Auxiliary ADU, a collaboration between @RiceArch and @AvenueCDC, is well underway in Houston’s First Ward. The project creates an energy efficient, affordable dwelling that’s designed to prioritize community and collectivity.

I’m extremely proud to have done the initial concept design with Kati Gullick. The architecture school’s building workshop, known as Construct, has detailed the project and is building it throughout the semester.

The house consists of two volumes, thermally independent of one another, that share a central breezeway. This allows for an on/off condition for hearing and cooling that varies depending on the use case and programming of each volume.

The space between the two rooms is naturally self-shaded, so the windows are focused in that area to provide a feeling of ‘oneness’ between the two units as well as keep them from absorbing excessive heat.

The project began in Andrew Colopy’s @RiceArch studio tasked with designing an Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) for Houston that created specific conditions but could be replicated throughout the city. The projects addressed energy consumption and off-grid solar production.

The project based off of two driving principles. The first is social: The design of the ADU has the potential to create new types of social space within the context of the individual unit, the lot, and the larger urban context.

The second is sustainability: The design of the ADU can encourage occupancy habits that reduce the overall energy consumption of the dwelling.

While its form engages the social and sustainable, its construction acknowledges both the benefits of digital fabrication and the existing realities of cost and labor practices.
The structural system developed for the project is both cost effective and thermally innovative.

Auxiliary ADU has 4 primary floor plan types and can stand alone or be situated in tandem with a primary dwelling or other self-similar units.