06/13/2026
A small studio apartment ADU on 182nd St in Torrance.
Square footage if the ADU is 372 sq ft, including exterior walls.
Existing sq footage of the house is 1215 sq ft, which gets reduced by 53 due to the addition of the stair.
I chose to build off of existing structural walls to, also wanting to keep the exterior walls of the second story inside of the existing first floor walls in order to avoid hideous massing and a large flat wall
Changes made to the existing house were to move the entry to the left. A small porch with a hip roof was added for the entry to the mai house.
The dining room was eliminated, the powder room and the utility room moved to the front of the house, the kitchen to the back, while the three bedrooms and the primary bathroom remain untouched.
A space for the new exterior stair would be created be removing 53 sq ft and reconstructing the exterior walls surrounding it. The exterior stair would sit on a concrete slab.
Structural supporting the new upper floor would be added per engineer.
I put together two kitchens with my personal stle cabinets for this project. One for the lower unit. One for the ADU. The patio area was upgraded in order to accomodate an informal dining area and a built in barbecue. I chose to create cabinetry for storage instead of a wall closets for both units
I tried to keep the windows, the stair, and finishes simple and cost effective.
New standing seam roof
