Shanghai-based interior studio Linehouse used natural materials and a muted colour palette to give the Ying’nFlo hotel in Wan Chai, Hong Kong, the feel of an inviting home.
The hotel occupies the podium of a 24-story tower on a hilly street in Hong Kong. Its ground floor holds a series of communal spaces that Linehouse designed to provide “home comfort” for guests.
The ground floor comprises a series of rooms referencing living rooms
The Collectors Room, which greets guests at the entrance of the hotel, has a neutral palette of hand-rendered walls, timber paneling, and linen cabinetry that display curated objects and artworks. A communal oak table serves as a counter where guests can interact.
This room also connects to an outdoor terrace through sliding glazed doors. Built-in bench seating and an olive tree sit at the centre of the terrace and invite guests to relax and socialise.
A communal table and outdoor bench invite guests to socialise
A gridded timber screen leads further into the space through to the lift lobby and the Arcade room, where guests can gather to relax and play.
Soft-rendered walls, timber shutters and an eclectic mix of furniture create a sense of intimacy, while floor tiles in various geometrical motifs add a sense of playfulness.
The Music Room features ceramic tiles
Adjacent to the Arcade is the Music Room, the social hub of the hotel. Here, ceramic tiles, a bespoke oak shelving system, a custom sofa and curated art and lifestyle objects were added to evoke a sense of a residential living room.
The Music Room opens up to the Garden Terrace, where undulating greenery sits behind circular seating in yellow-striped fabric, a colourful contrast to the overall neutral colour palette of the Ying’nFlo hotel.
Yellow-striped fabric seating on the terrace adds playfulness
“The spaces are designed to have a warm, welcoming and familiar feel,” Linehouse said.
“Against this backdrop of curated simplicity is an edge of youthful attitude and local context, with vibrant elements giving the hotel its own unique flavour.”
The guest rooms of the Ying’nFlo hotel are located on the upper floor and feature ceilings painted in a muted green hue, which the same green tone used to frame window seating nooks and for the hand-glazed tiles in the bathroom and kitchen.
A clean palette of plaster, wood, white-washed oak and canvas add texture to the rooms. Seating nooks and lounge furniture serve multiple functions as spaces where guests can work, relax or dine.
Muted green and selection of wood furniture create a warm feeling for the guest rooms
Linehouse was founded by Alex Mok and Briar Hickling in 2013 and the duo went on to win emerging interior designer of the year at the 2019 Dezeen Awards.
The studio has recently completed a Mediterranean restaurant with natural, tactile materials, as well as a space-themed cafe decorated with real meteorites, both in Shanghai.
The photography is by Jonathan Leijonhufvud.
Project credits:
Design principle: Briar Hickling Design team: Ricki-Lee Van Het Wout, Lara Daoud, Justin Cheung
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Hampshire-based Pad Studio recently completed a post-occupancy study on an eco-house it completed 13 years ago. In this interview, director Wendy Perring discusses the findings.
Architecture practice Pad Studio completed New Forest House in 2010. Over the past year, it has been actively measuring the home’s energy usage.
The studio funded the study itself as a learning exercise. Perring believes the approach should be more common among architects.
Wendy Perring believes more architecture studios should undertake post-occupancy studies into their projects. Photo by Paul Close
“It’s so important, because otherwise, how do we learn?” she told Dezeen. “Architects are so sheltered in terms of their sharing of knowledge.”
“It would be great if it was actually mandatory to collect data from all new houses, that there was a much more joined-up system so that we could just share knowledge about what works and what doesn’t.”
The project was developed for a couple with a large budget who wanted to prioritise sustainability – meaning Perring was given licence to experiment.
“Our clients were very enlightened and they requested a house that treads lightly on the Earth, which totally fitted with our ethos, and I think was one of the reasons why we got the job,” recalled Perring, who undertook the project prior to buying out her business partner and establishing Pad Studio.
“Degree of hoping for the best”
Some of the decisions Perring made were unusual for the time.
