This case study was completed by Heather Evans Consulting, Margaret Forbes, and Louise Godard for the project advisory committee for BC Housing. The purpose of this case study was to find out if people could live in smaller footprint homes and the livability of these spaces. Various perspectives were taken from those all-around BC and from different backgrounds. This study investigates current trends, and lessons on development, design and livability and construction of these small dwellings.
In the Okanagan, the land availability is becoming increasingly hard to get and the cost of homes is becoming disparagingly high with wage increases not being sufficient. A lot of people have chosen to embrace the “smaller living” lifestyle to save on money but also live more freely with less burden. Having access to extra income allowed those individuals to spend their time doing other activities they enjoyed like spending time with family and friends, travel more, etc.
The summarization of this case study showed that these small dwelling housing served well in urban areas where the people had access to lots of amenities such as transit, entertainment, and community services. The sizes of these units were dependent on the users needs and it was determined that the spaces would range from 200 square feet to 750 square feet. For this study they spoke to specialists like designers, architects, developers, and people who live in small dwellings to find out what the key elements were require for an individual to live and be happy. This list below is directly taken from the study for reference.
- Furnishings and the elements of the home need to be efficient and durable, as there will be more wear and tear in a small space.
- Windows and layout must ensure a lot of light and air and access to the outdoors which expands the space and makes the unit feel bigger.
- Design and building technique to reduce noise including specific building materials and methods, interior space planning to reduce transfer of noise between and within dwellings in multi-unit buildings, and site planning to reduce noise from outdoors (particularly in dense urban contexts).
- Lack of permanent walls to define the space can improve functionality.
- A fully functional kitchen and bathroom are highly valued and must be appropriately sized to fit into small and highly functional spaces, often requiring custom millwork and smaller appliances.
- Furniture and spaces that transform into different uses (i.e. living space transforms into sleeping space) can save the amount of space taken up by furniture.
- Small home residents often share some facilities (e.g. laundry, lounge space, etc.).
It is important for these dwellings to be diversified and spread out throughout the community and not just centralized in one area. For this to be successful you must work with the community, the government and other organizations to help make these small dwelling units a reality in communities across BC.