The Little House That Grew (Page 2)

The Grow Home, he continued, sacrificed area and complexity while maintaining quality, making it "the architectural equivalent to the Japanese compact car" (the analogy still holds - in Canadian Architect this year, Friedman calls it the "Honda Civic of housing"). The price tag, depending on location, varied from $65,000 to $95,000.

Ross identified seven features that would characterize the Grow Home: it was (1) a narrow-front rowhouse, (2) small and with (3) unpartitioned space and (4) do-it-yourself components, built so as to have (5) a traditional appearance but (6) using cost-effective materials that (7) could be prefabricated. Prosaic perhaps, but the Grow Home caught the imagination of buyers, especially those targeted by the architects and developers: young couples, either with a child or planning on having children soon, looking for a first home.

However, the demographic appeal reached beyond that set of people. "Society is experiencing an amazing transition, a revolution," Friedman points out. "Demography is changing. We have many more single people, as well as couples without kids. The nuclear family is really becoming a minority." The change has tremendous implications for housing. The Grow Home, with its philosophy as a flexible living space, accommodated the different needs of a growing range of citizens.

The Grow Home also appeals to a more environmentally conscious era, having been identified by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation as a model of sustainable living. Traditional homes, notes Friedman, are "terrible polluters." A smaller home, on the other hand, exploits fewer natural resources to build and maintain. Row housing can be built more densely and units consume much less energy. "To be honest, this is something I did not expect," says Friedman. "There are surprising offshoots when something takes on a life of its own."