Design Your ADU Through Yestermorrow
Accessory Dwelling Unit Design (ADUD) will help you envision and design a backyard cottage, guest house, or in-law suite that meets your needs. We’ll virtually tour noteworthy accessory dwellings, spark a dialogue about space-saving strategies, and engage in an imaginative process with interactive design exercises. In the “design studio” you’ll learn a variety of tools to help you communicate your ideas. Students completing this course will have the skills necessary to continue work on their own ADU projects. Bring your curiosity, enthusiasm, and project ideas!
PCC ADU Design Class May 6-7, 2017
This spring Lina Menard, Coordinator of the ADU Case Studies Project and owner of Niche Consulting, will be teaching Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) Design Course. In this intensive two-day workshop we cover many of the considerations for designing a small space, visit with special guests who have created ADUs, and go through a set of design exercises to help you develop a design of your own.
PCC ADU Design Wraps Up
This past weekend Lina Menard, one of our editors and the coordinator of the ADU Case Studies Project, taught an ADU Design Class through Portland Community College. The fourteen students brought a variety of project ideas, including everything from garage and basement conversions to backyard cottages, additions, and renovation of a workshop.
ADU Storage Solutions
I’ve picked up lots of small space storage solutions over the past couple years as I interviewed ADU homeowners and designers for the ADU Case Studies Project. You may just have to read through the whole set of case studies to see ALL the clever ideas, but here I’ll pick out my top 10 favorites.
Tips for Garage to ADU Conversions
Garage to ADU conversions are the second most common way to create additional dwelling space within our existing building stock. Read on to learn about the benefits of garage to ADU conversions, find links to examples of converted garage ADUs, and become familiar with what the deal-breakers are if you’re considering converting a garage into an ADU.
Creative ADU Types
I didn’t realize that there were so many creative ways to make an ADU. Here are the 10 most interesting examples of Creative ADU Types I’ve encountered.
The Accessory Structures Zoning Code Update Passed
Good News for Detached ADUs It is great to see incremental improvements being made to regulatory ADU codes across the country. Austin, TX recently made some improvements to their ADU … Continue reading
Accessory Structures Zoning Code Amendments – An Overview and Assessment
Introduction The City of Portland (Bureau of Planning and Sustainability) regularly reviews and updates planning and zoning codes through a process called RICAP (Regulatory Improvement Code Amendment Project). Part of … Continue reading
Garage apartments in Houston
Houston, Texas has a long tradition of accessory dwelling units. It also has a unique lack of zoning rules. Could it be the next hotbed of ADU creativity?
Stradivarius violins and cigar box guitars (Making sense of ADU construction costs)
An experienced developer explains why ADUs have such a wide range of costs, and how to estimate costs for your own project.
Staircases in ADUs
When I was designing my ADU with an architect, the stairs presented the most challenging aspect of the whole design. Stairs and their associated components (guardrails, handrails, ceiling, stair treads) … Continue reading
The many and confusing synonyms for ADUs
A quick note about language here. One reason people get so confused, and perhaps heated, about accessory dwellings is that language about them is confused. The different names conjure up … Continue reading
My tiny house after 5 years: things I would have done differently
I’ve written here about how well my tiny house is working out — I converted my detached 1.5-car garage to a little “accessory dwelling unit” and have mostly rented it … Continue reading
New Energy Performance Incentive Available for New ADUs
In a post on my personal ADU blog, I described an awesome building incentive that was made available for my ADU from the Energy Trust of Oregon (ETO). My ADU … Continue reading
Building design and construction process – step by step
Reasonable people may disagree, but here are the sequential steps in designing and building an ADU. This is an approximation of the steps for my ADU project, anyway. This was … Continue reading
Energy efficiency and building size
Building residential options that use less energy is achieved most effectively by building smaller square footage units and filling in vacant urban space (aka urban infill). Building green is achieved … Continue reading
Building a detached ADU
Building a detached ADU isn’t necessarily different than building a house. Although ADUs (usually <800 sq ft) are necessarily smaller than a normal house (avg house size is 2,382 sq … Continue reading
Ten steps to permitting an ADU
Ten steps for planning, designing, and permitting an ADU Building an ADU is daunting. Here’s a quick sketch of the chronological steps to get ready to build an ADU on … Continue reading
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