Construction and design is well underway for the home known as the “Not So Big House,” which is the innovative flagship construction of the SchoolStreet Homes development in Libertyville.
North Carolina-based Architect Sarah Susanka recently discussed how her philosophy of maximizing the use of small spaces is a match made in architectural heaven with School Street’s “New Urbanist” approach.
“As soon as I arrived here, I knew it. It was an instant—this is the perfect spot. It’s a not so big house in a not so big community,” she said. “When I saw this project—it’s a front porch community. Today, everybody’s living in the back of their homes. I wanted to bring the kitchen and eating area so you can move onto the porch,” Susanka said.
Floor to ceiling windows in the kitchen look out to a porch that opens with a couple of small steps that she said were key to inviting neighbors to walk right up to residents, she said.
The 2,500-square-foot house she has designed does not have a formal dining room, which would otherwise eat up space that could be better utilized on a daily basis, she said.
Instead, seats in an “L”-shaped bench in the kitchen, built-in bookshelves in a living room, a Murphy-style fold down bed in a small alcove that she calls a reading room, all make way for practical living, she said.
“It’s designed so you can make it expand and contract,” she said. “All these spaces do double duty.”
Ceiling heights vary through the halls and living areas, creating a different feel from room to room, and even the sense of a room within a room in the 14-foot by 13-foot master bedroom.
The stairwell, meanwhile, is designed to wind around a tree that will reach up to cathedral ceilings, skylights and a loft overlooking the second floor deck.
The entire home is also designed to make the most out of as little energy as possible with the goal of meeting the government’s Energy Star rating for tax credits on energy efficient homes.
Twenty-one of the 26 SchoolStreet homes have been sold. The Not So Big House will be on the market soon, but SchoolStreet Developers said they wouldn’t release a price until the Nov. 19 grand opening of the showhouse, said John McLinden, a developer with StreetScape Partners LLC.
The remaining homes range in price from $500,000 to $800,000, he said.
Six of the 15 lofts in Central School, which is being converted to condos, will be considered affordable housing with from $175,000 to $950,000, McLinden said. Five of the lofts have been sold, he said.
Compared to the cookie cutter suburban neighborhoods with quarter- and half-acre lots, The Not So Big House is a little more than an arm’s reach away from its neighbors that sit on 29-foot-wide lots.
“We look at this as an extra wide lot,” said McLinden said, which previously developed homes in more urban areas. “This is about having the courage to do what we believe in. It’s about the socialness of the neighborhood and being connected to a main street.”
Indeed, Libertyville’s Main Street is barely a block from the first School Street lots.
In the past, he’s called the project a “restart,” since StreetScape bought the land, which was purchased by Hummel Group in 2005 and foreclosed in 2007.
But, StreetScape’s design of the neighborhood emphasizes the New Urbanist approach, according to McLinden. He has said his hope with this design will allow people to enjoy a home, which is not too big to care for, and an interactive community.
