The Case for Space

The wraparound deck and stadium seating are the best seats in the house for taking in backyard games and festivities.

With a growing family fully occupying their main house, homeowners Case Hathaway-Zepada and Dan Olson needed more space to accommodate their parents when they came to visit and help take care of the children. Rather than bumping up or out of their three-bedroom, 2,000-square-foot home, they chose to take the increasingly popular route of building an Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) on their property.

Natural light floods into the living room through a cluster of windows and a door that leads to the deck.

The utility of ADUs as a means of combating rising home prices and limited inventory has become a hot topic in recent years. This year, a law was passed in New Hampshire that loosens restrictions on the building of ADUs to alleviate those pres-sures in the state. Now homeowners can build either an attached or detached unit, provided the construction meets existing zoning requirements in the town or city.

In Hanover, where the couple live, the zoning requirements limit ADUs to 1,000 square feet, which is well below the median home size in New Hampshire but still gave them more space to play with than they initially thought possible. Now they could design something that would not only accommodate their parents but also create a space for hosting large family gatherings, groups of friends, and members of the local creative and academic communities who Case and Dan know through their work at CraftStudies in Hartford, Vermont, and Dartmouth College, respectively.

The kitchen’s rustic hickory overlay cabinets were chosen for their durability, natural beauty, and visual complement to the narrow maple flooring.

The couple worked with Mayor + Kennedy Architects in Hanover to make their vision come to life. “This was no minor undertaking even though it’s a relatively small space, but I always like some kind of challenge,” says Founder and Principal Chris Kennedy. “When I bump up against a limitation, it’s rewarding to move past it.”

The result is a 1,000-square-foot (32 X 32), two-bedroom ADU connected to the main house by an open breeze-way. The ADU adds a touch of modernity to the property with large windows, white board-and-batten siding, and cement lower level — features that each complement the original home, an 18th-century Cape.

Each amply sized bedroom comes complete with generous storage and a built-in desk.

Each bedroom features built-in desks, open closets with custom fabrications and corner windows to maximize views. The full-size kitchen includes an eat-in dining table attached to the cabinetry. Off the living room, a door leads to a 10-foot by 32-foot deck overlooking the backyard. Stairs from the breezeway down to the backyard feature terraced benches that provide ample seating for guests. There is attic storage, and on the basement level, a space initially designed as a woodworking shop has been turned into a children’s play space.

Features like a curbless walk-in shower were incorporated to suit the family’s needs now and well into the future.

To accommodate their parents’ needs, several features of the design take limited mobility into account. All doors were widened, the shower is handicap accessible, and from the driveway the main level is accessed without any steps. Case and Dan did this with their future selves in mind, too, so when the time comes, they can age in place comfortably.

In the end, the ADU has become much more than a set of spare bedrooms for their visiting parents.

“Now that we’ve had a few years with the ADU, we can fully appreciate how our initial thoughts on the project and subsequent discussions with Mayor + Kennedy resulted in a space that is endlessly flexible and fully utilized,” says Case. “It has opened our home to richer experiences with not just friends and family, but also community members, guest artists and international scientists. It has become both a sanctuary and a hub of gathering and creativity.”

PROJECT TEAM

ARCHITECT:
Mayor + Kennedy Architects
603-643-8868
ma-ke-arch.com

General Contractor:
Estes & Gallup
603-795-4400
estes-gallup.com