El Centro Mini ADU

Accessory dwelling units/ADUs have been popularized since California passed legislation in 2017 to legalize self-sufficient dwellings throughout the state as a response to a chronic housing crisis and shortage of affordable options. Promoting diversity in scale and income levels, ADUs also advance the environmental benefits of "living small" and creating denser communities.
This project includes converting a 300SF garage into a home for the family Au Pair. This detached accessory dwelling unit needed to feel comfortable with clean, modern lines and an open floor layout. The conversion took place amid the scourge of the Covid19 pandemic. As a result, due to the existing shutdown mandates in place, the permitting process took double the time frame anticipated by our team and the city of Oakland. To ease the process, municipalities across the state have partially relaxed the requirements on parking and setbacks while developing programs with incentives to make more ADUs available to low- or moderate-income tenants.
This project had a very tight budget. Hence our attention was turned to creating clean details with a natural, modern material palette.
The exterior walls are finished in smooth stucco. The modern collection Fleetwood ribbon windows on the north wall are placed high enough to block any view into the ADU from the backyard while allowing plenty of natural light to pour into the space throughout the day. The south wall hosts a European, fixed frame large window and a modern metal door which was raised 6" from grade to protect against the Bay Area heavy rain in February-April.
A custom Entry Planter in grey metal was designed with selected low maintenance California native plants such as the Pedilanthus macrocarpus/Lady's Slipper and Euphorbia Ingens Candelabras.
Interior and exterior wood slats were inserted at careful junctions to add warmth to the palette.
The indoor FF&E is kept minimal and simple. The material selection process was a constant dance between the budget and material integrity. To meet the project budget, we specified the COREtec Pro Galaxy - 7-1/8" wide textured, pine-finished vinyl flooring and used the IKEA FÖRBÄTTRA modern white panels on cabinetry.
The project was constructed in 2021 with Crowell as the local GC on the project.