The Offset ADU, is a 933 sq ft back house. This project was built instead of adding to the existing house and is placed on the existing garage location. The second level is offset because of the power lines behind the property, this offset creates a deck on the second level and a covered front entrance. The ADU divides the rear yard into 3 new spaces: a deck between ADU and house, a rear yard, and a side yard. Each of these spaces now create a more diverse and usable exterior area.
- Client Brief- To create a media room and an extra bedroom/office as an addition to the house for the family. We decided on an ADU in order to activate the backyard, The ADU also removes the need for parking in the rear yard, so the back yard also increased in size. -Planning Constraints- The Power lines in the rear of the yard needed an 8' radius with no building, the new parts of the ADU needed to be 4' from the Property line. These constraints were used to our advantage: the power line set back was used to create a back deck off the second-floor hallway. The 4' side yard set-back provided a space for bike storage and a new tree. -Materials & Methods of Construction- The Offset ADU relies on typical California stick frame construction with some structural steel for the front cantilever.
The U window in the bedroom/office was pushed up to the height of the parapet to create an endless relationship with the sky. The siding is an Ipe rainscreen, combined with a smooth stucco finish. The Ipe siding was an intense process, all the boards are complete and the cut outs for the bathroom window needed to be perfectly calculated and cut.
The Ipe rain screen is fully on 2 sides and a small portion of the 3rd side. These are the two sides that are experienced from the property, the other two sides are facing the neighbors. The windows are framed with wood shadow boxes. The U window is framed in wood along with the soffit with a mirror on the ceiling finishing the pill shape. This window’s framing along with ceiling mirror create an impossible space feeling when experience in person.
The project is part of a new type of residential building being allowed in California, called an ADU, Accessory Dwelling Unit. The concept behind this new building type is to add more housing to the state of California. So by building this ADU this residential parcel now had twice as many units as it originally did , it has gone from 1living unit to 2 living units. One of the design strategies used in this project was to make all the rooms very versatile. The living room/dining room/kitchen is one large space so it could be used in many different ways.
The bedroom/office upstairs is also a larger L shaped room that presently has a murphy bed and a desk in it so it can be used as an extra bedroom and also an office. The 2nd level back deck is large enough to do crafts, sunbath, have a meal or work on your laptop, so we made sure it was also a space usable in many ways. The idea we worked with around reducing the carbon footprint was to reduce the size of the project itself and try to design a building that activates the outside space so the residents spend more time outside in the yard area.
