Daily News
From Home Furnishing Business
Architect Creates Small, Efficient Home Designs
January 28,
2015 by in Designer Weekly 
Growing up in North Carolina, architect Arielle Condoret Schechter of Chapel Hill, N.C., saw a problem: The mobile homes scattered or clumped together across the state filled a need for small housing options but offered little design integrity, were usually made of poor materials, and she couldn’t see how they contributed to their owners’ quality of life.
“I had friends who lived in mobile homes. When I visited, I saw how dark most of them were and I could tell the air quality was terrible even as a kid,” Schechter said. “Most are still made with products that give off formaldehyde.”
Right out of architecture school, Schechter bought and renovated a mill house in Hillsborough, N.C.
“It was 850 square feet, built in the early 1900s,” she said. “I took out a few strategic walls and put in a huge south facing window that lit up the whole house. I felt like a queen in that little house. After renovation it felt brighter and more open than houses many times it’s size. I put money into details that made a difference like better materials. That house taught me a lot about what a small house could be.”
A few years ago she began working on a solution — or rather, many solutions — that she is introducing to the public.
She calls them Micropolis Houses — a collection of modern “tiny home” plans she’s designed that range from 150 to 1,500 square feet and can be customized to meet specific buyers' needs and preferences.
“There are so many reasons for building small,” Schechter said. “Small houses are less expensive to build and they dramatically reduce homeowners’ property taxes. They’re easier and cheaper to heat, cool, and maintain, and they use fewer natural resources so they’re inherently more sustainable. And small houses let you focus on quality – in building materials and interior finishes and furnishings – rather than quantity.”
“And I believe small houses will be easier to resell down the road because of the downsizing trend,” she said.
Micropolis Houses should also appeal to another market segment: people who were looking for something between the standard builder-designed home plans market and full architectural services.
“I noticed there are quite a few traditional tiny house companies but very few Modernist options,” Schechter said. “I hope these might be an option for people who want a very modern small house but might not have the budget for traditional full architectural services.”