Do you really want to live like this?

When designing a new home or renovating an existing one, it’s essential to consider the amount of space you need to ensure your quality of life. The vast majority of Australians enjoy a luxury of space that is the envy of the rest of the world. Yet despite this, or perhaps because they may not realise just how precious it is, many Australian homeowners could consider the space they create more carefully.

By building ill-designed extensions that are uncomfortable to live in, space can be squandered. And when building from scratch, is it really necessary to construct the largest home possible on your land? Both situations can create homes that are wasteful, with vast areas of ‘living’ area lying dead and unused. Houses such as these are expensive to manage and are lost opportunities in terms of enhancing quality of life.

The other equally important factor is that no amount of water recycling, solar heating and use of recycled building materials can eliminate the fact that building larger homes or extensions is more taxing on the environment than smaller ones. Building bigger homes inevitably means more raw construction materials, more waste, more electricity, more gas, more water, more cleaning supplies and more maintenance.

While many people think about turning off lights, adding insulation and choosing eco-friendly building products, it seems rare for people to simply consider the wasteful space in their homes and its consequences.

Some of the most innovative and satisfying solutions are found when space in limited. Rather than supersizing your space, why not choose higher quality fixtures and fittings, better quality window frames and glazing and adding features such as skylights. The approach is win-win. You save by not creating energy consuming wasted space and then have the opportunity to invest in higher quality and environmentally-friendly products.

With population numbers heading ever northwards, space is indeed a luxury and is set to become even more so. But building big just because you can doesn’t necessarily deliver a better, more livable result. Whatever the size of your space or the one you want to create, careful consideration and applying clever design solutions win out every time.

Robert Harwood RAIA RIBA