ADU Design Competition

The City of San Antonio and Able City called on creatives of all ages to take part in a design competition starting in July 2023. The competition asked people to imagine and design an Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) for a chance to win up to $500. The competition was an opportunity for people to explore how ADUs can impact everyone.

The competition was a part of our city's Strategic Housing Implementation Plan (SHIP). SHIP is a ten year plan to build and preserve more than 28,000 affordable homes throughout the next 10 years.

ASL Video: Accessory Dwelling Units Design Competition American Sign Language

Competition Information

The competition featured nine written prompts that encourage narrative on how an ADU benefits families, who could rent an ADU, what type of public transit is nearby and more. Three spaces were designated for drawing and imagining how an ADU can look and include.

Design Competition Booklet(PDF, 722KB)

Jurors

Design Competition Winners were determined by jurors representing the following organizations:

People's Choice Award

The jury created a People's Choice Award Category and over 2,000 votes selected two winners!

  • Samantha Baumann
  • Toan-My Le

Competition Winners

Winners were celebrated on Saturday, November 11, 2023.

Winning Submissions(PDF, 6MB)

To learn more, view video interviews with each of our winners.

  • Most Innovative Design: (Video)
    The following team from HiWorks:
    • Brantley Hightower
    • Austen Kernodle
  • Most Cohesive Story: Anne Englert (Video)
  • Most Accessible Design: Nataly Lopez (Video)
  • Best Student Entry: Jimena Sanchez (Video)
  • Best Design Professional Entry: (Video)
    The following team from Alamo Architects:
    • Trent Tunks
    • Michael Clancy
    • Alyssa Rodriguez
    • Sarah Monroe
    • Jim Bailey
  • Best Older Adult Entry: Robert Reisen (Video)