Designed by constructing Lab, this indifferent accent dwelling unit (ADU) in Silicon Valley was born from a household’s need to create a spot the place custom, design, and adaptability might coexist. The householders – a pair with roots stretching from India and Japan, by means of Australia – approached the undertaking with an concept that was as sentimental because it was sensible. They envisioned an area the place visiting grandparents from overseas might keep comfortably, but additionally noticed the long-term potential for it to evolve. Over time, it could grow to be a hangout spot for his or her three youngsters as they grew older and, ultimately, a serene place for the couple to retire. The aim wasn’t simply to construct for in the present day – it was to create an area that might adapt to their shifts in life.
As a substitute of reworking the present dwelling or increasing awkwardly into current rooms, they selected to construct a completely new indifferent unit within the yard with 2 bedrooms and 1-1/2 loos. This selection afforded them the liberty to design with out compromise.
As is typical in a lot of Silicon Valley, house got here at a premium. The lot was small, hemmed in by neighboring houses and restricted in scope. However this constraint pushed the design crew to be extra artistic. As a substitute of combating the boundaries, they selected to work with them, enhancing the sense of openness by trying outward moderately than inward.
One of many undertaking’s most impressed strikes was the usage of “Shakkei,” a standard Japanese method which means “borrowed surroundings.” Widespread in classical backyard design, Shakkei entails framing distant or neighboring views in a method that makes them really feel like a part of one’s personal house. Right here, skylights had been strategically positioned to seize glimpses of surrounding timber, permitting pure parts to circulate visually into the ADU. It offers the phantasm that the dwelling extends into the setting past its partitions – a delicate however highly effective trick that makes the house really feel bigger and extra related to the world.
Including dimension to the modest footprint is the distinctive accordion-style roof – a contemporary interpretation of conventional gables, sculpted into dynamic peaks and valleys. It breaks up the boxy proportions of the unit, provides visible rhythm, and permits daylight to flood the inside by a row of skylights aligned with the house’s main pathway – from entrance to residing space to kitchen.
Inside, the rooflines draw the attention upward, whereas the delicate outward tilt of the partitions leads mild towards the skylights. The house appears to develop vertically and outwardly, pulling within the sky and environment. This design transfer turns what might have been a fundamental yard constructing into a contemporary dwelling infused with airiness and playfulness.
Every design selection anticipates a special section of the household’s life. The open plan and accessible format assist growing older in place. The connection to the primary home permits for each closeness and independence, relying on what the second requires. The openness of the frequent areas ensures it stays a full of life, partaking house for youngsters as they develop.
Maybe probably the most defining house inside the ADU is the bathtub – designed to be greater than only a room. Rejecting the Western tendency to denationalise bathing into an en-suite main toilet, the design crew as an alternative positioned the bathtub in a central location, accessible to all. This mirrors Japanese customs, the place bathing is usually a shared, meditative ritual moderately than a solitary escape.
Materials decisions echo this cultural narrative. One wall is clad in heat cedar planks that stretch up and over a vaulted ceiling, enveloping the room in natural texture. Earth-toned porcelain tiles distinction gently with charcoal grey flooring, and matte black fixtures present a contemporary edge with out disrupting the calming palette. A beneficiant white Krion® soaking tub serves because the room’s centerpiece, paired with an identical built-in trough sink and a waterfall-style tub filler that speaks to the quiet luxurious of restraint.
Giant bifold doorways open absolutely to the skin, and a pocket door affords the choice of privateness when wanted. Along with an operable skylight, these options create an nearly surreal connection to nature. Bathing turns into an immersive, sensory expertise – as if one had been at a secluded sizzling spring, even whereas in the course of suburbia.
For extra data on the Silicon Valley ADU or constructing Lab, go to buildinglab.com.
Images by Adam Rouse.
