Sarah Susanka
Author, The Not So Big House
Susanka Studios
Bestselling author, architect and cultural visionary Sarah Susanka is leading a movement to redefine the American home and lifestyle. Her "build better, not bigger" approach to residential architecture has been embraced across the country and her "Not So Big" philosophy is evolving beyond our physical habitations and into how we inhabit our lives.
In May, Random House released Susanka's latest title, The Not So Big Life: Making Room for What Really Matters. In the book, she reveals that quality-over-quantity serves not only architectural aims, but life goals as well. She unveils a process for changing the way we live by fully inhabiting each moment of our lives and showing up completely in whatever it is we are doing. Through this process, readers will discover more meaningfulness, vitality and that sense of being "at home" in life that so many people are searching for today.
Thought Leader, Speaker and Expert Resource
Susanka has shared her insights with "The Oprah Winfrey Show," "Charlie Rose" and HGTV. She is regularly profiled in leading shelter and lifestyle magazines and featured in newspapers including The New York Times, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post.
Fast Company named her to their debut list of "Fast 50" innovators whose achievements have helped to change society—an honor preceded by her selection as a "top newsmaker" for 2000 by Newsweek magazine and an "innovator in American culture" in 1998 by U.S. News & World Report. Builder magazine consistently ranks her as one of the "50 most influential people in the building industry." Recently, Midwest Living magazine declared Susanka one of 20 style innovators. In May, Susanka received the Anne Morrow Lindbergh Award by the Lindbergh Foundation for outstanding individual achievement, demonstrating a spirit of initiative and exemplifying great dedication toward making positive contributions to our world.
As a leading advocate for the re-popularization of residential architecture, Susanka has improved the quality of home design while countering the elitist image of architects so commonly held by the public. She is regularly tapped for her dynamic presentations by Fortune 500 companies, homebuilders, nonprofits and trade organizations.
Acclaimed Author, Six Best-Selling Books In her groundbreaking book, The Not So Big House (Taunton, 1998), Susanka encourages homeowners, builders, remodelers and design professionals to focus on quality over quantity—on what makes us feel comfortable rather than what impresses the neighbors. Her second book, Creating the Not So Big House, released in 2000, features 25 examples of "Not So Big" homes and remodels. This was followed by Not So Big Solutions for Your Home in 2002, a small but densely packed volume that's full of fixes and ideas for common house problems. In 2004, Susanka launched Home By Design, a companion to her "Not So Big House" series, that describes many of the principles and concepts that allow one to build "Not So Big." One year later, Susanka partnered with Marc Vassallo to write Inside the Not So Big House, zooming in on the built-in details that bring character and personality to a home. In 2006, Susanka collaborated with acclaimed landscape designer Julie Moir Messervy, and released Outside the Not So Big House, weaving inside and outside together and showcasing 20 examples of gardens that surround "Not So Big" houses.
Susanka is a member of the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Architects and a Senior Fellow of the Design Futures Council. She was born in Kent, England, and lives in North Carolina.
Join her online community at www.NotSoBigHouse.com and www.NotSoBigLife.com.
Hear more about Sarah's experience at West Coast Green.
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