Committee on Design

  • 1.  Tiny houses as solution to affordable housing

    Posted 03-26-2015 03:11 PM
    `Got to be careful here.  Tiny houses are great for people who WANT tiny houses.  For a lot lower income people this movement could be seen as substituting inferior (i.e.. smaller) dwellings instead of the  buildings more affluent people get.  The trick is to get people to want these smaller dwellings, especially when clustered in a community.

    After people see the work of architects like Ross Chapin and his "Goodfit" houses, there could be a market created that would loosen zoning codes and make very small houses seem MORE desirable.


    We find more and more of our single family house clients wanting smaller buildings.

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    Robert Knight AIA
    Knight Associates Inc.
    Blue Hill ME
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    2024 HRC Taliesin West


  • 2.  RE: Tiny houses as solution to affordable housing

    Posted 03-27-2015 11:25 PM
    Is it just me? Can no one see that these "tiny houses", at their cheap prices will soon become homes for families of 12? One must learn to look for unexpected consequences.

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    Charles Graham AIA
    Architect
    O'Neal, Inc.
    Greenville SC
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    2024 HRC Taliesin West


  • 3.  RE:Tiny houses as solution to affordable housing

    Posted 03-30-2015 06:12 PM

    Intersting point! It will be good to find out the $/per sqt comparing to average housing cost. Some tiny houses in DC cost $300/sqt, that's not affordable....
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    Ming Hu AIA
    Director, Academic Engagement
    The American Institute of Architects
    Washington DC
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    2024 HRC Taliesin West


  • 4.  RE: Tiny houses as solution to affordable housing

    Posted 03-31-2015 06:01 PM
    "Tiny" houses may be ok for one (or two?) people, but not families of 3 or more.

    Other factors that have to be considered are:
    1.  Will cities create zones where very small lot sizes can be purchased?  Or will the owners be required to locate in mobile home type parks?
    2.  What will property tax rates be for tiny house lots?
    3.  Will cities require connection to sewer and water utilities?  (My understanding is that many tiny houses use composting toilets which cities may not allow?
    4.  Will children who reside in tiny houses be ridiculed or otherwise harassed by classmates who reside in larger houses in "normal" neighborhoods?
    5.  How will residing in a tiny house affect the self-esteem of children as they grow up?
    6.  How will people who want to reside in a tiny house finance loans for construction, assuming their income level is such that lending agencies will not make loans to them?  Or will leftist politicians once again promise to increase taxes on the rich to pay for the tiny houses?

    I'm certain there are many more questions that need to be answered before tiny houses can be considered as a solution to affordable housing.

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    Larry Whitlock AIA
    Independent Architectural Specifications Consultant
    Pflugerville TX
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    2024 HRC Taliesin West


  • 5.  RE: Tiny houses as solution to affordable housing

    Posted 04-01-2015 07:59 PM
    I am not convinced of the economy nor the social equality of free standing tiny houses. I could see the economy of tiny housing as low or mid-rise multi-family stacked modular boxes or standard construction, sharing infrastructure, plumbing stacks, common spaces, landscaping, and other common building and community elements.

    But affordable housing needs to be developed in conjunction with community supports and infrastructure, not isolated in car-only locations. 
    In built up suburban or urban places zoning regulations could categorize tiny houses like trailer housing and relegate them to lots by railroad tracks or other environmentally least desirable neighborhoods. People with more standard sized dwellings would object to them being nearby as they would "lower property values."

    In a multi-family configurations they would not stand out as much to be so stigmatized. For example, they could be the residential part of a mixed use redevelopment of a tired old shopping center site, and ideally benefit from already existing public transportation and utility infrastructure.

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    Edward Acker AIA, LEED BD+C
    Winchester VA
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    2024 HRC Taliesin West


  • 6.  RE: Tiny houses as solution to affordable housing

    Posted 04-01-2015 08:05 PM

    You've got to accentuate the positive
    Eliminate the negative
    Latch on to the affirmative
    Don't mess with Mister In-Between
    You've got to spread joy up to the maximum
    Bring gloom down to the minimum
    Have faith or pandemonium
    Liable to walk upon the scene
    To illustrate his last remark
    Jonah in the whale, Noah in the ark
    What did they do
    Just when everything looked so dark
    Man, they said we better, accentuate the positive
    Eliminate the negative
    Latch on to the affirmative
    Don't mess with Mister In-Between
    No, do not mess with Mister In-Between
    Do you hear me?
    Courtesy of Johnny Mercer, Bing Crosby, the Andrews Sisters etal

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    2024 HRC Taliesin West


  • 7.  RE: Tiny houses as solution to affordable housing

    Posted 03-31-2015 06:20 PM
    $300 a square foot is still affordable if the total cost for a tiny house is 40,000. The smaller the structure the more cost per square foot since you are still putting in basic features like a kitchenette and bathroom. The cost per square foot of these is basically a meaningless statistic. We should be looking at the overall cost of a dwelling divided by the number of occupants. A 40,000sf tiny house for 1 is significantly more affordable than a $300,000 suburban house for 5 even if the $/sf is $300 compared to $150.

     

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    Lucas Gray Assoc. AIA
    Owner
    Propel Studio Architecture
    Portland OR
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    2024 HRC Taliesin West


  • 8.  RE: Tiny houses as solution to affordable housing

    Posted 04-01-2015 06:59 PM
    If tiny houses are in high demand and short supply, what's keeping the prices from rising out of reach?

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    Sean Catherall AIA
    Senior Project Manager
    DAVE ROBINSON ARCHITECTS
    Salt Lake City UT
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    2024 HRC Taliesin West


  • 9.  RE:Tiny houses as solution to affordable housing

    Posted 03-30-2015 07:55 PM

    Intersting point! It will be good to find out the $/per sqt comparing to average housing cost. Some tiny houses in DC cost $300/sqt, that's not affordable....
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    Ming Hu AIA
    Director, Academic Engagement
    The American Institute of Architects
    Washington DC
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    2024 HRC Taliesin West