Build Small | Live Large Housing – The Beginning of Something Small

On Friday, October 26th, we held an incredible event at Portland State University. It was the first summit of its kind, focusing on space efficient housing. The Build Small | Live Large Housing Summit drew over 300 professionals that have stakeholder interest in the emerging market for alternative forms of compact, infill housing.

The summit felt like the beginning of movement that doesn’t yet have a name, but one that clearly has a future. The best part of the summit was the participants, who were simultaneously visionary, entrepreneurial, edgy, and pragmatic.

Participants filled the Portland State University hall for the morning keynote presentation

Jordan Palmieri of the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, and contributor to this blog, opened the day by providing a succinct overview of the reason behind the summit, first clearly laying out the housing ‘problem statement’, and then hinting at some of the many creative policy and design solutions we have started to explore to address them.

Infographic representing the compelling environmental case for compact housing

Ross Chapin then delivered a sweeping overview of the social and environmental challenges facing our epoch, poetically winding his way into some of the solutions he and others have pioneered with elegant pocket neighborhood design.

Ross Chapin, FAIA, delivered the keynote address

In the coming weeks, we’ll be posting content from the summit, including video recordings of some of the sessions, web versions of presentations that were given, and synthesized findings that were identified during the summit.

About Kol Peterson

Kol is an ADU consultant, advocate and author of Backdoor Revolution: The Definitive Guide to ADU Development. Read more here: AccessoryDwellingStrategies.com and learn about building your own at BuildingAnADU.com. Email at Kol@accessorydwellingstrategies.com

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