Architecture
Samara makes it easy for homeowners to make functional use of their backyards
A rendering of a factory-produced home.
Image courtesy of: TimeOut
It might be hard to remember, but there WAS a time before Airbnb. The company was founded in 2007 when two hosts welcomed three guests to their San Francisco home as a way to make some extra money. Since that time, the number of hosts has grown to over 4 million and the number of guests exceeds 1.4 billion. Just as noteworthy, arrivals happen thousands upon thousands of times each day in almost every country around the world.
So it is not surprising that Joe Gebbia, co-founder of Airbnb Inc., unveiled Samara last year. The new startup sells factory-produced studio and one-bedroom units to homeowners to place in their backyards. The modest accommodations are to be located in the same lot as the homeowners’ single family homes. The idea isn’t new however, Gebbia said that he first started brainstorming about additional housing options in 2016.
Even though the homes are a standard price, costs differ slightly according to location. Aa an example, the homes in Southern California will cost slightly less than those in San Francisco’s Bay Area.
Image courtesy of: TimeOut
Laxer laws and a rising demand for affordable housing spurred by surging home prices and inflated rents presented the perfect opportunity to launch Samara. The hope is that the company will offset some of the housing market’s deficiencies and counter the issues associated with the fact that more and more Americans are unable to afford houses of their own.
The problem is multi-faceted: multi-generational households are on the rise because of the need to care for an aging population and the pandemic altered the working requirements for many companies as there is now much more opportunity to work from home, at least on a part-time basis. Gebbia said, (courtesy of The Wall Street Journal) “Work from home at least once per week has fundamentally changed people’s relationship to their home.”
Joe Gebbia.
The company’s name, Samara, is derived from the samara fruit whose shape enables the wind to carry its seed farther away than the seeds of similar trees.
Image courtesy of: Skift
Samara initially launched in California which makes sense as the state is attempting to boost the housing supply by easing restrictions on accessible dwelling units (ADU). Gebbia worked with Flex chief executive Mike McNamara to roll out the Backyard range, a selection of customizable ADU units offered throughout Southern California and the Bay Area.
The Backyard series, the company’s lower-end models, accounts 430-square-feet for a studio and 550-square-feet for a one-bedroom unit. Samara will also facilitate acquiring building permits and installations. In addition, the roofs’ solar panels will provide all the of tiny house’s electric needs.
Inside one of the Backyard units.
Image courtesy of: Archinect
Customers can select from five color options, two roof designs, and customizable doors, windows, and decks. Courtesy of Architect, the company said, “Built out of durable, cutting-edge materials, precision engineered and assembled in a factory, Backyard is designed to last a lifetime. It harvests enough solar energy to power itself, and we’ve made it incredibly easy to get by taking care of the entire construction process. We’ve obsessed over every square inch of Backyard, from the custom cabinetry in our signature kitchen to the airflow and duct layout of our whisper-quiet, central heating and cooling system.”
In keeping with a “future forward theme,” the entire design process takes place on Samara’s website. A simple interface guides the client through the selection process and allows them to customize their unit’s features.
ADU are known to add extra square footage to a property and increase home values. The additional space can serve as an office, additional bedroom, or gym.
Image courtesy of: Business Insider
Initially, Samara was Airbnb’s research and design offshoot. Now however, the company is an independent startup with Airbnb maintaining a minority stake. With the rise of ADU across the United States, Samara is already seeing competition… especially in California.
William O’Brien Jr. was hired in 2019 and tasked with advancing Samara’s homebuilding efforts. The MIT professor of architecture told Arch Daily why he is passionate about this venture, “In architecture today, there is a range of agendas that span from those propelled by an interest in the role of technology in the future of building to those committed to the appropriation of forms of the past, […] Backyard is such an interesting hybrid because it gives these perspectives equal footing, relying on lessons learned from history while filtering them through the lens of technology. Learning that architectural design is valued so much at Samara was a sign that something special is happening here. We’re at the beginning of something new. I’m thrilled.”
