How small can a house be?

Abstract

A study about the minimum necessary net internal area of dwellings that should be established by Portuguese building regulations is presented. The following tasks were carried out: selecting the furniture and equipment necessary for each dwelling; determining the size of furniture and equipment and its typical arrangement; conceiving models of functional spaces; determining the net area of functional spaces and dwellings; and comparing results with statistics on housing construction in Portugal and with mandatory area standards used in Portugal and ten other European countries. The conclusions are that the net internal area presently set by Portuguese building regulations should be increased by 5 to 15%. The net internal area figures obtained by the study are similar to mandatory regulations established by some other European countries.