Coolest ADU I’ve come across
This lofted, one-bedroom accessory dwelling unit (ADU) in Bentonville, Arkansas, is built of true triple-wythe brick construction. According to Alli Thurmond Quinlan of Range Co., the designer, “The design of the building was organized around a salvaged historic white oak arched door, recovered from a university building scheduled for demolition. The proportions, openings, and massing of the ADU were shaped to honor this element, allowing a piece of local material history to anchor the project.”
The developer and homeowner is Mark Haney. “Our backyard cottage was the key to being able to live in a walkable downtown neighborhood, and we love being able to host out-of-town family members alongside our small hospitality business,” he says. “As a builder, it was also fun to try a structural masonry project and I hope to do more like it!”
The building on Northwest C Street was inspired by the work of Clay Chapman, a builder and artist in Oklahoma who has brought back brick masonry in many houses he has built. It’s a good sign of this technique's economic viability that Haney wants to do more.
There’s something else about ADUs that makes this significant. Hand-laid brick construction is the opposite of how many ADUs are built, often using modular construction installed with a crane. But that can be difficult on some sites, because they have to be lifted over houses and trees. This kind of ADU can be built anywhere, if bricks can be delivered to the site.
This project went through the standard building and zoning process. Achieving approval required careful engineering, detailed coordination, and alternative compliance paths for insulation, air sealing, and structural performance. “The goal was not to create a one-off artisan object, but to demonstrate that this way of building can exist inside ordinary regulatory and construction environments,” says Quinlan.
In Bentonville and Northwest Arkansas, as in the rest of the US, there is a mismatch between the kinds of housing needed and the kinds provided by zoning and developers. ADUs are smaller in square footage and are built on land that already has housing, street frontage, and infrastructure—therefore they tend to be more affordable. For many years, ADUs were prohibited by zoning in many Arkansas cities, but in 2025, Arkansas passed HB1503, the first statewide ADU law in the south.
