The Barrel Cactus Residence is a 1,150 square foot addition (ADU or Accessory Dwelling Unit) to a single-family home in the suburbs of the San Diego area. At the project’s inception, the clients had relocated from Tucson, Arizona to San Diego, California. They fell in love with the desert landscape of Tucson and wanted to bring it with them to their new residence. After buying a mid-century style house in San Diego, they wanted to add an ADU and re-work the backyard to feature one of their favorite native plants: the barrel cactus.

The plan layout of the ADU unfolds

across a series of green venetian plaster cactus planters, which

provide privacy between the main house and the ADU, as well as act

as bioretention basin planters. The planters also help negotiate the

grade change of the sloping site by serving as retaining walls.

Overall,

the main feature of the project is the interplay between a curved,

prefabricated glass-fiber reinforced roof together with the curved

Barrel Cactus planters, both of which share the same rhythm. Both

elements marry technology and sustainability, and seek to demonstrate

that sustainable elements can be aesthetic and beautiful through

harmonizing architecture and landscape.