"Imagine a life with less: less stuff, less clutter, less stress, less debt and discontent. A life with fewer distractions....Now imagine a life with more. More time, more meaningful experiences, more interaction and contribution." What you're imagining is minimalism.
Recently I watched the film 'Minimalism: A Documentary About the Important Things' and found it incredibly thought provoking. It follows minimalists, authors and public speakers Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus on their tour to promote their newest book, Everything That Remains. Their minimalist philosophy not only promotes living with less but living more deliberately and with less mindless, compulsive consumption. The motive behind this is predominantly environmental, as the western lifestyle is without question unsustainable in the long term. However, the minimalists also argue that adopting this lifestyle helps us to live in the moment, eliminate discontent, reclaim valuable time and discover purpose in our lives.
In the documentary, minimalism is also discussed in the context of design and more specifically residential design. In the US the population now has three times the amount of living space that they had in the 1950's as the 'bigger is better' attitude has become popularized. Generally people own more things as a result of products being more readily available and cheaper due to cheap manufacturing and shipping. Therefore people live in larger spaces to house these things, but research shows this typically leads to using the spaces we have unwisely.
The map above is a visual representation of how the space in a family home is used. It shows “the location of each parent and child on the first floor of the house of ‘Family 11’, every 10 minutes over two weekday afternoons and evenings.” In other words, the prime time waking hours in the home. The activity on this floor, which measures around 1000 sq ft, is mostly concentrated in three rooms, the dining room, the kitchen and family rooms. In conclusion this research demonstrates that the average American household only uses around 400 square feet of those 1000 are actually used with any regularity.
One way to resolve this problem is to downsize our homes and to design more purposefully for the needs of individuals : 'Nothing is more responsible than living in the smallest space you possibly can'. This minimalist approach to design is arguably where the architectural design market is going, as we are increasingly looking to design and create more environmentally sustainable living environments. This is an avenue of research that interests me greatly and is something I would like to pursue further in my own practice, whether that's through designing small spaces or using more environmentally conscious materials and systems in my designs.
^ Image taken from Wall Street Journal article about the book “Life at Home in the 21st Century.”
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