ADU Design Competition

Rice Architecture Students Win ADU|HOU Design Competition

The Planning and Development Department’s recent ADU|HOU Design Competition received enthusiastic response from architects and design professionals, and has garnered about 30 submissions of Accessory Dwelling Unit schematic designs and concepts. After receiving nearly 400 online votes, we have a winner.

Congratulations to the Rice Architecture team.

“Double House,” submitted by two Rice Architecture students - Adam Berman and Siobhan Finlay - was the top design selected in a public online vote in early October.

Funded by a 2021 AARP Community Challenge grant, the design competition will ultimately provide a set of plans that homeowners can use to build an ADU on a single-family residential lot where deed restrictions allow. The plans will go through preliminary plan review and will comply with the City’s current building code and development standards.

“Congratulations to Adam and Siobhan on winning the public vote, but more importantly, thank you for creating a design that can have a lasting impact on housing options in our city,” said Mayor Sylvester Turner.

The team will be awarded $3,000, provided by the AARP grant, to produce construction documents. “Double House” schematic designs will be prominently featured and fully credited in a digital ADU design book. The book, available online by the end of the year, will also include all other qualified contest submissions.

“In a mere 530 square feet, the winning team created a striking and flexible space that would fit beautifully in a backyard and within the character of a neighborhood,” said Planning Department Director Margaret Wallace Brown. “Adam and Siobhan went above and beyond, giving a detailed view of just how functional and elegant an ADU can be. When the City shares these plans with the public, their design will help eliminate the guesswork for homeowners who choose to build their own ADU.”

ADUs, also referred to as garage apartments, mother-in-law cottages and granny flats, are built above the garage or detached, free-standing units on single-family lots. ADUs provide another housing choice for Houstonians in neighborhoods where deed restrictions allow. The benefits of ADUs include allowing people to age in place or providing housing for caregivers, young couples and empty nesters.

This design competition, coupled with the Planning Department’s Accessory Dwelling Unit research and public engagement efforts, are related to ongoing discussions of the Livable Places Action Committee (LPAC). The LPAC is creating opportunities within our development standards that encourage housing variety and affordability. The Planning Department also hosted a series of virtual ADU workshops. Visit https://www.letstalkhouston.org/adu for future updates, workshop videos, articles and more ADU resources.

About the wining team

Adam Berman is a third-year Master of Architecture student at Rice Architecture and a graduate of Northwestern University. He is from Grand Rapids, Michigan. Previously he has interned at SOM and Brett Zamore Design, and has worked on Rice Architecture's PLAT journal.

Siobhan Finlay is a third-year Master of Architecture student at Rice Architecture and a graduate of Wellesley College. She is from Montclair, New Jersey. Previously, she has interned as a Design Assistant at Bjarke Ingels Group and worked on Rice Architecture’s Tête-à-Tête podcast.

Berman and Finlay are part of a graduate studio at Rice Architecture led by Andrew Colopy, which is focused on designing an ADU for areas of Houston inside the 610 Loop. They participated in the HOU | ADU competition as part of the course. View the full submission for Double House.

“As the fourth-largest city in the United States, Houston has an incredible need to densify on its large stock of single-family lots,” the team said. “ADUs provide an opportunity for Houstonians to increase housing opportunities in their neighborhoods without radically changing the urban fabric.

“Our ADU's façade uses two different materials and roof slopes to create a complex form on a compact footprint. The plan is composed of two sliding volumes, which breaks up the space into a shared living/kitchen area and a more private bed/bath. The outdoor spaces formed by the offset create an entry porch and a private back deck, bringing in natural light to the interior.”

The contest submissions and online vote were subdivided into design categories: Resilient, Sustainable, Affordable, Garage and Student submissions.

These are the top voted designs in each subcategory:

Category	Winner	Design (Click image for full PDF)
Detached	"Wedge House" by N.A.H. Studio
Resilient	"One House Three Ways" by Studio Zhan + Bomin Park
Sustainable	"Auxiliary ADU" by Kati Gullick & Madeleine Pelze
Affordable	"Housey House" by Martin + Schneider
Garage	"Contemporary Work from Home" by KathleenTaus