“Poplar House is an ADU designed for a large multigenerational family in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. Rejecting the format of ADU-as-rental unit, the project extends the primary home into a shared, adaptable space that can shift over time to meet the family’s changing needs. At its center is an expansive dining table for large gatherings, which can extend through operable openings to connect interior and exterior space, reinforcing everyday use as collective and flexible.
The material system follows a “whole tree” logic, drawing from both tulip poplar and true poplar species. Tulip poplar, technically a member of the magnolia family and stronger than pine despite being consistently undervalued by the lumber industry, provides bark shingles for the exterior facade, structural framing, finishes, and flooring, embracing its unique greenish hues. True poplars contribute cottonwood fluff felted into insulation panels. Interior plaster is mixed with poplar cellulose fiber and finished with a natural dye derived from tulip poplar flowers, producing a warm pale yellow tone throughout. Across the project, poplar is treated as an all encompassing material, repurposing and celebrating its often discarded and disregarded characteristics.”
