1-855-321-7473

M-F 9am-5pm Eastern

Rise | We've Done the Research

House Feature

Alchemy Architects Designs for Prefab ADU’s

When architect Geoffrey Warner started his firm Alchemy Architects 26 years ago in St. Paul, Minnesota, he was designing furniture and lighting, renovating bungalows (including his own) and innovating a typology known as a “modern farmhouse.” All of these endeavors received critical acclaim for their fresh modernist aesthetic and inventive use of materials. They were also widely published.

By Camille LeFevre, Rise Writer
7 min read
Alchemy Architects
30-Day Happiness Guarantee
Carbon Neutral Shipping
Expert Support Available
Certified B Corporation

Table of Contents

Loading...
Loading...
Bang Brewing / Alchemy Architects
Bang Brewing / Alchemy Architects

Over the years, and in collaboration with various clients, Alchemy has built weeHouse iterations that include decks, stairs, garages, upper and lower levels using stacked modules, cantilevered modules, and “skyway” or underground connections between modules. They’ve planned weeCommunities and weeHouse family compounds. They’ve also designed a weeHouseBoat.

Still, Warner wanted “to develop a living unit that minimizes the number of variations, and we settled on the lightHouse, an ADU,” he says. “It’s bigger than a shed but smaller than a house. It’s a nicely designed, simplified structure, so we can concentrate on just what does go into it, while the shell stays the same size.”

Alchemy’s creation of the lightHouse has dovetailed with new regulations in cities throughout the U.S. that allow stand-alone  ADUs between 300 and 600 square feet. The cost? Approximately $125,000 in the Midwest for a completed 450-square-foot lightHouse on a simple foundation.

Alchemy’s lightHouse ADU has three exterior plans that respond to the site: an end porch, a side porch, or it can be placed on top of a garage. “We figure out which solution works on each client’s lot, and provide variations with different entrances and views,” Warner says.

Loading...
Article By

Camille LeFevre

Camille LeFevre is an architecture and design writer based in the Twin Cities.

Camille LeFevre