Associate Professor Brett Snyder along with Irene Cheng, associate professor of architecture at the California College of the Arts, have received an American Institute of Architects (AIA) Award for their project Roommate House in Oakland, CA.

As principals of the firm Cheng+Snyder, an Oakland based experimental/ multi-disciplinary studio, Snyder and Cheng produce work at a wide range of scales, from books to buildings. The pair are especially interested in projects that use architecture to address urgent social issues. 

Over the last decade, accessory dwelling units (ADUs) have become a crucial area of housing design and construction in metropolitan areas of California, as policy makers have come to see backyard cottages as an important part of the solution to the state’s dire housing crisis.

The impetus behind the Roommate House was to see if the project could fit two units within a single ADU with a small footprint of just 550 SF in order to meet a typical need: space for two roommates who want to economize on expenses through sharing a home, yet also desire their own rooms. A shared kitchen, bathroom, and living area are thus located at the center of the dwelling, attached to two bedrooms—one in a loft mezzanine and the other on the ground floor. Both bedrooms have their own small terraces.  

The Roommate house was designed with flexibility in mind. It can serve to house two unrelated roommates (giving each their own private outdoor spaces), or it can work for a small family with a downstairs bedroom for parents and a loft for a child—or vice versa, the parents in the loft and a children’s bedroom on the ground floor. By placing the kitchen and bathroom in the center, flanked by two equal spaces, the plan provides flexibility to accommodate different kinds of families and living arrangements.