THE NOT SO BIG HOUSE PROTOTYPE 454-3 designed by Sarah Susanka architect

This beautiful home was designed by architect, Sarah Susanka, for herself. She built it originally to illustrate the ideas she was writing about in her first book in the Not So Big® series--The Not So Big House: A Blueprint for the Way We Really Live. It is designed to promote a floor plan that is far more appropriate for present day lifestyles, and it is filled with special details that make the house a delight to live in, while living up to it Not So Big® name. Instead of building formal spaces that rarely if ever get used, this house is designed so that every space will be put to good use everyday. Featuring spacious, light-filled rooms, built-ins, and an open floor plan, it embodies the principles of quality and comfort that are at the root of Not So Big® design. The house is designed for a full walk-out lower level, ideal for a visiting guest to enjoy their own private bed and bath, and with excellent home office space with its own exterior entry. In a tiny attic garret, there also a cozy Place of Your Own (or Poyo, as Sarah calls it), accessed by a ship's ladder from the second floor.

Like Sarah's other house plans, the Not So Big House Prototype illustrates a play on a theme and variation, with the frequent appearance throughout the house of an archetypal form--the circle. On the second floor, directly above the front door, there is a large translucent window in the shape of a partial circle. The curve of this beautiful form runs through the upstairs bathroom and stairway landing, lending significant drama to the second floor--in a Not So Big® way, of course.

Source : houseplans