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Houzz Tour: Birdhouse-Like ADU Built Around a Tree
In Austin, Texas, a playful 900-square-foot accessory dwelling unit maximizes a small budget and footprint
Accessory dwelling units (ADUs), aka granny flats, are popular in cities like Austin, Texas, where affordable housing is scarce. For all of their upsides, though, they have some downsides too. Their sizes usually are constrained by local regulations, they can be tricky to shoehorn into yards, and they can be pricey. But as this ADU in the Chestnut neighborhood of Austin illustrates, those limitations can spur creativity.
The metal-clad 900-square-foot unit, designed by North Arrow Studio, shares a narrow 5,900-square-foot lot with a 1939 single-story bungalow and three large, protected pecan trees, including one in the center of the building site. The project’s builder, and the bungalow’s owner, was Brita Wallace, founder of real estate development firm Digs ATX. Let’s take a tour to see how smart and simple design choices — including an L-shaped layout, vaulted ceilings and quirky round windows that have earned the ADU the nickname “The Birdhouse” — helped make the little unit a big success.
The metal-clad 900-square-foot unit, designed by North Arrow Studio, shares a narrow 5,900-square-foot lot with a 1939 single-story bungalow and three large, protected pecan trees, including one in the center of the building site. The project’s builder, and the bungalow’s owner, was Brita Wallace, founder of real estate development firm Digs ATX. Let’s take a tour to see how smart and simple design choices — including an L-shaped layout, vaulted ceilings and quirky round windows that have earned the ADU the nickname “The Birdhouse” — helped make the little unit a big success.
The beautiful pecan tree — which, at over 19 inches in diameter, is protected in Austin — at the center of the buildable site steered the architects toward the ADU’s L-shaped footprint. Now the tree is the centerpiece of the courtyard formed by those two intersecting gable shapes. Along with the other mature trees on the site, it provides privacy and shade.
The light-colored metal siding also helps with the home’s cooling load in the summertime, as it reflects some of the intense Texas heat. And the metal is 100% recyclable.
If you zoom in and look into the house through the glass sidelight, you can see the three little round windows prominent in the previous photo.
Corrugated metal siding and roof: HC-16 panel in Shasta White, Berridge
The light-colored metal siding also helps with the home’s cooling load in the summertime, as it reflects some of the intense Texas heat. And the metal is 100% recyclable.
If you zoom in and look into the house through the glass sidelight, you can see the three little round windows prominent in the previous photo.
Corrugated metal siding and roof: HC-16 panel in Shasta White, Berridge
The wall on the right in this photo is made of corrugated polycarbonate, which matches the metal’s texture but is semitransparent. This provides privacy but allows light to filter into the entry area of the home, which is opposite the polycarbonate wall and right up against the neighbor’s property.
You’ll note that privacy is a recurring concept in the design — which makes sense given the close quarters.
You’ll note that privacy is a recurring concept in the design — which makes sense given the close quarters.
To the right of the polycarbonate wall is a bedroom, styled and used here as an office by designer and then renter Ben Newman. It has a vaulted ceiling that slopes up to 14 feet, giving the room a spacious feel that belies its small square footage, and high windows to let in light. Its sliding glass doors open out to a small deck and the courtyard, which feels at once welcoming and like a secluded outdoor space just for the renter.
The partially enclosed courtyard also feels like an extension of the living area, making the ADU seem much larger than 900 square feet.
The partially enclosed courtyard also feels like an extension of the living area, making the ADU seem much larger than 900 square feet.
Between the entrance and the first-floor bedroom is a full bathroom with a Vigo faucet, a Signature Hardware vessel sink and a bold red, white and black color scheme. The vanity, from Ikea, is topped with a remnant from a stone yard.
Per the city codes for new construction, there’s a wheelchair-accessible path all the way from the alleyway through the bathroom’s wide pocket door. The walls also have blocking for additional supports that can be added at a later date.
Per the city codes for new construction, there’s a wheelchair-accessible path all the way from the alleyway through the bathroom’s wide pocket door. The walls also have blocking for additional supports that can be added at a later date.
