A full-scale, fully finished home, presented at the International Builders Show 2004. The Showhouse demonstrates a new way of thinking about design — from the principles used to tailor home design to our lives, to the manner in which it is built, to the products and systems it engages.
Join the 3D walkthrough
What makes a house feel like home? I'm Sarah Susanka, and as an architect and author, I've been fascinated by this question ever since I bought my first house. In pursuing the answer, I've put together a set of principles — what I call the architect's tool box — that are described in detail in my book, Home By Design, and that are embodied in the Showhouse you'll see illustrated here.
Please keep in mind that this is not a Not So Big House. It is an example of the ideas described in Home By Design, and built in a big enough form to be able to house all the ideas, along with a lot of builders and visitors.
I have teamed with building scientist Steve Easley and custom homebuilder Paul Trudeau to build and present the Showhouse, and worked with broadband architects Sandy Teger and Dave Waks to incorporate technologies designed for the way people really live.
In Home By Design: Transforming Your House Into Home, readers are given a set of tools — key principles to using Space, Light, and Order — to help them understand, and create, that sense of home we all crave. The Showhouse is the prototype for a new kind of American home, one built to fit the scale and budget of everyone who wants a house that feels like home.
The Showhouse was engineered and built to the energy efficiency standards of the ComfortHome program, and earned an Energy Star certification by exceeding the guidelines set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
| Foundation | Polysteel insulated concrete forms |
|---|---|
| Walls and roof | Insulspan structural insulated panels |
| Windows and doors | Marvin double pane Low-E |
| Water heating | Rinnai tankless |
| HERS rating | 90.9 |
The Connected by Design Tour is an audio exploration of the broadband technologies in the Showhouse, matching available and increasingly affordable products and services with the design. It shows how broadband connectivity, home networking, consumer electronics and computing products can be assembled to deliver the services this new plumbing makes possible.
Like any utility, broadband has two elements: a main service that brings the connection to the home, and a distribution network inside it.
| March 2004 | Home By Design: Transforming Your House Into Home by Sarah Susanka, published by The Taunton Press. The book sets out the design principles embodied in the Showhouse. |
| 16 May 2003 | McMansion Passion is Diminishing — USA Today. |
| Article | Big Ideas Behind Not So Big Houses — ArchitectureWeek, by Sarah Susanka. |
| Showcase | Vendor Videos — the Science by Design and Connected by Design showcases, product by product. |
| Sponsors | Sponsors' Corner — the title, partner and associate sponsors of the Showhouse. |
| Blueprints | Buy The Plans — main level and upper level sets for the Showhouse. |
Guided walkthroughs of the Showhouse were offered at the Stardust for visitors attending the Consumer Electronics Show, the International Builders Show and Surfaces in Las Vegas, Nevada in January 2004.
If you could not visit the house in person, the videos and information gathered on this site were assembled as the next best thing to being there. Start with the 3D walkthrough, then follow the Connected by Design Tour and the vendor showcases.
