The two new buildings create a courtyard-like feel in the small urban backyard.
Brian and Melissa's two young children spend hours playing in the yard. With Melissa's mother in a house on the same property, the kids have easy access to Grandma whenever she's in town. "It's such a unique experience having multiple generations together," Brian says. "If the kids get up early, they can just run over to Melissa's mom's and spend time with her."
The 900-square-foot prefabricated backyard ADU in Los Angeles, California, that Cover designed to bring a family closer together features bright white composite exterior siding and a deck made from thermally treated ash.
Thompson, a founding principal of Assembledge+, had recently participated in a Los Angeles Magazine project to imagine solutions for those who lack housing in the city. Their notion was for public agencies to subsidize building ADUs in backyards along alleyways, dovetailing with existing alley revitalization initiatives
A Seattle couple built their own backyard house with a city-sponsored design—and then rented out their old home on the property to friends.
The owner and architect chose to outfit almost every aspect of the studio in Douglas fir plywood.
The Kleines Haus was thoughtfully designed to maintain its own sense of independence from the main house.
The new, attached ADU is rented out as a passive source of income that is helping Amanda finance the project.
A dilapidated garage in Los Angeles becomes a whimsical backyard dwelling.
The 1000-square-foot ADU is two levels with a footprint that allows the owners to retain plenty of outdoor space for their dogs to play. The façade “is a rain screen system, so the heat gain on the Brazilian hardwood is minimized by being physically separated by an air gap between it and the membrane behind it,” said Knight. “So, the wood heats up when sun hits it and this is not directly translated into the wall on the interior; it is instead buffered by this air gap.” The large doors and second-story skylights then work together to pull a nice breeze through the house.
The 750-square-foot accessory dwelling unit (ADU) that Bo Sundius and Hisako Ichiki of BunchADU designed in Los Angeles’s Atwater Village is filled with bright colors that help to designate the spaces within the small backyard home.
"It looks like an ordinary home, but there are decisions here that are out of the ordinary,
Exposing structural materials as finish materials created valuable cost savings. The structural concrete floors and exposed second floor framing strengthen the overall aesthetic, while eliminating the need for drywall or additional flooring.
When looking to add an ADU to their backyard in Highland Park, Oni Lazarus and her partner Didi went with Cover’s turnkey offering. The Los Angeles–based prefab builders managed every step, giving the couple an idyllic, indoor/outdoor rental unit that capitalizes on sunny Southern California weather.
After buying an Echo Park bungalow, the homeowners, who originally intended to renovate the small home, realized the potential of building an entirely new dwelling in place of the existing garage. It offered better views of the neighborhood and the opportunity to design exactly what they wanted.
To make the two-bedroom, one-and-a-half-bath dwelling look and feel as large as possible, Sundius and Ichiki maintained sightlines from one end to the other. "We didn’t want to disrupt the flow of the stepped ceiling as it runs the length of the building,
Exposed laminated strand lumber (LSL) joists and painted brackets introduce texture and color while keeping material costs down.
“The pitched ceilings and ribbon of clerestory windows make the interior feel more spacious than it is,” notes Gooden.
Garcia clad the ADU’s exterior with a local Texas limestone, similar in color and texture to the main house, “just to tie the two together visually,” says the architect.
Developed as a holiday home, the pared-back timber construction is a nod to the modest fisher-cottages prevalent in the area.
The mix of plywood helped save on costs, adds visual interest to the space, and serves as an example for Tim’s clients.
Architects Delavegacanolasso expand a client’s work-from-home office space by adding a Cor-Ten steel prefab to the backyard.
