The scope of the project is a small independent guest house on the back yard of a desert site with an existing building. The site is highly constrained due to the size of the lot and local zoning requirements. A preliminary meeting at the local planning department was conducted and the Architectural Commission Review has been scheduled. The building is intended to be used for the owners' and their guests' temporary visits. The main challenge of the project is to fit all the programmatic elements requested by the owner into the proposed 280 sf building with a limited budget ($20,000). The program includes shower room, cooking and dining area and sleeping and working area. Natural light is essential in such a small and tight space. In order to achieve this goal, skylights are provided in different areas. Also, full height windows are proposed on the west side of the building facing the existing building. The boundary between the exterior and interior is undermined by protruding a “voided” planter space into the building illuminating the interior space. An overhang is provided especially to block the southern sun during the summer. Prefabricated building is not practical in this case due to the lack of clearance for delivery of the building. Therefore exposed slab on grade with fiber cementitious panels (Hardy Board) on Structural insulated panels (SIPs) is proposed. These building systems are easy to install, durable and most importantly, cost effective.
