Originally this client had come to me with the idea of remodeling a portion of the house that was only one story; the idea was to add space to the second level of the house. However, upon further examination, the footprint of that space was quite small and it would have proven to be difficult and expensive to connect the resulting space to the house seamlessly. An alternative idea was conceived. Given the need for a new garage, the existing one was becoming structurally unsound, it seemed like an accessory dwelling unit, or ADU would fulfill two needs in one; the need for some additional space and a garage.

The design took advantage of the relatively large footprint of a two-car garage, with some additional overhang space to give the apartment a little more elbow room. The roof forms, inspired by the existing home on the site were modified slightly to enable the proposed ADU to comply with the tight height restrictions imposed on the type within the City of Minneapolis. Thus the “kinks” in the roof line that add headroom to the parts of the project that needed it the most; the kitchen and the bathroom. The result is a charmingly quirky exterior envelope that has a diminutive scale yet accommodating interior space.