Adaptable Houses

“All buildings are predictions,” according to Stewart Brand, founder of the Whole Earth Catalogue. “All predictions are wrong.”

Our families, communities, and neighborhoods are not static, so why should our dwellings be? A growing field of architecture is promoting open buildings -- structures that can adapt to changing technologies, flow around needs, and expand or shift along with the families who live in them. Americans spent $235 billion on home remodeling in 2007 -- an amount that doesn’t include the strain on a family’s budget or serenity, not to mention the piles of construction debris from renovations, demolitions, and tear-downs that support America’s dubious reputation as the most wasteful nation.

Advocates for adaptable housing are building in Canada, Europe and Japan. One of the movement’s foremost campaigners is Tedd Benson of Bensonwood Homes in Walpole, New Hampshire, and he joins us on Word of Mouth to talk about his work.

Click here to check out the Unity House by Bensonwood Homes.