The renovation, titled “Quad Space,” served as the students’ master’s thesis project. Afterward, Bailie, Dudkowski and Stripp lived together in the house, along with Stripp’s girlfriend, Stephanie Vito, and his dog, a black Labrador mix named Cosmo.

Dudkowski moved out after about four months, and Bailie after another six. But Stripp is still in residence with his girlfriend and Cosmo. Now adept at minimalist living, Stripp took time to reflect on “Quad Space” and answer questions about what it’s like to live inside his own thesis project.

Q: Quad Space was your UB thesis project. Were you surprised that your professors supported your idea to rebuild a house?
A: I did my undergraduate degree at UB, and the main reason I came back was because of the relationships I had with professors. They’re very welcoming to new ideas, and once you develop a level of trust with them, they’re open to letting you do what you want. They’re great to work with—they know a lot about what they do.

Q: Were you planning, all along, to live in Quad Space? Or did that just happen by chance?
A: I expected to live there for at least a year after. It’s a rare thing for an architect to live in his own design space, so to really experience the space has been rewarding. You can see what actually works and what doesn’t work.

Q: What do people say when you tell them how large—or rather, how small—the house is?
A: They're actually surprised at the square footage number because they think it's bigger. It feels larger because of the open-height spaces, and one of the upper bedrooms that might feel small has a skylight, which also helps.

Q: What’s the best thing about living in a minimalist house?
A: I have two things: The low amount of cleaning time, and cheap utility bills.

Q: What’s the worst thing about living in a minimalist house?
A: I think the small kitchen. We do a lot of cooking, and the stove is small and the counterspace is limited. All we have is an under-counter fridge, which is 3 feet high, so we have to go grocery shopping every week. When there were more of us living there, we had to do it every three days. My family always did it every two weeks.

Q: What else have you learned to live without?
A: Mainly furniture, and also small storage things, like bookshelves. We don’t really have any, and I keep going back to bookshelves because we have so many books lying around. We always talked about that—how could we do a closet, or a place to put books? We just never had time to actually do it.

The other thing is a covered entry. I still don’t know how I would do that, but it would be nice to have.

Q: How did it feel to be squashed together, in such tight quarters with roommates?
A: The best thing is just getting even closer with them. We started eating meals together, which I never did with roommates before. We started planning our shopping together, stuff like that, so I think the house forces interaction even more.

The worst thing is a lack of privacy—sometimes, you want to be alone, and it’s hard to escape. But it wasn’t bad at all, really.

Q: Do you have any advice for people interested in living ‘smaller?’
A: Get used to getting rid of stuff you don’t need—(stuff like) little knick-knacks that you put on your desk. My girlfriend has learned now, but in the beginning, she brought way too much, and she just had suitcases full of clothes that she couldn’t hang up anywhere.

Once you get rid of it, you realize that you never really needed it. It’s kind of liberating in a way. Now, when I get new clothes, I get rid of old clothes instead of saving old clothes I never wear.

Q: What are you up to, now? How has Quad Space influenced your career? 
A: I'm working at Architectural Resources, which is a firm with locations in Buffalo and New York City. We do a range of projects—educational, commercial, private residence. I was hired full-time as a junior architect this September.

The process of designing and building an actual house has helped ease the process of going into a work environment. During my interviews, they were very impressed with the project. The construction background will always help me—if I ever don’t have a job, I can always fill in with that kind of work. When I first graduated, I did independent contracting in construction and design.