ADU design and architecture
Built ADUs and how they solved the problem: small-footprint layouts, daylight in a garage or basement, and what fits under the size limit.
Units that exist, and the constraint each one was designed against. A thirteen-foot-wide lot in Venice, a dark garage in the Outer Sunset, a studio over a rebuilt garage, and the sixteen architects who each took a different route to the same 1,200-square-foot limit. Layout and daylight, mostly, because at this size they are the whole problem.
Start here: Browse ADU plan sets on A-du Build
26 posts on adu design and architecture
Two Homes, One Arch: An LA ADU Stacks Up on 1,500 Feet
A Los Angeles studio stacked two accessory dwelling units in arched steel, fitting two full homes onto a single 1,500-square-foot lot. A sharp answer to a narrow lot, with the price still unpublished.
September 11, 2026
A $210K Highland Park ADU Chose Light. Inland LA Charges for It.
A Highland Park couple added a $210,000 glass-walled Cover ADU for all-day light. In an inland California climate zone, that same glass drives the summer cooling bill, unless the design fights back first.
September 2, 2026
This 800-Square-Foot Seattle DADU Was Built to Rent, in 2017
Seattle overhauled its ADU rules in 2019, dropping owner-occupancy and letting one lot hold two rentals. A Central District architect saw it coming: an 800-square-foot backyard cottage, built in 2017 purely to rent out.
August 22, 2026
A Silver Lake ADU Traded Its Backyard for a Roof Deck
Building a full ADU on a Silver Lake lot meant losing most of the backyard, so the architects stacked it two stories and put the lost yard on the roof. Going vertical is a second project, not a space-saving hack.
August 15, 2026
This Venice ADU Is 13 Feet Wide and an Inch From the Neighbor
A Venice lot already held a bungalow, a duplex, and a pool. Sharif, Lynch threaded a fourth home into the gap: 1,169 square feet, 13 feet wide, one inch off the neighbor, and built straight up.
August 11, 2026
A Castro Garage Holds 8 Cars. The Plan Is 3 Two-Bedroom Homes.
Plans filed for a 12-unit building at 3571 16th Street would swap eight covered parking spaces for three two-bedroom ADUs, no replacement parking required, all of it riding on one San Francisco ordinance.
August 6, 2026
An Architect Built His Mother a Backyard Home. It's 265 Square Feet.
An architect built his 82-year-old mother a 265-square-foot house in his sister's Oakland backyard, and the hardest part was not the permit or the price. It was deciding what fits when every object is a choice.
August 3, 2026
Your LA ADU's Best Room Is the Yard. The Code Gives You 4 Feet.
On a Los Angeles lot, the yard is the room you can actually afford to add. State law caps the side and rear setback at four feet, the Valley sun does the rest, and a low deck costs a fraction of conditioned space.
August 2, 2026
California's First Fire-Resistant 3D-Printed ADU Uses No Wood
In a Walnut backyard, a robotic arm printed the concrete walls of what its builders call California's first fire-resistant ADU: 1,200 square feet, two bedrooms, and not one stick of wood in the main structure.
July 27, 2026
The Wedge: A Portland ADU Designed Around the Winter Sun
In Portland's Foster-Powell neighborhood, a 530-square-foot backyard ADU by Propel Studio uses one angled overhang to shade summer and catch winter sun, on a lot Oregon freed from owner-occupancy and parking rules.
July 25, 2026
How a Small ADU Lives Like It Has 200 More Square Feet
A wall bed hands back the 33 square feet a queen mattress holds hostage all day. Add a fold-down table and convertible seating, and a 400-square-foot California ADU starts living like one half again its size.
July 17, 2026
Your NYC Basement ADU Doesn't Have to Feel Like a Basement
New York's basement and cellar ADUs are finally legal, but a below-grade unit lives or dies on light, ceiling height, and egress. The design moves that make a dark, low room feel like a home, not a hole.