“I guess it was a case of putting into practice a lot of textbook research, and maybe there was a degree of hoping for the best,” she said. “But it really did pay off.”
For example, the design focuses on a high level of thermal mass, with a concrete structure preferred to lightweight timber frame.
Thermally massive materials like concrete absorb heat from the sun during the day and store it, slowly releasing the warmth when external temperatures drop.
New Forest House was completed in 2010 for a couple who wanted to prioritise sustainability
Perring worked with consultant and Bath University visiting professor Doug King on the thermal mass strategy at New Forest House, which contradicted what many low-carbon architecture advocates believed around the turn of the 2010s.
“At that time there was a lot of debate about thermal mass,” said Perring. “We were reading about all this stuff, but we took a leap of faith in many ways.”
“One of the things that is really fascinating in the post-occupancy data is how flat the temperature differential is. It really does work.”
Timber frame was chosen for the guest annexe, where sporadic occupancy meant quicker heating was considered an advantage.
Slatted shutters over the windows help to control the amount of sunlight – and therefore solar heat gain – entering the house.
Perring’s other major sustainability decision was to take New Forest House’s energy generation mostly off-grid.
A ground-source heat pump – Perring’s preference but out of most clients’ financial reach – provides heating and hot water, meaning the house has no mains gas connection. Its bore holes plunge 100 metres underground.
Back in 2010, the heat pump actually had a larger carbon impact than a gas combi boiler, but the national electricity grid’s decisive shift away from coal in the years since has already led to a significant carbon saving.
Pad Studio experimented with thermal mass science as part of the project
A solar thermal system on the building’s roof supports the heat pump’s hot water provision.
In addition, 47 solar panels next to the house generate an average of 9,500 kilowatt-hours (kw/h) per year – equivalent to £3,420 at today’s prices.
Solar battery storage with 13.5 kw/h of capacity now being installed on the site will ensure that more of the energy generated can be put to use.
Up to 97 per cent cheaper to run
The post-occupancy energy efficiency study was conducted in collaboration with Mesh Energy Consultants. Five Purmetrix sensors were positioned around the home for 12 months, gathering data on humidity, temperature and ventilation.
They found that, as a result of the sustainability measures embedded into its design, New Forest House is 42 per cent cheaper to run than a home built to current building regulations.
If it wasn’t for the household’s unusually high electricity usage – with an electric pottery kiln, an infrared sauna, electric woodworking tools and an electric car – the house would be 97 cheaper to run compared to most new-builds being constructed today.
The home is mostly off-grid, with a ground-source heat pump, photovoltaic panels and a solar thermal panel
Combined, the heat pump and solar mean New Forest House has emitted 110 per cent less carbon dioxide during its lifetime than if it had been powered by gas.
As well as operational efficiency, the study also looked at embodied carbon – that is, emissions caused by the building’s construction.
It concluded that at 359 kilograms of CO2 equivalent per square metre (kgCO2e/m2), New Forest House has an embodied carbon value 43 per cent smaller than set by current building regulations and the Royal Institute of British Architects’ 2030 Climate Challenge.
This is despite the importance of embodied carbon only becoming properly understood in the past few years.
According to the study, New Forest House is 42 per cent cheaper than a house built to today’s standards
“We weren’t talking about embodied carbon back then – we didn’t have the label – but we knew that we wanted to steward resources carefully,” said Perring.
Local materials were used where possible, while in another unusual step for the time, the concrete has a high proportion of ground granulated blast-furnace slag instead of highly polluting cement.
“We thought: ‘well, if we’re building using concrete, why don’t we just be honest about that fact and actually try to reduce the environmental impact of it, and exploit the fact we’ve got this thermal mass and use it to its benefit’,” said Perring.
“I think architects are very judgmental, in terms of: concrete is bad, timber is good. And that’s not always the case. It’s how you use it.”
Earth berm and swimming pond
Initially she had wanted to use stabilised rammed earth taken from the site for the structure, but testing revealed the soil was unsuitable.
