Andrew Atwood uses plain language to describe an ADU he designed as an attachment to a small 1910 craftsman-style home in Mount Washington, a historic neighborhood in northeast Los Angeles. Its meant to sort of blend in with the other houses in the area, he told AN, pointing to its pitched roof. But its not meant to be read as one house, because doing that is both expensive and wasteful. So, really, its just like a house built next to another house. Atwood, cofounder of Los Angelesbased firm First Office, shares this philosophy against excess with his client and longtime friend Alex Robinson, a landscape architect who teaches at the University of Southern California. The two worked together on the project, which over time, became a design-build effort, with some decisions made on the spot. Robinson acted as the general contractor, with the goal of completing the addition with the lowest possible amount of material waste, cost, and disruption to the living situation with his cat and wife, the artist Sarah Smiley. The two married while the ADU was under construction.The addition, with its pitched roof, is meant to blend into the neighborhood. (Eric Staudenmaier)The resourceful nature of the addition slowly reveals itself while one is walking its perimeter, along with the diverse updates Robinson made throughout the property. Many of the scraps from the construction of the ADU were used to construct two unfussy structures in the backyarda sauna and a woodshop clad in leftover siding painted black. Cisterns line the site, following the natural slope of the terrain to collect rainwater for later use. Native plants smelling of sage and bubblegum share the backyard with trees bearing lemons, berries, and avocados. Robinson additionally used his passion for landscaping in a 2-acre community plot lower in the canyon, where he placed 150 native plants to rehabilitate the local ecosystem.Awnings and a lattice for vines were added to the siding (Eric Staudenmaier)The ADUs earthy-green horizontal siding is adorned with a couple of awnings and a lattice for vines, all of which can be removed or replaced using simple tools. The irregularly shaped stepping stones beneath its exterior doors are remnants from another part of the property. One set is composed of loose bricks and pavers. The steps were initially a temporary measure during construction, a kind of a joke, said Atwood. But Alex and Sarah grew to like them and were slowly convinced to keep them as the house neared completion.An artists studio with a view (Eric Staudenmaier)Though the vintage details of the original home were largely left as is, the transition into the addition is whisper quiet when one passes through the new butter-yellow entryway that angles off to the right upon arrival. The passage is later announced more prominently by a long bookshelf that Robinson built just a few feet away in his new woodshop, along with pocket doors and other woodworking projects that appear throughout the interior. The couples separate workspaces on the ground floor reveal unmistakable differences in their creative preferences. Smileys is an airy art studio equipped with a slop bucket and a double-hinged door for ventilation. Its regularly flooded with light from a large picture window framing the Angeles National Forest and Mount Baldy in the distance. Robinson likens his own officea narrow, table-lined room roughly onethird the size of Smileysto a ships cabin, with the same unbeatable view of the northern mountain range, where hawks can often be spotted searching for prey. It is already packed with what seems like a lifetimes worth of books, drawings, and stationery.A kitchenette in the ADU (Eric Staudenmaier)The one big splurge in the homes construction, according to Atwood, is the wood from a ponderosa pine used for the stairs and flooring of the upstairs bedroom suite, purchased from Angel City Lumber, a local sawmill that uses only felled trees within Los Angeles County.The bedroom marks the exterior roof pitch with a ceiling beam installed by Robinson, one of the final touches of the design/build process. The bed, of course, faces a large north-facing picture window.Shane Reiner-Roth is a writer and lecturer on architecture and urbanism.Project SpecificationsDesign architect: First OfficeArchitect of record: First Office, Andrew AtwoodColor consultant: Alex SpatzierLandscape architect: Double IrisInterior design: Work + SeaStructural engineer: Nous EngineeringGeneral contractor: Double IrisCladding: James HardieWindows and doors: MarvinFlooring: Forbo, Angel City LumberTiling: Lecesse, Zia TileFixtures: California Faucets