack across a kitchen window is an inspired way to provide privacy when 'the neighbors are so close you could ask them to pass the salt.' In Susanka's own house that she described in her first book, 'The Not So Big House,' the details can include a tree trunk that does double duty as a structural column and newel post for the stairs and a thick rope that serves as a stair railing.

Details, Susanka says, are built into the house and would still be there if 'you could turn the house upside down and shake it.' What the average person considers a detail - artwork, rugs and upholstery - she calls accessories.

With 'Inside the Not So Big House,' Susanka zeroes in on details and how they affect our perceptions and enjoyment of a space. When you sit in your own living room, or when you visit friends' and relatives' houses and share a meal in their dining rooms, why do you feel comfortable or get the heebie-jeebies?Īs Susanka explains in her two latest books, 'Home by Design' and 'Inside the Not So Big House,' the answer can be complicated.

Author and architect Sarah Susanka wants us to take this impulse and pick apart something we experience intimately every day but seldom think about - the spaces in our houses. We talk endlessly about movies, clothes, fashion, food, televisions shows, sports and cars. Most of us spend a fair amount of time picking apart the fabric of our everyday life.

Inside the not so big house