Instead, earth excavated for a basement and swimming pond was saved from landfill by being used for a berm on the northern side, providing added insulation and acoustic shielding from a nearby motorway.
Home to a small community of voles, it is among multiple interventions on the large site intended to contribute to the local ecology, alongside a green roof and the planted swimming pond, which attracts news, grass snakes, kingfishers and nightjars.
As the New Forest is a designated Site of Special Scientific Interest, this was essential for gaining planning permission.
An earth berm was formed using the soil dug to create the swimming pond
The earth sheltering does come with downsides, however. The sensors picked up high humidity levels on this side of the house, increasing the risk of mould growth.
Meanwhile, for most of the year the house’s water is supplied by a restored seepage well that takes from the groundwater.
Wastewater is then treated on-site and filtered back into the landscape before being drawn up by the well again.
“We have to be designing for longevity”
For Perring, circularity is the next major step towards architecture becoming more sustainable, with demountable structures and recyclable materials key aspects of design.
“It’s not acceptable to knock down a house and send it off to landfill,” she said. “We have to be designing for longevity, but we have to be considering what happens, inevitably, to those buildings that do have a defined lifespan.”
In the past 13 years, Pad Studio’s practice has moved on from New Forest House.
Pad Studio’s current projects aim for a lower embodied carbon than New Forest House
A greater range of insulation and window systems are available, Perring explains, while current projects target a considerably smaller embodied carbon.
Its recently completed The Clay Retreat, for instance, has a calculated embodied carbon of 159 kgCO2e/m2 – 56 per lower than New Forest House.
New Forest House’s energy performance remains impressive compared to most houses being built today, but Perring believes that is partly a function of policy failures in the UK.
“I am a big believer that the only way to push things forward is statutory change,” she said.
“There’s got to be better joined up policies in terms of the government setting standards for embodied carbon and operational energy, there’s just got to be.
“We’ve got to use less, we really do.”
The photography is by Richard Chivers unless otherwise stated.
Spotted: Bone grafts are considered to be the gold standard in terms of repairing and reconstructing damaged bones. These can either be autologous, where a patient’s own tissue is used, or allogeneic, where the tissue is taken from another person. But limited supply, donor-site complications, and risk of disease transmission can often prevent allogeneic grafts from being used. Xenogeneic bone grafts, where the graft is taken from another species, represent a feasible alternative. But, because xenograft materials come from mammal tissue, it raises ethical questions surrounding animal welfare.
To find a safe, adaptable, and environmentally friendly alternative, a team of researchers has developed a method to convert eggshells into endotoxin-free and immunocompatible amorphous calcium phosphate (ACP) particles.
First the shells were heated, then mixed with distilled water and phosphoric acid. The precipitate was then filtered and washed, before being submerged in liquid nitrogen. The resulting ACP particles are essential to forming hard and strong bone and can therefore be used as an ideal bone substitute.
As well as containing plenty of calcium and phosphorous, Dr Qianli Ma – the study’s lead author – highlights that eggshells are also an ideal raw material because they contain traces of magnesium and strontium, which are associated with healthy bone regeneration. The team also created a novel 3D spheroid model, which allows the activity of eggshell ACP to be studied in vitro. With the model, the researchers could observe how the ACP materials would actually interact with osteoblasts, and they were found to be safe and effective in promoting bone regeneration.
If scaled successfully, this new technique could enable an unlimited supply of sustainable bone graft materials, while reducing the volume of eggshells going to waste. The scientists hope their latest findings inspire additional research into the conversion of food waste into high-value biomaterials.
Eggshells are not only being used in the medical field. Springwise has also spotted a design studio creating wall tiles from discarded eggshells, and another that has transformed the waste into car interiors.
