Less is More

Howard Feldman, a developer and custom home builder who lives in Hilton Head Plantation, had a turning point last spring that made him realize that small can be beautiful.

"I got up one beautiful Sunday morning and decided to change out the filters on the air conditioners at my house (four units). It was then that I realized I had screwed up and built the wrong house. I would have much rather been spending the day with my family on our boat than servicing the A/C and mowing this huge lawn," Feldman wrote recently in an e-mail describing his path to create a new pocket neighborhood called The Cottages at Bryant Park.

The community of 12 small homes off Spanish Wells Road will break ground this spring, and the first residents will move in by the end of this year.

Feldman also believes that gated communities give a false sense of security and large lots and traditional upscale architecture -- including attached garages where owners drive into their homes -- keep people from knowing their

neighbors.

"If we are outside it's usually in the back yard so that we can look at the golf course or the pond. We end up being isolated as a result," he said.

Feldman echoes others who have fueled a national movement towards smaller, impeccably designed homes that are more environmentally friendly. The concepts are described in the best selling book by Sarah Susanka called "The Not So Big House," which Feldman says influenced him.

To create his first project as a land developer, Feldman, who has worked as a custom home builder in Colorado and on Daufuskie Island, turned to one of the nation's leading experts on cottage design and cluster neighborhoods. Seattle, Wash.-based architect Ross Chapin, who sells stock floorplans through his Web site rosschapin.com, has achieved international recognition for his design and green building techniques focusing on indoor air quality, energy and water efficiency, durability and less maintenance.

Ross Chapin said Thursday that houses before our generation were "sensibly sized."

In 1950, the average house was 1,000 square feet; in 2004, the average house in the U.S. was 2,272 square feet. Meanwhile, family size declined from 3.67 people per house in 1950 to 2.57 people per house in 2004. Now, only 25 percent of all households are the typical "nuclear family, with mom, dad and kids," while 61 percent are one and two person households, Chapin said.

"Most builders are still building for Ozzie and Harriet," he said.

Cottage communities -- detached alternative to condos in single family neighborhoods with carefully articulated public and private spaces -- appeal to some people but not to those who think, 'I've worked all my life and I deserve the biggest and the best,' the architect said.

Feldman called Chapin, the two hit it off immediately, and the architect helped Feldman plan the Bryant Park neighborhood of single family cottages arranged around a central green courtyard and a 700-square-foot community center (where Feldman plans the electricity will run off solar power).

The Bryant Park neighborhood has five different one-, two- and three-bedroom homes from about 750 square feet for $334,800 to 1,500 square feet for $469,800. The property owners' association fee will be about $250 a year. Each home has a small front yard with an irrigation system and a garage with storage area. The garages, guest parking and mailboxes are grouped together, a bit away from the homes.

By filling the homes with details including screened front porches, stainless steel appliances, cork and bamboo hardwood floors, gas fireplaces, granite countertops and tile, Feldman and Thorpe hope people who can afford more will actually choose less.

One of the one-bedroom cottages meets the standards for residential design for the Americans with Disabilities Act, and five of the 12 houses already are under contract, said Mike Thorpe of Re/Max Island Realty, who is in charge of selling the homes. Thorpe said he believes some of the cottages will be used as permanent homes, some bought as investment properties and others used as second homes. Because the homes and yards are small, the Bryant Park community probably isn't right for families with children, Feldman and Thorpe said.

In other Lowcountry communities including Oldfield and Hampton Hall, cottages near golf courses can participate in a rental program and are often used by potential buyers looking over a community. Palmetto Bluff also has homes in the Village area under 1,500-square feet, which are filled with upscale appointments and space-saving design, such as an alcove office at the top of a staircase.