With migration to cities at an all-time high in 2017, urban space is at more of a premium than ever before. Rent is increasing all over the world, and it can often be difficult to secure planning permission for new properties in places with high levels of historic conservation or where the geography prevents expansion beyond established boundaries. San Francisco is one city that’s restricted by both of these limitations. Architects and clients alike are having to get creative when it comes to building in the “City by the Bay,” especially since the Silicon Valley tech boom has caused the price of rental properties to skyrocket to some of the highest in the United States.
 
Such insanely high prices mean that it could make more sense to buy or build in areas like this rather than throw so much money away, so it’s no surprise that dwellings are beginning to pop up in some unlikely places, such as, for example, in people?s backyards.
People have been building properties in the backyards of other homes for years now, but it is still strange to find architectural gems gracing the gardens of existing houses. This is what the San Francisco-based construction firm Thomas Building Group pulled off upon being given the challenge of constructing a modern family home in the leftover space behind a house in the Bay Area. The narrow site, coupled with the presence of the existing house on it, presented a unique set of obstacles for the contractors, but they ...