TSTC students design backyard dwellings for Waco – Waco Tribune-Herald

The city partnered with the college to create the designs, and they will be pre-approved as meeting the city’s new requirements for accessory dwelling units, streamlining the permitting process for homeowners hoping to build on their property.

Accessory dwelling units are smaller, independent residential units on the same plot of land as a larger house. They are common in many cities but were not allowed in Waco’s residential areas until an ordinance approving them was passed last year. Opening Waco up to new accessory dwelling units is intended to help with a current housing shortage and provide a way for residents to make extra income, as homeowners could rent out their units to tenants, said Bobby Horner, spokesperson for the city’s planning services department.

The Waco City Council officially approved the partnership with TSTC earlier this month, but the students have been working on the project all semester.

When city staff floated the idea of getting TSTC involved, Horner, a TSTC graduate, jumped at the opportunity to give students some real-world experience, he said.

Waco residents can apply for a permit to build an accessory dwelling unit right now, but selecting the the pre-approved designs once they are available will let residents get construction started right away.

Five first-year architectural drafting students have worked on the project since January under the direction of instructor Corby Myers. The five students were chosen because they were the furthest along in their coursework and showed the most potential among their peers, Myers said.

Through the project, students have been able to work from scratch, apply the concepts they are learning to a real design project and get real feedback on their work, Myers said. The TSTC program has also gotten some good exposure through the process, he said.

“We’re able to collaborate with an actual client, which is something that these students haven’t had the opportunity to do yet,” Myers said. “They’ve been doing a lot of book work and things that we prescribe to them. It shows the students that what they’re designing is not just for schoolwork. There’s a bigger picture out there as far as what the city is trying to do with making affordable housing or available housing right in the community.”

Each of the five students was assigned a real house in Waco to base their design on, seeing how they could incorporate an accessory dwelling unit with up to 30% of the main house’s square footage into the lot’s current layout. Other than the ordinance, the students had few parameters, giving them mostly free reign over their designs, Myers said.

Javonni Goodrich, a student from Harker Heights, designed his accessory unit with versatility in mind. He said he wanted to make sure the space could serve as an extra addition to the main home, such as an office space, or as its own separate residential dwelling.

Sierra Zimmermann, a student from Hutto, said she was proud to be one of the five students selected for the project.

“Starting this project, I was a little nervous at first, I’m not going to lie,” Zimmerman said. “But I learned a lot from this semester already, because it feels like it’s a real-world scenario. It will really help me in my future, because it’s just giving me an experience of what my degree will give me in the future.”

Jose De La Fuente, a student from Chilton, said working with a real client has not only given him valuable work experience, but has also given him a good opportunity to provide a service to people needing affordable housing. He said he grew up in a home with eight occupants and an accessory unit could offer extra living space to families who need it at a lower cost than other options.

The students will present 3D models of their designs Monday to the city’s planning services department, where they will receive feedback and make tweaks if necessary.

During a previous feedback session a few weeks ago, the students impressed city staff with the work they had done, Horner said.

“We were blown away,” Horner said. “They really took this seriously, and there were a lot of neat design concepts. They had really thought this through. Even though these are tiny homes, they really thought some things through.”