Eleven preapproved architectural plans could speed up construction and help provide a solution to the housing crisis.
New York City has long been famous for its skyscrapers, but the towering giants may soon be joined by many new buildings of a much smaller scale: backyard tiny homes in the form of accessory dwelling units, or A.D.U.s.
Last month, Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced the latest push to encourage the construction of A.D.U.s, also known as ancillary dwelling units, in New York, including the introduction of preapproved architectural plans.
“One of the solutions to the housing crisis can be found in our backyards, our attics, or our basements — in an ancillary dwelling unit,” Mr. Mamdani said in a statement.
The city released 11 preapproved designs by various architects for backyard A.D.U.s. At the same time, it launched ADU for You, a website developed with WXY Architecture + Urban Design, that aims to make building such a structure easier with a property look-up tool and a step-by-step guidebook.
Even with preapproved plans, every project still needs to be reviewed by the Department of Buildings, but the hope is that they will speed up the process by providing a vetted starting point.
“Since the plans have already been generally approved, the process should be simpler and faster,” said Ahmed Tigani, the commissioner of the Department of Buildings.
We recently took a closer look at some of the designs that might soon be appearing in New York backyards, most likely in the boroughs with larger lot sizes, like Staten Island, Brooklyn and Queens.
Roof for Two
Estimated construction cost: $215,000-$275,000
The architects Anna Morrison and Leonardo Leiva Rivera designed this 406-square-foot structure with an elaborate roof screen of aluminum tubes. The roof shelters a one-bedroom A.D.U. with exterior walls finished in stucco, while creating a new roof deck for the occupant of the principal home to which it’s connected.
The design grew out of the architects’ desire to create a unit that was uniquely suited for New York backyards, where space is usually tight and any structure is typically visible to neighbors.
A large skylight and glass sliders are designed to bring in sunlight.
“It’s more of a communal backyard space rather than a detached house for a suburban condition,” Mr. Leiva Rivera said.
“The roof is the primary facade of the project,” Ms. Morrison noted, because they imagined it being visible from neighboring windows.
A generous skylight pulls sunlight and a shifting display of shadows from the roof screen into the A.D.U. below. “It’s a way to bring solar movement inside the house,” Mr. Leiva Rivera said. “You can see the day pass.”
SITU ADU
Estimated construction cost: $220,000-$280,000
With space at a premium in New York, the design and fabrication firm SITU aimed to create an A.D.U. with a small footprint that maximized interior space by building up. The result is a structure with a footprint of only 280 square feet that stands 15 feet high.
“We designed it for what we think are the narrowest viable lots” for an A.D.U., said Basar Girit, a founding partner at SITU.
Inside, a tall ceiling provides space for a storage loft.
The studio-size A.D.U. has a living room open to a kitchen and a Murphy bed for sleeping on the ground floor. A ladder rises to a windowed storage loft, which takes advantage of the high ceiling.
SITU partnered with London-based WikiHouse to design the structure with an innovative modular construction system featuring insulated blocks that fit together like Lego pieces.
“It’s an open-source method that can be built on small-scale C.N.C. routers and in small wood shops,” Mr. Girit said. “It’s very accessible.”
Studio ADU NYC
Estimated construction cost: $185,000-$265,000
VL Architects, a firm with offices in Los Angeles and New York, designed this 439-square-foot detached A.D.U. based on their experience crafting custom A.D.U.s in California. Dismayed by rising costs and construction woes when trying to design one-off backyard units, they decided to standardize.
“We were like, ‘Let’s design one A.D.U. that can be built multiple times, but you can change the finishes, and be more cost efficient,’” said Louis Vieira Lisboa, who runs VL Architects with his wife, Haein Vieira Lisboa.
To do so, they established VL Studio, a subsidiary of their firm specializing in turnkey construction of prefabricated A.D.U.s, with a standardized design for studio, one- and two-bedroom units.
The unit is designed with Corian counters, large-format tile and a wall-mounted vanity and toilet for easy cleaning.
This studio unit, which is clad in fiber cement board-and-batten siding, is compact but designed to function as a luxurious independent home, with large windows, a full kitchen, a washer and dryer, and integrated solar panels.
Ms. Vieira Lisboa said she envisioned the building being ideal as an in-law unit, a home for adult children returning from college or simply a rental home that could generate additional income for a family.
Still Point
Estimated construction cost: $100,000 to $140,000
The firm EEREE focused on simplicity and adaptability when designing this A.D.U., in hopes of keeping costs to a minimum.
“To harmonize with existing buildings and surrounding A.D.U.s across diverse contexts, the design adopts a sloped roof and walls, forming a simplified, archetypal image of a house,” Boram Lee Jung, a founder of the firm, wrote via e-mail. The design can be easily adjusted to fit different backyards.
The simple design could be easily adjusted for different yards and different needs.
This 473-square-foot A.D.U. has a combined kitchen, living and dining space; a bedroom with a built-in desk; and a washer and dryer, all with a power-troweled concrete floor. It also has a ladder up to a storage loft under the highest portion of the ceiling.
The exterior is clad in corrugated metal panels, which could be sourced in various colors. The tough material was “selected to complement the common housing material palette of New York,” Mr. Lee Jung noted, “while contributing to a richer urban texture.”
Maisel House
Estimated construction cost: $550,000-$650,000
A few of the preapproved A.D.U.s are designed to be built above garages, including this unit by Reform Architecture. The 400-square-foot, one-bedroom home is reached via stairs that rise to a terrace enclosed by glass with operable windows.
“It’s a private semi-outdoor area for that unit,” said Karim Ahmed, a founder of Reform Architecture, which is intended to be flexible. “I could imagine some residents might put up curtains in there, some other residents might turn it into a greenhouse, and some people might turn it into a painting studio.”
Beyond the glass box, the rest of the home is split between a combined space for the kitchen, living and dining area; a sleeping space that can be left open or closed off with sliding doors; and a bathroom.
And yes, Mr. Ahmed confirmed, the name of the Maisel House A.D.U. was inspired by “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” — specifically a moment in the show when Midge’s parents moved in with her in-laws in Queens.
Living Small is a biweekly column exploring what it takes to lead a simpler, more sustainable or more compact life.