A cozy backyard bungalow for people and other friendly species

Courtesy of UCLA's cityLAB - In looking to solve L.A.'s housing crunch and the loss of habitat for many species, Professor Dana Cuff, students and other faculty from both the architectural and urban design department and UCLA College's environmental humanities program have created an affordable, lightweight, environmentally sensitive home for people, birds, bees and other friendly species for the backyard. Can Los Angeles meet the daunting demand for 100,000 additional housing units by 2021? That's the ambitious goal that Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti set in a plan he presented in April to alleviate the city's worst housing crisis since World War II. Dana Cuff, professor in the School of the Arts and Architecture and director of cityLAB , the architecture and urban design think tank at UCLA, thinks it can be done — without buying up a single square foot of vacant land or bulldozing existing buildings. The answer is as close as your backyard. Cuff and a team of students and faculty from both the architectural and urban design department and UCLA College's environmental humanities program, with help from staff skilled in construction, are testing out their concept for an affordable, lightweight, customizable, environmentally sensitive accessory dwelling unit — a distant cousin of the granny flat or the mother-in-law unit. The backyard home, seen at night, is being built on the second-floor north patio of the Broad Art Center and will be on view until June 17.