Meant truly as a “Granny Flat”, this 875 sf Accessory Dwelling Unit was built by a transplanted East Coast family looking to create a guest space for their out of town parents to visit. Hoping to get some live-in help with the kids, they wanted to create a guest house that fit in well with the existing mid-century architecture on the property.

Taking advantage of the terraced landscape, the building is split on two levels. The lower, more private area is made by a concrete board form ribbon that carves out the existing hillside. The upper, more public area is a simple box perched on the concrete wall below.

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There is a simple room with a bed. The pocket doors on either side lead to a hallway with a single run stair along the back wall. The storage under the stair acts as the closet and laundry. Around the corner is a small bathroom. Access to this bathroom is easy from above, but still feels private down below.

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The upstairs is an open room with large sliding doors along two sides. There is a small seating area and nook with a desk towards the front. At the back is a kitchenette with a bar height counter. The stairwell to below is shielded by a floor to ceiling screen of vertical 2x2 slats. Above is a skylight washing light to the lower level.

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The interior wood ceiling continuous outside area to an additional 260 sf of exterior covered deck area. The wood T&G paneling wraps this exterior walls and floors of the cut out of the simple stucco box. Programmatically, there was a big desire to still have a “back yard”. Using playful mounds, the lower existing grade is bermed up to connect the exterior deck.