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All Photos/Editor’s Picks/exterior/building type : adu

Exterior Adu Design Photos and Ideas

Extra-wide concrete pillars help to support the studio at its core.
The overall home is constructed with larch timber, a British wood, and features a central ridge beam that gives it a butterfly-shaped roof. Shou sugi ban was done on the wood to give it a charred finish.
“The cabin offers a lot to the site,” says architect Cristian Stefanescu. “It frames the area towards the street and gives it a presence that melts into the context. It doesn’t shout or scream. There is a quietness about it which is something the clients appreciate.” <span style="font-family: Theinhardt, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, &quot;Segoe UI&quot;, Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, &quot;Helvetica Neue&quot;, sans-serif;">The use of the stone as a foundation allowed the budget to be reduced as it minimized the amount of work and materials.</span>
“Our design fee was very, very little,” says architect Cristian Stefanescu. “That was part of the arrangement. It’s also why we tried to design something very simple—there was less demand to spend time detailing complex intersections.”
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.
Adi and Chris chose an L-shaped, pre-permitted plan by Cast Architecture with extensive glass, and resisted two-story options to fit in better with their neighborhood.
Greenway Studio designed this home addition In Victoria, British Columbia, to blend in with an existing natural rock formation.
The suburban backyard garage in Hertfordshire, England, that architect Olli Andrew of Hyper converted into a work studio is wrapped in charred larch wood pieces that give the impression of scales and foster biodiversity, providing a place for insects to nestle.
The Perch at sunset.
The steel structure is suspended two feet above the roof of the existing bungalow, supported by four steel columns, one of which screens utility lines running from the Perch to the house below.
Joanna and Steve Vernetti have lived in their 1917 bungalow in Hancock Park for over 20 years. As their family increased in size, they needed more space—so they initially thought about adding another floor. After California passed the regulation in 2020, they called up their good friend (and former neighbor) David Thompson. <span style="font-family: Theinhardt, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, &quot;Segoe UI&quot;, Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, &quot;Helvetica Neue&quot;, sans-serif;">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</span><span style="font-family: Theinhardt, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, &quot;Segoe UI&quot;, Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, &quot;Helvetica Neue&quot;, sans-serif;">.</span>
Best Practice added a new roof but kept the existing siding. A fresh coat of paint helps the casita pop, and a new window opening next to the entrance frames a new kitchenette inside.
The garden-level living area of the ADU faces perpendicular to the existing house, offering a measure of privacy to the detached building.
The bright orange tone of the front door matches the color of the accent wall in the living room, connecting the exterior and the interior of the ADU.