Katata Yoshihito Design shapes Japanese knife manufacturer TOJIRO’s first store in Tokyo as an interactive and informative exhibition space that encapsulates the brand’s quality of craftsmanship. The TOJIRO Knife Gallery is conceived as a multipurpose complex divided into two sections that showcase the product ranges and their context with full transparency. A main gallery space bathed in hues of grey and geometric frames uniformly exhibits the knives along the wall at eye level to maximize the site’s small area and encourage engagement. Meanwhile, a maintenance room equipped with the machinery used at TOJIRO’s main factory allows visitors to explore the technical manufacturing process.
all images courtesy of Katata Yoshihito
spatially translating the knife brand’s values
Spatially translating the knife brand’s values and characteristics, creative consulting and design firm Katata Yoshihito Design’s material palette comprises steel frames, wood wool boards, and corrugated panels to echo those used in TOJIRO’s main factory space in Tsubame City. This is enhanced by the integration of various grey tones which work to spotlight the products themselves while unifying the two divided zones and establishing a sense of cohesiveness.
Designed to house various functions, the gallery’s kitchen studio engages in a clean and sharp aesthetic where visitors are invited to partake in cooking classes and also experience the products first-hand. In the maintenance room, customers can experience a factory-like ambience and learn more about TOJIRO,
designboom has received this project from our DIY submissions feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.
With just three weeks until Dezeen Awards entries close, last year’s winners detail the positive outcomes of winning and encourage other studios to enter.
One studio said that winning a Dezeen Award was “a thrilling, rewarding and inspiring experience” while another said it created “new relationships with retailers, media and customers”.
“Winning a Dezeen Award has considerably raised my profile and helped me secure further collaborations,” said a studio that won for their consumer product design.
Dezeen Awards 2023, in partnership with Bentley Motors, is open for entries. There are only three weeks left to submit your project before midnight London time on 1 June and avoid late entry fees.
Read on to see what last year’s winners had to say:
British company MysteryVibe won for their a sex toy designed to help with erectile dysfunction
Sex toy company MysteryVibe, which won wearable design of the year for its vibrator aimed at tackling erectile dysfunction, considered winning a Dezeen Award “the ultimate honour”.
“It’s the ultimate honour for us to be recognised for all the hard work over many years that has gone into improving the health and happiness of people across the globe,” said the studio.
“The award resulted in press coverage and media attention in publications that we wouldn’t normally be featured in.”
Japanese startup studio Quantum won Dezeen Awards 2022 overall design project of the year
Japanese firm Quantum won product design of the year and design project of the year for its lightweight foldable wheelchair and told Dezeen that winning last year offered the practice new clients and media exposure, and encouraged other studios to also enter.
“We have received more inquiries from new clients and media who had heard about us winning the award,” said Quantum. “It also resulted in being selected as a part of the permanent collection of the museum Designmuseum Danmark.”
Architecture practice Studio Bua won residential rebirth project of the year for its Icelandic artist’s studio and residence and agreed that winning has led to new opportunities.
“It has positively affected our previous client relationships and it helps when acquiring new clients,” said Studio Bua. “We did see an increase in followers on our social media and clients have mentioned it after they saw that we posted about it.”
Designer Kathleen Reilly playfully rests her winning designs on her trophy
“It made me feel like anything is possible and I saw my future career as an artist and designer a lot more clearly,” said designer Kathleen Reilly, who won homeware design of the year for Oku, a knife informed by chopstick rests.
“As a result of winning, I have managed to secure a new collaboration, as well as several press articles and new relationships with retailers, media, and customers.”
“The wooden board which comes with Oku is now being made with Karimoku, Japan’s leading furniture manufacturer, and we are looking to launch this new collaboration this year.”
Studio G8A Architecture’s Dezeen Awards trophy pictured in front of a scale model of the winning factory
The team at Dutch practice Olaf Gipser Architects won housing project of the year for their apartment block with planted balconies and their win has served as motivation for future projects.
“We display our Dezeen Awards 2022 trophy at our office close to the entrance and next to a 1:200 scale wooden model,” said Olaf Gipser Architects.
“It reminds us of our achievements and recognitions and gives us all extra motivation to keep on going towards our goals.”
Office G8A Architecture, which won for its stainless steel manufacturing factory designed in collaboration with Switzerland-based Rollimarchini Architects, told Dezeen that winning gained the studio international validation.
