Design, Bitches
Looking to Build a Granny Flat in Your Backyard? Meet the Firms and Designs Pre-Approved in LA
Adding a backyard home in Los Angeles is now nearly as easy as buying a barbecue.
Homeowners who for years have wanted to build a granny flat in their backyard, but dreaded the red tape, can now choose from 20 pre-designed homes that the city has already approved for use.
The shift, made official last week, will speed up a weeks-long process and bring more badly needed units to an overpriced market. It also has the potential to elevate the 14 startups and firms building the next generation of homes.
The designs for the stand-alone residences range from a 200-square-foot studio to a 1,200-square foot, two-story, two-bedroom unit. And many of the homes are filled with design flourishes, reflecting the diverse architecture of the city, from a house in the silhouette of a flower to one with a spiral outdoor staircase leading to the roof.
It's no surprise. The program was spearheaded by Christopher Hawthorne, a former architecture critic at the Los Angeles Times and now the city's chief design officer.
The firms are primarily local and startup architecture and design firms, while others are well-known with a history of building granny flats, also know as accessory dwelling units, or ADUs.
The standard plans avoid the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety's typical four-to six-week review process and can allow approvals to be completed in as quickly as one day.
Some aspects of the plans can be modified to fit a homeowner's preferences. Eight other designs are pending approval.
Mayor Eric Garcetti believes by adding more such units, the city can diversify its housing supply and tackle the housing crisis. Recent state legislation made it easier to build the small homes on the lot of single-family residences. Since then, ADUs have made up nearly a quarter of Los Angeles' newly permitted housing units.
Because construction costs are relatively low for the granny flats – the pre-approved homes start at $144,000 and can go beyond $300,000 – the housing is generally more affordable. The median home price in L.A. County in January was $690,000.
Here's a quick look at the designs approved so far:
Abodu
Abodu
Abodu, based in Redwood City in the Bay Area, exclusively designs backyard homes. In 2019, it worked with the city of San Jose on a program similar to the one Los Angeles is undertaking.
In October, it closed a seed funding round of $3.5 million led by Initialized Capital.
It has been approved for a one-story 340-square-foot studio, a one-story one-bedroom at 500 square feet, and a one-story, 610-square-foot two-bedroom.
The pricing for the studio is $189,900, while the one-bedroom costs $199,900 and the two-bedroom is $259,900.
Amunátegui Valdés Architects
Connect Homes
Design, Bitches
Escher GuneWardena Architecture
First Office
Fung + Blatt Architects
Fung + Blatt Architects is a Los Angeles-based firm founded in 1990.
The city has approved its 795-square-foot, one-story, one-bedroom unit with a roof deck. It estimates the construction cost to be $240,000 to $300,000, excluding landscape, site work and the solar array. Homeowners can also expect other additional costs.
Taalman Architecture/ IT House Inc.
LA Más
Jennifer Bonner/MALL
Massachusetts-based Jennifer Bonner/MALL designed a "Lean-to ADU" project, reinterpreting the stucco box and exaggerated false front, both Los Angeles architectural mainstays.
The design has been approved for a 525-square-foot one-story, one-bedroom unit with a 125-square-foot roof deck.
sekou cooke STUDIO
New York-based sekou cooke STUDIO is the sole Black-owned architectural firm on the project.
"The twisted forms of this ADU recalls the spin and scratch of a DJ's records" from the early 90s, the firm said.
Its design, still pending approval, is for a 1,200-square-foot, two bedroom and two bathroom can be adapted to a smaller one-bedroom unit or to include an additional half bath.
SO-IL
New York-based SO-IL was founded in 2008. It has completed projects in Leon, Seoul, Lisbon and Brooklyn.
Its one-story, one-bedroom 693-square-foot unit is pending approval. It is estimated the construction cost will be between $200,000 and $250,000.
WELCOME PROJECTS
Los Angeles-based Welcome Projects has worked on projects ranging from buildings, houses and interiors to handbags, games and toys.
Its ADU is nicknamed The Breadbox "for its curved topped walls and slight resemblance to that vintage counter accessory."
It has been approved for a one-story, one-bedroom 560-square-foot unit.
wHY Architecture
Firms that want to participate in the program can learn more here . Angelenos interested in building a standard ADU plan can learn more the approved projects here.
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Image Source: Fire Aid
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LA Isn't Just Keeping Up With the Future—It's Defining It.
From major investments in space and national security to new consumer tech and philanthropic efforts, LA is proving its influence across industries. The question isn’t what’s happening here—it’s what’s happening next.
