Before & After: An Uninspired L.A. Garage Gets Turned Into a Surrealist ADU

Designer Ben Warwas makes magic on a diminutive lot with a playful building that's all soft edges.

Jun 17, 2024 - 19:51
Before & After: An Uninspired L.A. Garage Gets Turned Into a Surrealist ADU

Designer Ben Warwas makes magic on a diminutive lot with a playful building that's all soft edges.

Warwas offset the rear of the ADU to accommodate the power lines running behind the house, and he designed a window in the office/guest room upstairs that meets the roof in the same way that the window off the dining area/kitchen meets the ground.

Courtney Wilk-Mandel and Danny Mandel had everything they wanted when they moved into their home in Los Angeles’s Mar Vista neighborhood in 2019. There was plenty of room for the two of them, easy proximity to both downtown and the beach, and a converted garage with a carport and a small office. 

Things looked markedly different a year later: Courtney and Danny were both working from home because of the pandemic, and they had a baby on the way. Space was suddenly at a premium. "The house that had felt like a palace was no longer enough," Courtney recalls. "We briefly looked at bigger homes, but decided to expand what we already had."

Before: Front Facade

The original garage on the property had been reconfigured to accommodate both a small office and a carport/storage area.

The original garage on the property had been reconfigured by a previous owner to accommodate a small office and a carport.

Danny Mandel

A mutual friend introduced them to Ben Warwas of the architectural design firm Byben. Having developed his aesthetic sensibility creating backyard skate ramps and streetwear before going on to earn his master of architecture at the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc), Warwas has a feel for innovative forms. 

After: Front Facade

Clad on two sides by an ipe rainscreen, the new ADU is connected to the house by a deck. To further ensure an easy flow between the two buildings, designer Ben Warwas set the slider by Western Window Systems at a diagonal beneath the overhang created by the second floor.

The new ADU is clad on two sides with an ipe rainscreen. A deck leads directly to the main house, providing easy flow between the two buildings.

Photo by Taiyo Watanabe

Here, he steered the couple away from adding on to their house and suggested they instead transform the garage into an ADU that could serve a variety of functions ranging from an office, to a hangout for themselves and their kids (their second son was born last year), to a place to entertain and host family and friends.

Before: Front Facade

Homeowners Courtney Wilk-Mandel and Danny Mandel used

Homeowners Courtney Wilk-Mandel and Danny Mandel had no immediate plans for the reconfigured garage when they bought the property, but as their family grew, they realized they needed more space.

Danny Mandel

See the full story on Dwell.com: Before & After: An Uninspired L.A. Garage Gets Turned Into a Surrealist ADU
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