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This pro­to­type is based on the premise that a diminu­tive ar­chi­tec­tural propo­si­tion can have sub­stan­tial so­cial, ur­ban and en­vi­ron­men­tal im­pli­ca­tions. De­vel­oped in re­sponse to Los An­ge­les Mayor Eric Garcetti’s call for the cre­ation of 100,000 new hous­ing units by 2021, this pro­to­type back­yard home is a light­weight, re­cy­clable and cus­tomiz­able ac­ces­sory dwelling unit that rec­og­niz­ing that one so­lu­tion to the re­gion’s hous­ing cri­sis might be found in our own back­yards. Al­most a half mil­lion sin­gle fam­ily homes rest within City of LA bound­aries and build­ing sus­tain­able ac­ces­sory units on the land be­hind just 20% of ex­ist­ing homes would meet that goal. The pro­to­type struc­ture demon­strates –in its de­sign, fab­ri­ca­tion, oc­cu­pa­tion, and re­cy­cling, what sus­tain­abil­ity means at a per­sonal level. The pro­to­type is the prod­uct of a re­search ini­tia­tive spon­sored by UCLA’s City­LAB and Kevin Daly Ar­chi­tects, and was con­structed by UCLA grad­u­ate stu­dents as part of an in­de­pen­dent study course. The low-cost, low-im­pact unit could serve as hous­ing for an el­derly par­ent, a re­turn­ing col­lege grad­u­ate, or a rental unit. It is easy to in­stall, min­i­miz­ing util­ity hookups, and easy to re­move. It is al­most en­tirely re­cy­clable.