The side of the ADU featured in the first photo holds an efficient kitchen, a little glimpse of which is provided here. The Formica-faced cabinet fronts are from Plykea, which manufactures cabinet fronts and counters from solid Forest Stewardship Council-certified birch plywood to fit Ikea cabinetry. (These countertops are granite.)
Above this cabinet is the flip side of those three little windows seen next to the garage door in the first photo. Like the steel windows in the bathroom in the previous photo, they were custom-made on-site. These circular shapes are arguably the home’s signature feature. They did, after all, lead to the ADU’s nickname.
“There was no room really for large overhangs or undulations in the form,” Pierce says. “We were trying to keep it as simple as possible. And so adding that little bit of fun in through the round windows seemed like a simple way to introduce some visual interest, some playfulness, while still keeping it easy to construct and a very simple [shape].”
Above this cabinet is the flip side of those three little windows seen next to the garage door in the first photo. Like the steel windows in the bathroom in the previous photo, they were custom-made on-site. These circular shapes are arguably the home’s signature feature. They did, after all, lead to the ADU’s nickname.
“There was no room really for large overhangs or undulations in the form,” Pierce says. “We were trying to keep it as simple as possible. And so adding that little bit of fun in through the round windows seemed like a simple way to introduce some visual interest, some playfulness, while still keeping it easy to construct and a very simple [shape].”
The living room is open to the kitchen, and Newman styled it with clean-lined modern and midcentury modern furnishings.
The garage door was an inexpensive alternative to sliding glass doors. Currently it’s not used, so the pendant light’s location isn’t a problem.
The garage door was an inexpensive alternative to sliding glass doors. Currently it’s not used, so the pendant light’s location isn’t a problem.
The main bedroom is upstairs, above the first-level bedroom-office. It features a distinctive double-vaulted ceiling that fits in that double-gabled form and, at its peak, is an airy 10½ feet high. A platform bed emphasizes the height and sits comfortably below a 5-foot-diameter round window by Pella that frames the treetops outside.
Flooring: white oak, Hardwood Bargains
Flooring: white oak, Hardwood Bargains
The window at the head of the bed does not open, but an operable window was required for egress. So in a pinch, this one, which also is 5 feet in diameter and overlooks the courtyard, was custom-made on-site.
“It turned out to be a beautiful window. You can open it up and be right in the tree canopy,” Pierce says. It’s a delight born from necessity, like many of the ADU’s design features.
“We tried to make it simple, and it makes us smile at the end of the day,” Pierce says of the project as a whole.
“It turned out to be a beautiful window. You can open it up and be right in the tree canopy,” Pierce says. It’s a delight born from necessity, like many of the ADU’s design features.
“We tried to make it simple, and it makes us smile at the end of the day,” Pierce says of the project as a whole.
House at a Glance
Who lives here: The ADU is a rental home.
Location: Chestnut neighborhood of East Austin, Texas
Size: 900 square feet (84 square meters); two bedrooms, two bathrooms
Architecture team: Francisco Arredondo (principal architect), Bobbie Behm (project manager) and Alicia Pierce of North Arrow Studio
Builder: Brita Wallace of Digs ATX
The North Arrow Studio team set out to create an easy-to-construct and economical design that would put every one of the 900 square feet — the maximum allowed by the city of Austin — to work. At the same time, they wanted the ADU to complement the existing primary residence and the neighborhood, which has a lot of older single-family homes. And per the client’s request, they wanted it to feel like a regular home.
They came up with a two-story, dual-gable design clad and roofed in light corrugated metal. The material “is a nod to a lot of the sheds and accessory buildings that were already throughout the neighborhood, but in kind of a modern and playful take,” says architect Alicia Pierce of North Arrow Studio, pictured here.
This view is of the side of the ADU that faces an alley at the back of the lot. The entrance (not pictured) is around to the left. To get oriented, scroll to the site and floor plans at the end of the article.
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