Seen elsewhere on the site, this house is designed to incorporate features that would enhance the quality of life in the house in terms of capturing as much natural light as possible, creating open airy spaces and providing for natural ventilation. The plan was developed around the dimensions of a typical Minneapolis city lot with a detached garage.

Designed for an urban home site, this house based on an elongated rectangular plan. With the narrow end facing the street and the attached garage accessible from an alley, this house represents the compact nature of city dwelling while maintaining the suburban convenience that eludes many homes located within city limits: an attached garage. Additionally, the house maintains a traditional appearance while striving to provide the open plan layout that is demanded by our current lifestyles.

This plan, like others on this site, provides an open plan within the confines of a typical narrow, deep residential site in the urban environment. Where this plan varies from other plans is the range of options on the second floor level where bedrooms can be removed to provide a rooftop terrace which enables additional windows in the remaining rooms. An additional feature is the change in roof level between the bedrooms and the hallway. This provides an opportunity to create a clerestory in the hallway and thus natural light in the heart of the home. 

Designed for a larger suburban site, this plan represents a departure from the typical suburban home. The second floor is rotated 90 degrees relative to the first which offers opportunities for dramatic cantilevers, overhangs and a more sculptural massing of the home as well as opportunities to create outdoor space on the second level that is adjacent to multi-purpose space.

Increasing the floor to floor height provides opportunities to create true clerestory windows that can rise above kitchen appliances, cabinets and the like to produce dramatically more open interior space and open the house to light and views.

Finally, the use of interior fireplace elements, casework and exterior massing, functional, informal and private spaces are screened from the more public parts of the house and blocks views from the outside.

In the interest of “densifying” neighborhoods, the City of Minneapolis has created a “new” building type known as the “Accessory Dwelling Unit”. In these days of the pandemic, this diminutive living space takes on new meaning. It can potentially enhance one’s main house, offering space to fulfill a whole range of needs: space for quarantine, space for the at-home office, space for visiting family members or elderly parents. These are useful functions that can easily out-live the current pandemic. Given the small scale, an ADU is an enhancement that can make both functional and economic sense.

With a more traditional exterior, this version of ADU 001 raises the apartment to a second level and provides a two-car garage at ground level. The second floor living space provides an opportunity to include a deck in the plan.

Continuing with the theme of compact space, similar in scale to a two-car garage, this version of the plan was stretched and widened slightly to give the interior a little more breathing room and additional functionality. With the addition of a couple bump-outs, the bathroom and living room spaces were given the enhancements of extra elbow room and an entertainment center respectively. A second bump-out provides a niche for a “desk area.”

For those who may want an Accessory Dwelling Unit on their property but may not have space for that AND a garage, this plan incorporates the two-car garage into the format of the “ADU002” plan at ground level. With the addition of the ground level garage there is an opportunity to create some outdoor space in the form of a deck. The living space gains greater flexibility and enhances the quality and functionality of this plan.

For those who are looking for a more contemporary aesthetic, this ADU provides some of those qualities that give it a more modern feel while still keeping to the idea of the diminutive size and use of few materials. The interior has an openness afforded by the open plan as well as the use of a “roof monitor” that opens up the space above the kitchen that both enables a more airy feel and allows light to cascade into the space and the adjoining spaces from above.

In contrast to the first two ADSs in the series, this unit pushes the boundaries of what can be done structurally and veers toward a more modern sensibility with over-sized cantilevers, roof monitor and generous openings. Materials include polished concrete for floors, metal windows and a lacquer finish on the casework. This ADU provides a lot dynamism and drama for its modest size.