“Winning a Dezeen Award can be described as a thrilling, rewarding and inspiring experience,” said G8A Architecture. “It helped us gain international recognition, reaching new clients and new talent for our team.”
Practice Atelier Boter’s trophy and certificate are displayed on the shelves in their office
Taiwanese architecture studio Atelier Boter won small workspace interior for its glass-fronted community hub and also has its trophy on display in the office.
“We put the trophy on the shelf together with all the books we gain inspiration from – it is a shelf we only place things that we’ve filtered through, as it is what falls in sight every time we walk into our studio,” said Atelier Boter.
“Winning a Dezeen Award is certainly an important encouragement to us as a small studio and it reassures us that we are doing the right thing,” added the studio.
Dezeen Awards 2023
Dezeen Awards celebrates the world’s best architecture, interiors and design. Now in its sixth year, it has become the ultimate accolade for architects and designers across the globe. The annual awards are in partnership with Bentley Motors, as part of a wider collaboration that will see the brand work with Dezeen to support and inspire the next generation of design talent.
Spotted: The more we improve fossil-fuel-free vehicles, the greener the transportation sector will become. And, according to The University of Glasgow’s School of Chemistry, Scottish-grown seaweed may be the unlikely key holder to making electric vehicles (EVs) more enticing for buyers. More specifically, the team is currently testing whether it will help improve the life span and charge time of lithium-ion batteries, used to power EVs.
A material found in brown seaweed might help develop batteries using silicon instead of graphite. Although graphite is a central component of a lithium-ion battery, it can only store a limited amount of charge and has a restricted lifespan. Replacing it, then, is vital to improving the charging capacity, with silicone being suggested as a viable alternative. The only issue is that when silicon is used on its own, it damages the battery quickly. So, to couple an increased need to store energy with an increased battery lifespan, the team have created a prototype that combines silicone with a material in seaweed.
“Battery technology is going to play a hugely important role in our transition away from fossil fuels. Electric vehicles, renewable energy production, national grids and other critical elements of a net zero future will depend on having batteries that can store large amounts of energy in the smallest volumes possible and with extended lifetimes,” said Professor Duncan Gregory, chair in Inorganic Materials at the University of Glasgow’s School of Chemistry.
Using funding from the Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Centre (IBioIC), the team has so far produced a prototype the size of a watch battery, with tests showing promising results. To prove that seaweed can boost charging capacity, the researchers are now looking towards making a larger battery to test the technology at scale.
Springwise has previously spotted other innovations that aim to improve electric vehicles (EVS), including a 3D-printed prototype that could improve EV engine efficiency and a battery manufacturer that makes EVs less likely to catch on fire.
Dutch architecture studio MVRDV has released visuals of Ziel, a pixelated residential block made up of stone-clad family units for Uruguay’s capital, Montevideo,
Described by MVRDV “as a stack of country villas”, the 15-storey building is being developed to offer residents of the dense Punta Carretas neighbourhood a more suburban lifestyle.
The design responds to the trend of Uruguayans moving out of the city and to the countryside in search of more space and greenery when starting a family.
MVRDV has released visuals of Ziel
“In Montevideo, like in many other cities, it’s common that once people start a family, they leave – buying a villa in the countryside and reducing the vitality of the city,” said founding partner Jacob van Rijs.
“With our design, we wanted to show that you can have the spaciousness and nature of the countryside on the tenth floor in the middle of the city,” added partner Frans de Witte.
“We believe the city should be for everyone, including families with children,” de Witte continued.
The building will be made up of stone-clad family homes
Ziel is MVRDV’s first project in Uruguay. It will comprise 40 homes designed in collaboration with Argentinan architect Monoblock for local developer IXOU.
The site of the project is close to the ocean and next to the Villa Biarritz park in Punta Carretas, on the southern tip of Montevideo.
A courtyard sits at its centre
The distinctive, pixelated form of the building will be created by shifting the floorplans of all 40 homes.
Externally, they will be clad in various stones with “warm, earthy tones” and complemented by bronze window frames.