July 14, 2026
A $437K Live-Work ADU, Designed by the Couple Who Live in It
Mai Tran and Le Pham lived in a 300-square-foot basement for years to fund the home they wanted in the backyard. Evelyn ADU cost $437,000 for 630 square feet, and the math only closes if you plan to stay.
July 13, 2026
700 Dark Square Feet: How an Outer Sunset Garage Got Bright
A 1928 Outer Sunset row house had 700 square feet of dark garage under it. Architect Jack Hotho and Innen Studio made it bright, and the fix was the floor plan, not the windows. Here is the fog-belt daylighting playbook.
July 12, 2026
This 620-Square-Foot Altadena ADU Turns a Privacy Wall Into Sculpture
Architect Mike Wang built a 620-square-foot backyard ADU in Altadena for his retired mother and her partner, and its sculptural circular wall does the one job most small LA units get wrong: privacy.
July 6, 2026
California ADU Studio Storage: What Works in 600 to 800 Square Feet
The gap between a California ADU that feels like a home and one that feels like a college dorm is almost always storage. Here is the layout logic that works in 600 to 800 square feet.
June 26, 2026
Granada: The Backyard ADU in Angelino Heights That Also Became a Café
A detached ADU at 1451 Carroll Avenue in Angelino Heights opened as Granada café in January 2026 under a California MEHKO permit, designed by architect Isaac Watters and designer Sydney Wayser of Canto Co.
June 22, 2026
Polyhaus's 540 SF Mass-Timber ADU in San Diego: $300K in 12 Weeks
University of San Diego professor Daniel López-Pérez built a 540 SF cross-laminated timber ADU in his San Diego backyard in 2024 for $300,000, using a patented system of 64 repeating CLT panels.
June 12, 2026
California ADU Kitchen Layouts: Galley, L-Shape, and Single-Wall
The kitchen is the hardest room to get right in a California ADU. In a 600 to 1000 square foot unit, one wrong decision wastes feet you cannot recover. Here is what each layout delivers.
June 11, 2026
How 16 Los Angeles Architects Solved the 1,200-Square-Foot ADU Limit
Sixteen completed LA ADUs from Assembledge+, ORA, and others, ranging from 245 to 1,178 square feet. Dwell's roundup shows what good design looks like inside California's 1,200-square-foot cap for detached units.
June 3, 2026
Warren Techentin's Ivan Hill ADU Floats Over a Silver Lake Slope
Warren Techentin Architecture's Ivan Hill ADU in Silver Lake stacks two cantilevered pods over a hillside terrace, a reflective blue tile cube and a stepped greige volume, completed 2024 and recently featured on ArchDaily.
May 22, 2026
Byben's Offset ADU Turns a Mar Vista Garage Into 890 Square Feet
Byben replaced a one-car Mar Vista garage with an 890-square-foot, two-story ADU whose upper level cantilevers around a rear power line. The build sits on the original garage foundation and walls.
April 6, 2026
Samara Installs Its First Factory-Built Wildfire-Rebuild ADU in Altadena
Samara, Joe Gebbia's factory-built ADU company, lowered its first wildfire-rebuild unit into Altadena last week. 950 sf, two-bed two-bath, free to a fire-displaced family via Steadfast LA. First of a planned 2026 series.
January 28, 2026
2024 AIA|LA ADU Design Winners
The AIA|LA Chapter has chosen its favorite ADU designs of 2024. Click here to read the full press release.
December 21, 2024
Which ADU Is Right For You?
While different types of ADUs serve various functions, the right type of ADU for you may vary depending on your design preference, the size & shape of you property, and your location's zoning regulations. Already know…
November 3, 2024
Cover Architecture's Moongate ADU Frames Altadena Through a Circular Aperture
Cover Architecture's 620 sf Moongate ADU in Altadena, designed by principal Mike Wang for his mother and her partner, uses a sloped partition wall with a circular aperture to mediate between street and dwelling.
September 22, 2024