Montclair Senior Group Launches Contest For Architecture Students: ‘Design An ADU’

MONTCLAIR, NJ — The following news release comes courtesy of Montclair Gateway to Aging in Place. Find out how to post announcements or events to your local Patch site.

In the midst of the widely reported shortage of financially sustainable housing, especially as it relates to seniors, Montclair Gateway to Aging in Place (mGAP) and partner organizations are working together to organize the 2026 Accessory Dwellings Units (ADU) Development Project to explore viable housing options to help address the local housing shortage. Construction of ADUs – small independent homes on the same property as an existing house – are trending across the country.

The comprehensive ADU Project will feature an architectural design competition to encourage development of Accessory Dwelling Units; a survey of people who live near ADUs; and the development of ADU's and You: How to Get What You Want When Building an ADU, a step-by-step handbook for homeowners.

mGAP, a non-profit 501 (C) (3), is collaborating with partner organization Tungsten Architects, and sponsors E-Z Way to Stay, Mulvey Custom Contracting, Greenpoint Development LLC and Anita Vogel, Realtor, to conduct the competition targeted to architectural students throughout the northeast. There are still opportunities for interested entities to become sponsors.

“Ultimately, this competition is a platform to demonstrate how architectural thinking can solve human and urban problems simultaneously,” says Marcus Tung from Tungsten Architects. “Through small-scale interventions, designers can explore new ways for seniors to remain in the communities they know, for families to live together in supportive arrangements, and for suburbs to evolve gracefully and sustainably.”

To put ADU development in perspective, Ann Lippel, mGAP executive vice president, who is spearheading the competition, points out that historically, suburban housing development has focused on the single-family dwelling designed for an idealized family of two parents and two children. “This design no longer reflects the true demographics of our society. In fact, in the next decade older adults will out-number children for the first time in our nation’s history,” she says. “And, typically, more than 75% of senior households live alone or with only one other person. More than 60% of these households have three bedrooms and the property taxes, home repair, and insurance costs needed to keep up these households place severe financial burdens upon their fixed incomes.”

ADU construction benefits for the older homeowner:

• Rental income from ADU unit if senior remains in original house
• Rental income from original house if senior moves to a barrier-free ADU
• Ability to age-in-place where retention of independence and consistency of community support networks qualitatively improves health outcomes
• Ability to barter with the tenant for needed services like snow removal, garbage pick-up, and maybe even transportation

New Jersey is the most densely developed state in the nation. NJ first-ring suburbs like Montclair do not have sufficient open land for developers to build both age-friendly and financially sustainable housing for independent aging in place. ADU construction promises to be a viable alternative to offset these challenges. Four NJ municipalities, including Montclair, have now passed local ordinances to allow homeowners to construct ADU’s on their properties.

All of these advantages are offset by ADU construction costs, especially for New Jersey’s older residents who are already burdened with the highest property taxes and the highest home repair costs in the nation. For that reason, additional credit will be awarded if the designer demonstrates how the project cost can be capped at $300 per square foot.

The Competition

The mGAP ADU Design Competition is an ideas-driven, constructible design challenge that invites emerging designers to consider how architecture can address one of today's most pressing housing issues: enabling seniors to age in place while exploring new approaches to suburban density. This is an invitation to explore the intersection of human needs, spatial design, and community life.

The competition is about more than aesthetics. It challenges participants to design ADUs that:

• Provide safe, barrier-free housing for older adults on the same property as family or caregivers
• Support multigenerational living, integrating families in ways that preserve autonomy, privacy, and dignity
• Offer viable, buildable solutions that respect zoning, setbacks, and neighborhood scale
• Demonstrate how thoughtful architecture can enhance streetscapes and make the most of suburban lots without overwhelming infrastructure

Participants are encouraged to approach the challenge with an architect's mindset, conforming to municipal coding, considering site, light, materiality, circulation, and human experience alongside technical constraints.

Designs should be constructible within a reasonable construction budget of $250,000, context sensitive, and spatially inventive, illustrating how a modest footprint can generate meaningful impact in both social and urban terms.

Competition entries will be reviewed by a jury of architects, contractors, homeowners and developers. Cash prizes totaling $5,000 will be awarded to the winners.

The jurors will be looking for attractive projects that focus on universal design and cost-effective building techniques. The goal of the design project is to develop viable design ideas. mGAP and its partners will also research, collate and produce a free booklet: ADU's and You: How to Get What You Want When Building an ADU, a step-by-step Handbook for homeowners who desire to begin and oversee an ADU construction project. Winning designs will be showcased in that Handbook and also shared widely with planners and public policy leaders.

Registration began on August 23. The deadline for submissions is October 26. Register online here.

An award ceremony will take place on November 17.

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