The St. Louis Cardinals and Texas Rangers, the two teams at the 2011 World Series, are Certainly not big-market teams Such as the New York Yankees. Both teams spend roughly half what the Yankees spend on player wages. In fact, the two teams with the greatest wages, the Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies (combined almost $400 million annually or double as far as the combined Cardinals and Rangers payroll), did not get beyond the first round of the playoffs.
Certainly proof that money does not always buy a winner, among the”truths” made evident by Moneyball.
What’s true is that it is not about throwing money at everything you are building but just how well that money is utilized. It’s not about amount or size, it is all about being”smart” and finding the ideal solution.
The exact same could be said for our homes. The past few decades have seen how big the typical American home increase appreciably. Before 2008 it was not uncommon to see entire developments with 4,000- to 6,000-square-foot homes appear in the suburbs. In the process, the little things stopped mattering.
However in the past several years a strategy, like that used in Moneyball, has given us a renewed interest in a home that is not just about size. As articulated by bestselling author Sarah Susanka, a house that’s big and dull is much less preferable to a home that’s small and rich in character.
What we need in our homes, like in what they desired for those Oakland A’s at Moneyball, is the elusive quality of”just right.” Not too big nor too small; not overly costly nor too inexpensive — we need smart design that empowers us to live the life we would like to reside in a sustainable and enriching manner.
Sutton Suzuki Architects
1. A smartly designed dwelling is rich with detail that raises the joyousness of life…
Eggleston Farkas Architects
… regardless of the style or location.
Bud Dietrich, AIA
2. A smartly designed home uses every bit of space to enrich the lifestyles of its inhabitants…
… while leaving no cubic inch unwanted, uncovered and unused.
Mark English Architects, AIA
And giving the kids a feeling of wonder and delight.
Butler Armsden Architects
3. A smartly designed home lives large, allowing the exterior to be a part of the inner and the interior to be a part of the exterior.
Woodburn & Company Landscape Architecture, LLC
It expends as much attention about the landscape as on the home.
4. A smartly designed home utilizes the third dimension to differentiate and ennoble spaces so there’s isn’t a blasé atmosphere from everything being exactly the same…
… and defines and establishes a living room that we really reside in.
Fiedler Marciano | Architecture
5. A smartly designed home generates a hallway that’s more compared to a hallway.
SPG Architects
And provides a space that’s both storage and seating.
Rossington Architecture
6. A smartly designed home accommodates the messiness of everyday life, whether behind closed doors…
Bud Dietrich, AIA
… or outside in the open.
Rossington Architecture
7. A smartly designed dwelling finds uses for leftover spaces.
Ana Williamson Architect
In the most unlikely of places.
Goforth Gill Architects
8. A smartly designed dwelling is scaled to the individual form via the usage of well-placed and well-proportioned trim, both indoors…
Frederick + Frederick Architects
… and outside.
Soorikian Architecture
9. A smartly designed home is a fantastic neighbor and participates the entire world about it…
PMWArchitects
… even if it is different.
10. A smartly designed home is respectful of the entire world all of us discuss, saving its owners money while conserving resources.
Watch more of this passive-solar home design.
More: High Design in 800 Square Feet