The year 2020 saw a rise in the reimagining of the home environment, with tiny houses, shipping container houses, modular building, and improved energy efficiency among the top trends. Such homes "typically cost less than building a standard home from scratch, are durable, have lower insurance premiums, provide flexible living spaces for multi-purpose use, and provide handy owner-builders to add in much of their own labor efforts," according to the blog greenbuildingelements.com.
For locals who are interested in building or upgrading to an energy-efficient or unorthodox house, the Amagansett Library has ample resources.
New titles include "The Passivhaus Handbook: A Practical Guide to Constructing and Retrofitting Buildings for Ultra-Low Energy Performance" by Janet Cotterell and Adam Dadeby, "Shipping Container Homes" by Daron Dwyer, "Dome Living for the 21st Century" by M.R. Valentine, "Essential Building Science: Understanding Energy and Moisture in High Performance House Design" by Jacob Deva Racusin, and "Container and Prefab House Plans" by Patricia Martinez.
The Amagansett Library is open for browsing Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., or for those who prefer not to come inside for a look, there is curbside check-out service available.
