Budget Breakdown: To Fill an ADU With Light, $55K Yellow Window Frames Were a Design Necessity

At their historic home in the small Marin County, California, town of Fairfax, general contractor Alex Martin and ceramicist and Pilates instructor Annalisa Chasan are fortunate enough to own a double lot. While the couple had envisioned their children playing soccer in its large yard, in reality, "it was just a big expanse of thirsty grass," says Annalisa. "It was pretty, but not a space that we used—and we’re in the wrong climate for grass."

During the pandemic, they decided to make it functional. A local ordinance allowed for the construction of an accessory dwelling unit, so they started thinking about a dedicated space that would enable Annalisa to move her sculpture practice out of the main house’s basement and host private movement classes.

An artist/Pilates studio was an intriguing brief to Obata Noblin Office (ONO), the young San Francisco–based architecture and design firm cofounded by Tyler Noblin and Max Obata in 2020. Alex had met Obata in his previous role at Spiegel Aihara Workshop, and Noblin had met Obata when they worked together at Snøhetta’s San Francisco office before that. After a poolside sit-down, a walk of the site with Annalisa and Alex, and a few bike rides around the neighborhood, the ONO architects drew up a concept, made physical models, and got the commission.

"It was an idea we had never heard before," says Obata of this dual-purpose building. To design it, Noblin says, they "focused on orientation." Angled around an existing magnolia tree in the garden, the building’s boomerang shape creates a natural division between the workout and art-making wings while also forming an interior courtyard with the main house.

Through large sliding glass doors on one side of the ceramics workspace, Annalisa can enjoy the landscape and a visual connection to her family. On the opposite, street-facing wall, afternoon sunlight streams in through a row of clerestory windows, custom-made in Sacramento with powder-coated yellow aluminum frames (the entire window set cost $55,000).