ADU Competition

“Acces­sory Dwelling Units: Inspired Solu­tions for Our Community”

At the end of 2004 a local non­profit group, Friends of San Diego Archi­tec­ture, hosted a com­pe­ti­tion focus­ing on the design acces­sory dwelling units for single-family lots. The con­cept behind the com­pe­ti­tion was a reac­tion to the Mayor putting laws into effect that severely lim­ited the abil­ity to build “granny flats” in the city. This com­pe­ti­tion took a typ­i­cal San Diego lot of 5,000 square feet with an exist­ing res­i­dence and asked for a design that meets all zon­ing and build­ing require­ments and design an acces­sory dwelling unit. Build­ing a granny flat on a lot this size was pro­hib­ited by the Mayor’s direc­tion, although in the urban and older areas of San Diego where lots are typ­i­cally this size and would ben­e­fit from these build­ings were com­pletely restricted.

I entered the design com­pe­ti­tion in the pro­fes­sional cat­e­gory and was awarded Third Place for my design, and was fea­tured in the news­pa­per. At the awards pre­sen­ta­tion, one of the jurors told me that my design was the most buildable.

Acces­sory Dwelling unit Com­pe­ti­tion Guidelines

San Diego Union Tri­bune, Jan­u­ary 30, 2005
‘Granny flat’ win­ners make addi­tions flat-out appeal­ing, By Ann Jarmusch

San Diego Union Tri­bune, May 16, 2005
A case against the city’s com­pan­ion unit ordi­nance, By Rebecca Michael