Inside, there will be ten different home types, ranging in size from two to four beds. There will also be a rooftop lounge and dining room, a restaurant and shared swimming, gym and spa facilities.
To recreate the feeling of living a suburban lifestyle in a dense urban area, a key feature of Ziel’s design will be the integration of open green spaces. According to MVRDV, the pixelated arrangement of the block will also maximise natural light and air that can enter.
There will be a series of outdoor spaces
The green spaces at Ziel will include a central courtyard, as well as private terraces, shared patios and “sky gardens” across its levels.
These sky gardens will occupy the second, fourth, sixth, and eighth floors of the building and will be filled with plants and landscaped for various activities.
A swimming pool will be shared by residents
Founded in 1991, MVRDV is an architecture studio led by Winy Maas with van Rijs and Nathalie de Vries.
Another recent housing project by the studio includes Ilot Queyries in Bordeaux, France, which is folded around a large red courtyard.
Pools of red carpet spill across the floor of this women’s fashion boutique designed by JUJU Studio in New York City.
For fashion brand Miss Circle, New York-based JUJU Studio created the interiors of its 2,600-square-foot (242-square-metre) store on West Broadway in SoHo.
The Miss Circle flagship in occupies a long, narrow space designed by JUJU Studio
The space has a long, narrow footprint, so studio founder Jing Ju devised a variety of display techniques for the brand’s womenswear garments.
“Unlike typical fashion retail spaces, the Sensorial Flagship Store is inviting and relatable, encouraging customers to engage with the brand in a fully stimulating way,” said the studio.
At the front of the store, a sliding counter can be used for multiple purposes
The majority of surfaces are finished in beige plaster, providing a neutral backdrop for more dramatic moments.
These include areas where red carpet appears from the walls in fluid forms and spreads across the floor to look like pools of liquid.
Red carpet extends from the floor to the ceiling beside the entrance
“The smooth yet durable surfaces add texture and visual interest to the space, while the beige hue creates a sense of lightness and spaciousness,” the studio said.
“This helps to create an accommodating atmosphere in the closed retail environment, where customers are likely to take their time browsing through the store’s selection of clothing and accessories.”
Matching the carpet is a curvaceous red sofa
At the front of the store, carpet also extends up the wall behind a curvaceous sofa of the same colour and seeps onto the ceiling.
A sliding counter can be used for checking in guests during events, or for displaying accessories at other times.
Garments are displayed in niches formed by arched colonnades on either side of the store
“The sleek and minimalistic design of the counter complements the overall aesthetic of the store and demonstrates a thoughtful and efficient use of space,” said the studio.
Along both sides of the store are arched colonnades, with cove-lit niches that each display a selection of clothing designs.
More outfits are presented on chrome railings and mannequins in the centre of this double-height space, above which a long skylight is positioned.
Towards the back of the boutique is a carpeted staircase that leads up to a mezzanine level, where the fitting rooms are located.
Fitting rooms and a lounge area for customers is located upstairs
Red satin furniture, designed by Thehighkey, forms a seating area for customers to relax beneath another skylight, while plenty of mirrors are provided for those trying on garments.
“The warm lighting adds to the overall golden atmosphere, and the use of red provides a poetic and romantic sensation, making for a truly captivating experience,” the studio said.
The Miss Circle store is on West Broadway in SoHo
SoHo is renowned as a shopping destination for both fashion and furniture, and new stores are always appearing in the neighbourhood.
Recent openings include a Khaite flagship with a tree planted in the centre, an outpost for Road to Awe that includes red fitting rooms and a lofty Moroso showroom.
Spotted: During the COVID-19 pandemic, millions of children missed out on regularly scheduled immunisations, which resulted in local outbreaks of diseases such as measles, polio, and yellow fever that have, for the most part, been kept under control worldwide for many years.
As communities adjust to life post-pandemic and make plans for the ongoing management of infectious diseases, innovators are seeking solutions to some of the complex challenges presented by the COVID-19 outbreak. One of the most difficult aspects of distributing vaccines during the pandemic was keeping them at the appropriate temperature while shipping and storing them in locations with irregular access to electricity and cold storage.
