“It was just a big expanse of thirsty grass,” Annalisa says about the other half of her family’s double lot in Fairfax, California. “It was pretty, but not a space that we used—and we’re in the wrong climate for grass.” While she and her partner, Alex, had envisioned their children playing soccer in their home’s large yard, they eventually decided to make the space more functional. A few years ago, a local ordinance allowed for the construction of an accessory dwelling unit, so the couple started thinking about a dedicated space that would enable innerspaceatlas, a ceramicist and Pilates instructor, to move her sculpture practice out of the main house’s basement and to host private movement classes. An artist/Pilates studio was an intriguing brief for obatanoblinoffice, who came on for the project. $360K later, and the new ADU angles around a preexisting magnolia tree in the garden, using its boomerang shape to create a natural division between the workout and art-making wings while al...