Backyard Foursquare ADU
The Backyard Foursquare is a prototype ADU designed to be accessible, affordable, and sustainable, all in the service of providing flexible, long-term livability. Designed as part of an ADU competition for Cleveland Heights, Ohio, its modular, indoor-outdoor layout can graciously integrate into a wide variety of different property sizes and orientations, but our proposed site plan is specifically configured to take advantage of the 50′-wide lots most prevalent in this historic streetcar suburb of Cleveland.
The ADU is conceived to be both modest and expansive and to support a diverse variety of lifestyles and income levels. Its plan offsets to create four primary spaces, each connected but with its own character and characteristics. Two of the spaces are interior: a large open living space and a quiet sleeping space. Each prioritizes daylight and exterior views to promote connection to nature and to support occupant wellbeing. By shifting these relative to each other, two exterior spaces are formed at opposite corners: a welcoming front entry patio facing the driveway and a sheltered back garden facing planted fences.
On the exterior, the Backyard Foursquare’s gabled form relates to the scale and character of the surrounding neighborhood fabric, with its variety of sloping roofs, vertical chimneys, and backyard garages. Inside, skylit vaulted ceilings capture and distribute light, animating each space with diffuse daylight and supporting natural circadian rhythms. With its carefully distributed openings in walls and ceilings, the ADU is designed to engage its larger environment with its sense of interior space perceptually expanded both outward and upward.
Location
Cleveland Heights, OH
Size
795 sf
Completion
2024 Competition Entry