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In less than a full day of work, Plant Prefab put together this home in Oakland’s Golden Gate neighborhood. The two-story prefab was designed as a modern barnhouse by Lance Lowrey of GAEA Architecture Design and features three-bedrooms, two-baths and 1,740 square feet of living space.

Here, Plant Prefab partnered with LivingHomes, one of the top sustainable home design firms in the nation, on the LivingHome AD1, a versatile Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) designed to fit either in backyards, or as a main structure on an empty lot. The LivingHome AD1 was designed to be flexible and comes in various finish options.

A clean-lined bathroom of stone and concrete.

Gray, full-height, seamless cabinetry matches the gray-painted original brick wall. The contrast with the white kitchen island is striking.

This stunning forest retreat in England uses prefabricated panels to minimize site impact, shorten construction time, and protect against weather.

“It was great to work from the plans of someone who was a part of the history of architecture,” says Drapszo.

The home’s program is split between two structures, each completing one arm of the L shape, and connected by an enclosed, second-story bridge.

An exploded axonometric drawing of the Pinwheel ADU.

Spurred by the city’s generous ADU incentives and a desire to reduce their environmental footprint, a couple—he an architect and she a construction engineer—designed and built an elegant, 624-square-foot backyard home with sustainability at its core. Scott Mooney and Lauren Shumaker’s compact backyard home is located in the back half of their 5,000-square-foot lot in the Richmond neighborhood of Southeast Portland. The couple plans to track the energy use of their new-build’s electric equipment and appliances. The data will inform the size of their photovoltaic array they'll add to offset the energy costs of the ADU and the bungalow.

The space between the ADU and the existing bungalow functions as a communal yard and garden. The lot has on-site parking for two full-size vehicles and a motorcycle.

The interior shelving and cabinetry was fabricated locally by ADX from sealed birch plywood.

The couple selected Milgard Essence Series Windows with a fiberglass exterior and solid wood interior to match the timber palette used in the house.

Floor-to-ceiling glazing is installed on all four sides of the house; however, the glazed openings are recessed to different degrees to follow passive solar principles.

All-electric equipment and appliances were installed.

The living area and bedroom light fixtures, as well as the cabinet pulls, were sourced from Schoolhouse Electric.

Subway tile lines the compact bathroom that's fitted out with low-flow Kohler fixtures.

A small loft was built over the bedrooms for out-of-town guests. The space is illuminated with an operable skylight.