Efficiency of Space

Space. This is esoteric core of design. Space is the area in which we live. A square foot specification is often allotted by function. Walls define the shape, windows define its light, HVAC defines its air. Green building programs, such as LEED, ask us to use less space, in order to reduce our environmental footprint. The trick is to carve out square footage and room sizes while not comprising on function.

Taking a page from the book of ‘lean,’ I would look for the least used floor space. An interesting exercise is to track your daily activities by time and function. What room do you use the most/ least? What are the functions? Take bedrooms, for example. In most cases, they have one function – sleeping - and other nocturnal activities. For this, you need a bed. You also need closet space, and dresser or two. The room can be designed around these items, with enough space for circulation. Gone is the master bedroom with the extra sitting room area, and all that extra open floorspace – good for waltzing around – a highly unlikely activity.

While this seems so simple, we can all recount stories of old houses where it was hard to squeeze a bed in. For example, the room I’m staying in now has two doors into the bedroom. As one of these leads to the front door, I have to wonder about the motive…. As it is a small room, the bed can only fit into one corner, squeezed between the window at the head and the door at the foot. All fine, except that sits on top of the heating vent. Had a bed been drawn on the houseplan, the HVAC could have been design accordingly.

The argument against designing houses with specified furniture locations is based on the inability to predict occupant styles. But reducing room size reduces options, and such scenario setting is possible for certain rooms. It can also challenge the design to address function in a more creative manner. In a study of council housing in the U.K., the occupants complained of insufficient living space but the excess of the spare bedroom. Had these rooms been connected with a large double door, or slider door, the problem would be resolved within the same square footage. Rooms with higher functional uses might benefit from more thought to storage, to circulation in the rooms, to sound, light, air. View lines are important.

Dealing with existing space shortages can also be dealt with using some functional analysis. Often, a house has sufficient private space (bedroom) and is short on public space. My sons resolved this problem with some clever double billing of the two bedrooms in their small apartment. By using roll-up sleeping pads, the rooms were cleared for daytime use as a computer room, and a laundry room. In my own two room apartment, a sleeping sofa doubles as a bed and living room furniture, whereas a dining table doubles as my office desk.

Certainly there is much fat to be carved off from building floorplans. Not just shrinking existing blueprints, but redesigning with the human as the central focus. Because we aren’t really designing walls or floors, we are designing space.