This 300 sq ft carriage house, currently under construction, is designed atop an existing garage in the alley behind a historic townhouse in Savannah, Georgia. Situated within the city’s protected historic district, the project required a deep sensitivity to scale, proportion, and the architectural language of Savannah’s past.

But beneath its quiet brick exterior, this project engages a critical and contemporary urban issue: Savannah’s growing housing shortage. The city has seen a sharp rise in short-term rentals catering to tourism, displacing long-term residents and creating an imbalance in the housing market. This project, intended as a permanent residence for a long-term tenant, offers a small but meaningful contribution to reversing that trend.

Though modest in size, the carriage house was carefully detailed to accommodate all the functions of a home — kitchen, bathroom, sleeping, storage, and light — within less than 300 square feet. The layout is compact but thoughtful, maintaining openness while providing privacy and functionality.

The exterior draws from the original townhouse it faces across the courtyard, creating a kind of architectural mirroring: one structure is grand, the other humble — a reflection of the city's evolving needs and values over time. The two speak to each other across space and era, the courtyard between them becoming a quiet stage for a dialogue between permanence and adaptation.

The carriage house becomes a metaphor: not just for density and reuse, but for Savannah itself — a city negotiating between its historic identity and its present-day pressures.