Building Up, Not Out
Rather than demolish, partial walls of the existing garage were kept and the new structure went up over them. Downstairs holds a large common space with the kitchen and the laundry room. Upstairs holds a bedroom and a full bathroom.
The Five Foot Setback
The second floor had to stay five feet away from the neighboring property, so it is set back from the floor below. That constraint shapes the whole building. The gain was that the downstairs common space could stay generous, because only the upper floor had to give up the footprint.
Materials
An Owens Corning roof, Milgard windows and doors, Santa Barbara stucco and cedar siding. The cedar and stucco combination keeps a two story structure from reading as a block next to a single story house.
Two Story ADUs on the Westside
Going up is often the only option on a West LA lot, and setback rules are usually what decide whether it works. See our ADU construction, garage conversion, stucco, roofing and window replacement pages, or our projects across Los Angeles.
