Not So Big House a trend or a fad?

Roderick Grant · Post by **Roderick Grant** » Sat Mar 19, 2011 5:14 pm

Strom is very handsome. (Where is Copas, MN?) I like the way Davis' ceiling planes transition to sloping clerestories at 90 degrees. There's nothing tentative about his use of materials. He's one architect who designs "the space within to be lived in."

PNB · Post by **PNB** » Sat Mar 19, 2011 7:31 pm

Copas is about 75 minutes northeast of the Twin Cities and about a half hour north of Sala's office in Stillwater. Not much to the town though.

Paul Ringstrom · Post by **Paul Ringstrom** » Sun Mar 20, 2011 10:50 am

Kelly Davis' Demaster House outside Minneapolis is really nice too. Built just a few years ago by the client.

pharding · Post by **pharding** » Sun Mar 20, 2011 12:04 pm

Ultimately, as always, the size of the house goes back to the client's initial budget, operating budget, needs, and wants. Clearly with the new mortgage rules implemented by the Federal Government, financing for many will be exponentially more challenging and, by necessity, drive down the average size of new houses. Rather than the recent emphasis on "the larger the better", I would hope to see a shift toward "high quality design with Sustainable Design Strategies" in more moderate size houses. This may not work for the masses, but for those that can afford it the rewards are spectacular.

SDR · Post by **SDR** » Sun Mar 20, 2011 1:03 pm

It's becoming clear that those who are waiting for house to prices to "get back to normal" (that is, to the heights they achieved in the earlier 2000s) are going to be disappointed: the bubble was at least in part due to the unrealistic (not to say criminal) mortgage lending practices of the period, and the resulting home values were unsupported and unsustainable.

S D R

Roderick Grant · Post by **Roderick Grant** » Sun Mar 20, 2011 1:48 pm

In the meantime, the upper end remains unchanged, unchastised. I recently saw a bit on TV about a $65M (cash only, thank you) second (third, fourth, ...) vacation house on a private island off Miami with all the bells and whistles The Donald could want (including a waterfall, though sans gold leaf cherubs). Built on spec, the house is to be used perhaps once or twice a year for a getaway, to revivify that fading tan. I hate to sound like a Bolshevik, but as long as we have these latter-day Bourbon wannabes running our economy, the financial stability of the middle class will be in danger. Home ownership will become rare. Perhaps Sarah is not the best answer, or no answer at all, but at least she is trying. Though I think the answer has to come from the top rather than the bottom. With a new war in Libya under way, all bets for the short term are off.

ramtin1g · Post by **ramtin1g** » Tue Apr 07, 2015 5:43 pm

yeah im not so sure about not so big house

ramtin1g · Post by **ramtin1g** » Tue Apr 07, 2015 5:43 pm

in fact, if you go to sites like www.lotplans.com , you can see house plans that do (and some that refuse) to keep up with the jonses.