A team of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) researchers decided to try making vaccines that could be stored at room temperature as a way of mitigating that hazard. What they created is a mobile printer that produces thumbprint-sized vaccine patches that can be stored at room temperature. The printer easily fits on a tabletop, and the patches can be self-applied. Eliminating the need for syringes and application by healthcare professionals immediately increases the accessibility of the medicine.
Each patch contains hundreds of microneedles filled with the vaccine. When the patch is applied to the skin, the microneedles dissolve underneath, releasing the vaccine into the body. Lipid nanoparticles hold the vaccine, which is what makes it possible to store the medicine for many months at room temperature.
The prototype printer produces around 100 patches every 48 hours, and the scientists are already working on improving that speed and capacity, as well as adapting and developing the process for use with various vaccines.
Other innovations that Springwise has spotted that focus on vaccine accessibility include a new storage method that makes it possible to keep vaccines at room temperature and a solar-powered portable refrigerator that healthcare workers can carry on a bicycle.
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Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) mandated by the State of California override local planning regulations to permit a second unit on almost any single-family zoned property. The law also allows any single-family zoned lot to be subdivided into two parcels. Additionally, it allows ADUs to be built with just a four-foot setback or no setback at the new interior property line of a subdivided parcel, in contrast with most towns, which have setbacks of more than 7 feet, up to 30 feet. It also mandates very relaxed parking requirements or no parking if the project is near public transit.
Is California paving the way for ADUs across the US?
California has long grappled with an acute housing shortage, especially affordable housing. Local governments, under the thrall of NIMBY residents trying to preserve the rural/suburban “character” of their communities, have not been very cooperative with state goals for new housing.
Local planning departments bristle at their authority being usurped by the state, but for growing numbers of people, these ADU rules offer welcome flexibility and opportunities for growth in a place that is building better, more stable communities, providing housing, and stemming sprawl.
ADUs for Families of all Sorts of Forms
The endless swaths of single-family houses spreading across the hills and valleys of suburbia are the physical manifestation of a culture that fetishized the nuclear family — and conspicuous consumption. But, a simple nuclear family unit has never been anywhere near the universal living arrangement and is becoming ever less universal. Homeowners are using the ADU rules to build houses for a kaleidoscopic variety of living arrangements and “families” of all shapes, types, and sizes.
Left: Drone view of similar houses, driveways, and yards in the Utah suburbs. Original public domain image from Wikimedia Commons via rawpixel; right: Modern addition to an existing suburban house in the Salt Lake City area. Image by Brian Babb via Unsplash.
From Granny Flat to Rental Property
Having a place for “granny” is hardly the only use for these units. Homeowners may be looking for something affordable for grown children and their partners that doesn’t force them to move hours away. They’re also looking for flexibility and future-proofing. What is grandma’s house today can become an income rental property that allows a homeowner on a fixed income to afford to stay in place.
The law allows a single-family zoned parcel to be subdivided into two parcels, and each of these parcels to have two units, so up to four units can be made from a single-family house. This lets people do what traditionally has often been standard operating procedure: houses are extended to accommodate growing and branching families. It can help keep extended families together, which in turn, builds stronger communities.
Breaking the Monotony of Suburban Architecture
These new units are also changing the look and feel of suburbia for the better as well. Blank two-car garage doors are being replaced by lively facades of windows and openings. The tighter setbacks help give the remodeled houses a different rhythm and feel on the street, breaking the monotonous sameness of cookie-cutter ranchers.
Until the advent of professional planners, towns and cities almost always grew and became more densely developed in small steps in exactly this way. This laisser-faire method of “planning” has produced most of the best, most treasured urban landscapes across the world. Our banal suburban sprawl may yet be redeemed through organic in-fill growth done by and for residents who are increasingly proclaiming YIMBY! (Yes, In My Back Yard).
This article was written in collaboration with Californian architect Ian Ayers.
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