Dan Swift, CEO and president of BSB Design, studies living patterns to come up with the right way to design homes. He talks about it as housing ergonomics—creating a home with no wasted parts.
For the design of the reNEWable Living Home, Swift started with one of Meritage Homes’ well-performing floor plans. He then met with Meritage and some of the suppliers to improve the plan with a focus on renewability and energy efficiency. Through a design charrette, they went back through the existing design to value engineer the new concept home.
Swift says they paid attention to accommodating multiple generations in the home and allowing for collaboration among multiple family members while also giving them their individual space. He notes that in most cases, family members enter the home through the garage. As such, Swift says the team focused on the garage entry area. Another reason for zeroing in on this space is that studies show that most domestic altercations happen within the first 15 minutes of entering the home, Swift says. The reNEWable Living Home plan includes a transition area for those coming into the home to take a small break if necessary.
“We paid attention to that moment of arrival,” he says, adding that sometimes “you aren’t ready to be seen, and your family is not ready to see you.”
Ed Batista from Harvard Business Review agrees that this transition point is difficult for couples to manage:
My coaching clients have hard jobs with big responsibilities that generate lots of stress, and many of their spouses and partners have similarly demanding careers. And yet one of the most challenging experiences in their day doesn’t occur at work, but in the first 15 minutes after they arrive home and greet each other.
When that initial personal encounter at the end of the workday goes well, it can help both parties feel a sense of care and appreciation that helps them unwind and feel better prepared for the following day. And yet it so often goes badly, creating frustration and a sense of disappointment that can poison the rest of the evening. There are several factors that make this such a difficult situation for couples to navigate.
It’s unrealistic and unhelpful for couples to expect that they’ll automatically be in sync when they arrive home. Different needs, different recovery times, and different cultures all combine to make it more likely rather than not that couples will be out of sync when they first encounter each other at the end of the workday.
Swift believes in housing ergonomics, such as this thoughtful garage entry. Through this concept home and through his innovative way of approaching design, he aspires to teach the world that you don’t have to settle for the same kit of parts.
“You have to look at the design problem a new way,” he says, “and that’s what we did with the reNEWable Living Home.”
Follow the reNEWable Living Home online at www.builderonline.com/renewable
