Floor-plans that suit the microvillage

I never thought that making floor-plans would be a fun brain puzzle until I found the tiny house movement. For tinies, there are certain rules that make for better plans. (Mostly because you’re trying to condense an entire living space into such small footprint) For houses that fit into a microvillage, I’ve found there are a slightly different set of rules that will make for the best plans. None is these are hard and fast, but for the most part considering them seriously and finding a good enough reason to disregard them before doing so has been my rule of thumb. As an artist, I was taught, ‘you have to learn the rules before you break them.’ Roughly, for a microvillage floor-plans, they include: orientation of access, views, compatibility with aging, clustering of public and private rooms, energy efficiency, and guest accommodation.

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Orientation of Access
Putting the driveway, garage, and everyday entryway of the house on the ring road side where the private backyard is makes the most sense. The front porch should be on the opposite side, closest to the common green. This one is arguably one of the most important, but scouring through many floor-plans online it’s not a standard orientation.

Compatibility with Aging
The central idea of the microvillage is to anchor yourself to your support network. In order to remain there, keeping a floorplan that accommodates future needs would ease the inevitable transition into old age. This might include a floorplan with at least one first floor bedroom and full bath, handicap accessibility, and open floor plan. Other considerations (not strictly floor-plan related) would be no deep shelves, twist free faucets and lever door handles, as well as slip resistant flooring. For more ideas in this topic, search for universal design standards.

Clustering of Public and Private Rooms
Placing the public rooms nearest to the common green and the private rooms tucked away so that social and private lives can thrive without intersecting. I’m an introvert and when I read the idea of this in the designs for pocket neighborhoods it was totally a no-brainer but something I hadn’t realized the beauty of. (This is one rule you won’t find me breaking!)

Energy Efficiency
Most of the “rules” regard the flow and quality of life, but this one also saves money. Accounting for all the climactic influences that could impose on the dwelling and how they might be mitigated is worthwhile. The direction and angle of the sun, the prevailing wind patterns, seasonal influences, as well as best building practices for temperature retention, might be a few among many to research. I was reading a book years ago on building vintage houses and it described that even for a one room dwelling the placement of the fireplace and the door had significant differences depending on where you put them.

Additionally, researching energy efficient building products and what your climate’s greatest challenges are and how to overcome them. For cold-climate houses having a squarish shape and a central fireplace so heat isn’t lost to the outside is one idea, whereas for warmer climates, having an east-west facing house with mostly north facing windows and porches to shade all west, south, and east facing windows from direct sunlight (and heat). Another strategy is to have symmetrical windows on both sides of the house that can all be opened to capitalize on cross breezes. Look into not only the most cutting edge house building techniques for zero energy homes but also strategies builders used on older houses before the invention of air conditioning. (Transom windows above doors, an outdoor kitchen, etc)

Guest Accommodation We have out of state friends and family and if you’re like us in that regard you might already be planning for guest accommodations anyway. Beyond those reasons though, by its nature, the microvillage is about gathering like minded people and you may wish to host a friend, couple, or family who is transitioning to your neighborhood. Or perhaps you will meet up with someone who wants to live there seasonally from time to time. Having planned the ability to accommodate them for longer term stays without inconvenience to you may be worth considering.

If you design some stellar microvillage floor-plans, connect with me on Instagram and tag @microvillage when you share.