On a hilly street in Los Angeles’s
Highland Park neighborhood sits a
Craftsman-style two-story, two-bedroom bungalow
with its own yard and a single-car garage. The cheery
blue house is one of the newest additions to the
neighborhood, yet it’s mostly hidden from the street because,
technically, it resides in the backyard of another home.
It’s a small property with a big mission: As the first Accessory
Dwelling Unit (ADU) commissioned by Mayor Eric
Garcetti, the pilot project structure aims to test the quick and
efficient construction of a low-cost home on an existing lot.
As of January 2019, California’s homeless population was
estimated to be over 150,000—more than a quarter of the
nation’s total. The causes of homelessness are confoundingly
complex, but a lack of affordable housing plays an undeniable
role. Governor Gavin Newsom called for 3.5 million
residences to be built by 2025, but such an ambitious goal can
often run counter to outdated zoning regulations that favor
single-family homes. Backyard residences like the ADU pilot,
which was co-created by the nonprofit architecture and
design firm LA-Más, effectively double housing density, one
brightly colored structure at a time. “A lot of Angelenos
look at their backyards like, What else could I do here?” says
Trent Wolbe, who opened up his backyard to the pilot
property, which is now occupied by a young family. “Adding
housing stock is one piece of the housing-crisis puzzle.”
“It’s this wonderful notion: You give your backyard to
someone who has housing instability,” says Elizabeth Timme,
38, co–executive director of LA-Más along with Helen
Leung, 35. “You provide a home for them and for the diversity
of Los Angeles,” she continues. Since 2012, LA-Más has
been leading the drive to even out some of the most punishing
development-related inequalities in Los Angeles. And their
ADU initiative, Backyard Homes Project—which currently
has almost 200 applicants ready to build on their own
DESIGN
lawns—represents an innovative
partial answer to the affordable-
housing crisis. The houses, intended
for low-income residents, are also
thoughtfully and elegantly designed.
Inspired by 19th-century Sears
catalogs of homes, LA-Más developed a menu of exteriors
to be mixed and matched with various interior schemes:
The “Vibrant” color palette includes splashes of Yves Klein
blue and marigold yellow; pendant light fixtures come
in mint green and glossy black, among other shades. It’s
also a program with built-in incentives: Landlords get rent,
an amount close to market rate, but subsidized by the
government—a stream of revenue they likely never anticipated.
“We’re trying to work with cash-poor, asset-rich
homeowners who might not qualify for a loan, or they
might just barely be getting by,” explains Timme.
LA-Más is not the only firm constructing ADUs, but their
soup-to-nuts approach extends beyond a traditional design
firm’s purview. “There was no financial mechanism for
anyone to build a backyard home,” explains Timme, “so we
helped create one”—a product offered through national
credit union Self-Help. And throughout it all, they have not
lost sight of the less tangible, but no less important, impact
of good design. “Everyone who loved the home they
grew up in remembers something unique—the tile on your
countertop or the legs on your furniture,” says Timme.
“The feeling that your home reflects yourself is deep.
We really wanted that spirit to be baked into our homes.
Design doesn’t have to be a luxury.”—lilah ramzi
BLUE SKIES
FROM TOP LEFT: A
RENDERING FROM THE
BACKYARD HOMES
PROJECT; MAYOR
GARCETTI’S PILOT ADU.
With its holistic approach, a young
L.A. design firm is offering an
innovative solution to the housing
crisis—one backyard at a time.
Power Houses
VLIFE
86 APRIL 2020 VOGUE.COM
LEFT: COURTESY OF LA-MÁS. RIGHT: COURTESY OF STEPHEN SCHAUER.
