Say Goodbye to McMansions

With the downturn in the housing market there is one good thing that is taking effect.  The industry is seeing a decline in demolition of older homes in older established neighborhoods and the so called McMansions being built in their place.  The stigma of the large house that fills out the lot is a thing of the past.   The scale of these houses usually interrupts the scale of the residential neighborhood.   Most home buyers think that bigger is better.  What they don’t understand is good home design offsets voluminous spaces that actually use more energy and serve no purpose.  A good house design will be efficient in plan and function.  Good design also takes advantage of the lot by including usable green space and comfortable setbacks from the property lines.  The current focus of energy efficiency in home design has integrated new elements in home design that have been ignored over the past ten years.  The implementation of solar water heaters, energy efficient windows, insulation, water saving plumbing fixtures and better air conditioning and heating systems have helped save home owners money and maintenance cost.  I believe the new trend in housing design will incorporate new compact space efficient plans with extensive energy saving elements.  The new home buyer will see that they can be happy and comfortable in a non McMansion home.