🤝 Venture Deals
LA Companies
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- CREE8, a company offering a centralized virtual workspace with on-demand, high-performance workstations, secure storage solutions, and real-time collaboration tools for creatives, has received an investment from Moneta Ventures. The funding will be used to enhance its platform capabilities and expand its market presence, providing seamless workflows for creators and professionals in need of cloud-based creative solutions. - learn more
- Breakthrough, an AI-driven startup founded by former Google executive Adit Abhyankar, has secured a $600,000 Pre-seed funding led by Senvest Capital. The company specializes in enhancing B2B sales messaging by optimizing content in real-time through its self-learning AI platform. The funds will be used to expand Breakthrough's enterprise client base, explore applications beyond traditional sales outreach, and refine the product to better align with market needs. - learn more
- UVIONIX, a robotics and automation startup specializing in AI-powered autonomous flying robots for warehouse inventory management, has secured a $3.5M Seed funding led by LAUNCHub Ventures. The investment will accelerate UVIONIX's product release, expand its presence in the U.S. and Europe, and support the growth of its AI and engineering teams in Bulgaria and the U.S. - learn more
LA Venture Funds
- March Capital participated in a $305M Series B funding round for Together AI, a San Francisco-based company specializing in providing a cloud platform for developers and researchers to train and deploy generative AI models. The funds will be used to expand Together AI's cloud infrastructure, including the large-scale deployment of Nvidia Blackwell GPUs, to support over 200 open-source models and serve its growing user base of more than 450,000 AI developers worldwide. - learn more
- Amboy Street Ventures participated in a $12M Series A funding round for Millie, a San Francisco-based tech-enabled maternity clinic. Millie offers comprehensive, patient-centered maternity care, integrating clinical best practices with digital tools to support individuals from conception through postpartum. The funds will be used to expand Millie's technology platform, enhance service offerings, and open new clinics, starting with a collaboration in California in 2025. - learn more
- StoryHouse Ventures participated in a $4.3M Seed funding round for Henry AI, a company specializing in automating commercial real estate transactions. Based in New York, Henry AI uses AI-powered technology to streamline real estate deal execution. The funds will be used to enhance its platform and expand its capabilities, making commercial real estate transactions more efficient and scalable. - learn more
- Amplify.LA participated in a $6.2M Seed funding round for Mavvrik, an Austin-based FinOps platform formerly known as DigitalEx. Mavvrik helps organizations manage and optimize IT expenditures through advanced financial operations solutions. The funds will be used to enhance its platform capabilities, addressing rising IT costs and improving financial efficiency for its clients. - learn more
- Generational Partners participated in a $4M Pre-seed funding round for Everstar, a company specializing in AI-driven solutions for nuclear compliance. The funds will be used to develop Everstar's platform, aiming to enhance safety and efficiency in the nuclear energy sector. - learn more
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- March Capital participated in a $75M Series C funding round for Luminance, a Cambridge, UK-based legal technology company specializing in AI-powered contract generation, negotiation, and analysis. The funds will be used to accelerate Luminance's global expansion, particularly in the U.S., and to enhance its AI platform, extending its applications to adjacent areas such as procurement and compliance. - learn more
- Rebel Fund participated in a €17.2M Series A funding round for Capi Money, a London-based FinTech startup specializing in streamlining international payments for SMEs in emerging markets. The funds will be used to scale Capi Money's platform, enabling small and medium-sized importers in regions like Africa, Latin America, and China to pay international suppliers more efficiently. - learn more
- Group 11 participated in a $100M Series B funding round for Dream, an AI company based in Tel Aviv, Israel, specializing in cyber resilience solutions for nations and critical infrastructure. The investment, led by Bain Capital Ventures, will be used to enhance Dream's product capabilities and expand its global market reach, aiming to bolster national cybersecurity defenses against sophisticated threats. - learn more
- B Capital participated in a $320M Series C funding round for Lambda, a San Jose, California-based company specializing in GPU cloud services for AI applications. The funds will be used to expand Lambda's AI cloud business, including their on-demand and reserved cloud offerings, to meet the growing demand for AI infrastructure. - learn more
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LA Exits
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Image Source: Epirus
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This latest round of funding was led by 8VC and Washington Harbour Partners LP, accompanied by a diverse group of new and returning investors, including strategic defense partner General Dynamics Land Systems and seasoned investors like StepStone Group and T. Rowe Price Investment Management, Inc. New stakeholders such as Oppenheimer's Private Market Opportunities Vista VI Fund, NightDragon, Manhattan Venture Partners, Centaurus Capital LP, and Center15 Capital also joined, reflecting robust market confidence in Epirus’s innovative approach and future potential.
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🤝 Venture Deals
LA Companies
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LA Venture Funds
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- Village Global participated in a $2.8M Pre-seed funding round for Orpheus Ocean, a New Bedford, Massachusetts-based company specializing in deep-sea robotics. Orpheus Ocean develops autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) designed to enhance deep ocean and seafloor data collection. The funds will be used to conduct the first commercial demonstrations of their AUV technology, expand their technical team, and grow their fleet to support increased deployments in the coming year. - learn more