The New School's The New ADU: Beyond Petroleum Showcases Bio-Based Housing Prototypes

Key facts

• The New School presented The New ADU: Beyond Petroleum at its 5th Avenue welcome center-turned-storefront in Fanton Hall.
• The design workshop is a Masters of Architecture studio taught since 1998 and now taken in the second-year spring semester.
• David Lewis and Dr. Sharon E. Sutton were last year's professors of the design workshop.
• The studio examined ADU for You, which has legalized ADUs in New York City for over two years.
• The Department of Buildings released ADU for You pre-approved designs in the middle of the semester.
• Three teams designed with fiber-, wood-, or mineral-based systems, inspired by 'The Three Little Pigs' fable.
• The timber team created modular blocks from off-cut scraps of locally sourced dimensional lumber, buildable by one person without specialized labor.
• The mineral team used a Hemp Block from Lancaster Lime Works, reclaimed bricks from Chief Bricks, and recycled metal from a Brooklyn Gowanus scrapyard.
• The fiber team used Plantd fiber-based sheathing around straw bales but opted against a fiber-based frame alternative.
• Each project included drawings, renderings, and carbon research comparing stored and emitted carbon with a conventional ADU.
• An exhibition opening during last month's Climate Week offered materials to visitors who requested them.