How to hack McMansions

Members of the architecture community know too well the infamously gaudy and ugly reputation of the "McMansion" housing type. 

Despite the fact that esteemed architecture critics like Kate Wagner have been roasting these buildings (and their owners) for years, more and more of these gargantuan homes continue to be built each year.  

However, with the growing push to draw down carbon emissions and promote sustainable design initiatives, efforts have sprung up to shrink the McMansion's super-sized carbon footprint. 

A piece by Adele Peters from Fast Company illustrates the possibilities of how society can shift the McMansion housing paradigm into a system that doesn't focus on the "bigger is better" ideology. Peters writes, "Over the last seven decades, the average American house has nearly tripled in size at the same time as the number of people living in each household has dropped." 

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