by Gaelen » Thu Oct 02, 2008 6:55 am
I kind of agree with the commentor on the story in the second link who pointed out, correctly, that if the place is sold as sleeping 4-6 people (or for that matter, 1-2 people), the floorplan HAS to include some minimum levels of storage.
I agree on principle that the typical person has too much 'stuff', but even the military builds in space for a storage locker or cabinet in its accommodates. Ya gotta have a spot to store a change of clothes. Maybe a desk/workspace (somewhere to promote doing schoolwork if the family includes kids, somewhere to sit and do bills that isn't the kitchen table if you're an adult.) You don't have to have 'too much stuff' to need someplace to store the set of clean towels and bedsheets you put on while you strip the linens to take them to the laundromat, or to have a spot for the other two rolls of paper towels in the 3-pack and the other 5 rolls of TP in the 6-pack, or even a spot for the cleaning supplies you're actively using every day like the swiffer, the broom, the dustpan. Goddess help you if you need a place for even a small hand-held vacuum cleaner!
And speaking of that kitchen, there's a ton of wasted space there. If the house is designed for 1-2 people, a 4cu.ft. referig/freezer is plenty. Even a 7-9cf unit is plenty for 4 people. The small ref/freezer can fit ON TOP of a counter, with space below for food storage (no food storage for staples/canned goods is included in the floorplans I saw.) In NYC studio apartments, many of which are that under-400sf footprint, the typical kitchen is a two or three-burner cooktop over the 4 cf fridge/freezer, with the sink next door. Microwave/convection oven and hood are placed over the rangetop. That gives you a full cooking/cold storage center, right next to the sink, in a 24"w x approximately 40-48" long footprint, leaving you plenty of room to run four foot of top/bottom cabinets and counterspace in what that floorplan has wasted. Table, stools and shelving for additional storage can run parallel to the galley.
And frankly, I think 6 people is pushing the living goal in under 400sf.
I have happily lived in 440 sf, and could have had a roommate. But six people in under 400sf is not really solving the issue the story brings up--people need personal space. That's why hotel rooms (which don't even bother with kitchens--but are often in the under 400sf category) have maximum adult occupancy limits.
The company would be better advised to look at the ways of linking storage containers if they want to serve families of 4+. I've seen plans where the containers are either stacked, end-to-end, or placed at a right angle, either corner to corner with a patio to fill in the square at the end of each unit, or where one unit covers the end of the other unit and the right angle ends up being more L-shaped. I'll try to find them; I think I bookmarked them. Still minimalist, but two units would give a family about 650sf--far more realistic.
Mark (& Cindi) 
