The overall corner site utilizes four 50’ x 150’ lots, a standard size in many older neighborhoods in Southeastern cities. We are also assuming there is an alley present at the rear of the site. This is important with reasons made clear below regarding parking.
Parking: One of the most important things to sadly solve for is parking. You must be thoughtful and strategic in how you locate vehicle storage, or it will drive the design (bad pun intended). This scheme squeezed in 20 off-street spaces to serve 14 units by leveraging the alley for vehicle storage at the rear of the site. There is also the possibility of providing 14 on-street spaces, assuming that the street design is humane and the site is not located on a five-lane highway.
Lessons to Remember:
Alleys are the best way to store vehicles.
If you don’t have an alley, you can effectively make your own IF you’ve got a corner lot and you create an easement.
Corner lots with on-street parking on two sides are special. They can accommodate more units and park them with more on-street parking than mid-block lots without alleys.
Now for the Prototypes.
We are using the already designed cottages from our sister company, ATL ADU Co. We have completed construction documents for these units and have a good handle on general cost of construction. We just wrapped up construction documents for the Quadplex and should be getting pricing back on that in the next few months.
One Bedroom Cottage: The One Bedroom Cottage is shown as a standalone and with a duplex configuration.
Two Bedroom Cottage: We’ve shown our Two Bedroom Cottage in a stand-alone configuration and also a version with our Studio/Guest Suite attached. Not providing a stove in the attached guest suite typically means it is not a separate unit in many jurisdictions. This means it is not a duplex, and still a single-family house. This stove-less guest suite still comes with a robust wet bar, meaning it is still an effective living situation for a range of folks. It can particularly work well for an aging parent that would like to live semi-independently but may join the front house for a full meal on occasion.
the Studio: The Guest Suite can also be used as a standalone option which we refer to as the Studio.
the Quadplex: We like to offer words of warning when it comes to housing choices that involve triplexes on up. These units must conform to the International Building Code instead of just the International Residential Code. This means they must have fire suppression sprinkler systems, fire separation details, and often full mechanical, electrical, and plumbing drawings in addition to the architectural and structural design. An alternate to providing a Quadplex in this scheme would be to do a pair of duplex cottages on the site.
Together, these Pilot Project Prototypes show how housing choice and variety can look just like our beloved existing neighborhoods.