Crest Guesthouse in Marin County
Architect: Mork-Ulnes Architects
Location: Marin County, California
Type: Cabin
Year: 2024
Photographs: Bruce Damonte
The following description is courtesy of the architects. To create a small guesthouse and rental unit on a steep hillside property in Marin County CA, Mork-Ulnes Architects took the foundation from an old garage and built a new Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) on the exact footprint of the old garage. The building’s sharply angled roofline mirrors the slope of the site and gives a high clerestory window light above the cabinetry
wall, while a playful flip in the roof provides a punched window from the loft viewing the trees. Cement board was used to provide a fire resistant cladding in the wooded hillside, and also for ease of maintenance.
Due to the incredibly steep hillside, a deck was added on the front of the ADU to add more usable exterior
space to take advantage of the mild California climate, essentially doubling the ADU’s usable area. Designing for the utmost effective square feet (411 sq.ft. / 38 square meters), flexible programming was deployed: a rolling kitchen island can be moved in or outside when space or utility is needed, and a murphy bed hides in
the wall during the day and folds down at night for sleeping.
The loft space, with a window out towards the trees as well as down to the living space, is accessed by a ladder that tucks in to the wall. The bathroom is split into two smaller rooms – a toilet/sink and a forest-green tiled shower room with a glass door out to the tree covered hillside. The ADU is currently being used by the owners as their vacation cabin while their main house is being renovated.
Project Details
- Project name: Crest guesthouse in Marin County, California
- Location: San Anselmo, Marin County, CA, USA
- Architect: Mork-Ulnes Architects
- Website: www.morkulnes.com
- Instagram: @morkulnesarchitects
- Project design team: Casper Mork-Ulnes, Phi Van Phan, Robert Scott, Lexie Mork-Ulnes, Kaoru Lovett
- Job captain: Kaoru Lovett
- Engineering Structural: David Strandberg
- Civil: Adobe Associates, Inc. (Aaron R. Smith)
- General contractor: Damner Construction, Axelson Builders
- Gross square footage: 411 square feet
- Completion date: Spring 2023
- Photographer: Bruce Damonte
- Website: www.brucedamonte.com
- Instagram: @brucedamonte
