Have we gone shelter crazy? Suburban palaces are mushrooming; affordable housing is declining. Yet we seldom question the subtle influences that shape our housing choices: cultural norms that say bigger is better, mortgage rules that say you can't put a small house on a large lot, zoning regulations that dictate minimum size. Is this how we want to live? And even when we trade real estate values for personal ones, can we make it happen? Never easy, never direct, the journey home is as individual as we are--and always worth the effort.
-- The Editors

Related Articles:Whither Walden The ecofriendly house can't be builtMcMansion Mania We're supersizing the suburbs, and we can't seem to stopHalf-Walls Between Us In this community, there are no secretsHandyman Special The house that feels like home is the one you build yourselfHole Beautiful Life is better down thereFuture's Folly

W hen Henry David Thoreau set out to build a cabin in the woods by Walden Pond, he borrowed an ax and cut down tall white pines that grew at the cabin site. What bothered him most was that he had to borrow the ax; cutting down trees did not trouble him. Indeed, he viewed it as creating a kind of intimacy between himself and the trees. As he hewed the main timbers, his ax probed the secrets of their internal structure. The fragrance of pine pitch clung to his skin, mingling with his food as he ate his midday meal. For him, building a house was a simple, natural act, akin to birds constructing their nests.

What was true in 1845, however, is hardly true today. Neither my husband, Tom, nor I expected the process of building a house to be simple or natural, but however complex it would be, we thought we could control it. We knew what we wanted. I had taught a course at the local community college entitled "Energy Issues" that had heightened my awareness of renewable-energy sources and the limited future of fossil fuels. I had spent an entire class period discussing passive-solar houses. Tom and I were intrigued by their elegance and intelligent design. Here, we thought, was a way to build a simple, natural house.