As an AIA 2030 signatory firm, CAST has committed to its goal of carbon-neutral buildings by 2030. This Commitment is an actionable climate strategy that offers a set of standards and goals for reaching net zero emissions in the built environment.

Our design approach and process are thoughtful. We push the limits of sustainability through project performance by setting clear goals and making a positive impact on the environment. Our expertise helps our clients align with their green building goals and understand building life-cycle costs, lower utility bills, enjoy the benefits from natural light, and manage water usage.

The latest climate data tells us that reducing carbon emissions is not enough. To make the biggest impact, we must commit to net zero emissions by 2030—a path that requires strong, immediate action. Since the built environment creates a staggering 40% of the world's emissions, architects, engineers, and owners play a key role. We know that every project can be a catalyst for change.

Our Sustainability Action Plan includes principles and commitments that look for smart, innovative ways to deliver our projects and support climate goals.
Principles
Think Holistically
Act with Urgency
Every Project Counts
Make the Next Project Better

Commitments
Measure Performance
Support Research
Commit to AIA 2030 Challenge
Iterate on Success
Work with Partners
Advocate for Change
Celebrate Wins

See our Sustainability Action Plan here: www.castarchitecture.com/sustainability-action-plan

CAST is dedicated to tracking and reporting our progress toward the AIA 2030 Commitment. We will utilize energy modeling, life cycle assessments, and post-occupancy evaluations to measure operational energy use and embodied carbon across our projects. Our team will document and submit project performance data to the AIA Design Data Exchange (DDx), responding with transparency and accountability. By setting measurable benchmarks and analyzing trends, we will refine our strategies, improve outcomes, and contribute to industry-wide efforts to achieve carbon neutrality. Through this commitment, we will continuously push the boundaries of sustainable design while sharing insights that drive collective progress.

We have had deep roots in sustainable design since our founding in 1999. We are committed to improving the lives of individuals, families, and the community through vibrant and thoughtful design. CAST is at the forefront of sustainable architecture, creating high-performance buildings designed to endure. Our approach prioritizes responsible resource management throughout a building’s lifecycle, integrating climate-responsive design, the best available building science, and site-specific strategies.

CAST’s co-founder Matt Hutchins, AIA, CPHD, and Seattle Planning Commissioner talks about the major update to the Seattle’s Comprehensive Plan.
one seattle for all - 2025/02/08 10:37 PST – Recording

Seattle is growing (and that’s good)!

How do we make room for new housing and be the kind of city we want to live in?

Seattle’s Comprehensive Plan major update – a 20-year growth strategy.

-        Must include affordable housing and middle housing

-        Housing planning aligns with planning for transportation, utilities, climate and the environment, capital
facilities and parks/open space

Two kinds of affordable housing:
1. Subsidized and deeply affordable
2. Less expensive housing by size, type, and age (ie. ADUs, small apartments

-        Neighborhood centers can hold both types of affordable housing

-        Middle housing is less expensive and a great option

-        Urban Neighborhood housing types: single-family housing with ADU, duplexes, townhomes, stackedflats

We need more affordable housing – where does it go?

-        Neighborhood centers can support both types of affordable housing

Let your city council member know you support affordable housing, and you also support neighborhood centers and middle housing.
oneseattleforall.org

Wildfires have long been a reality for homeowners in the wildland-urban interface, but increasingly we’re seeing fires in more populated areas that aren’t traditionally considered at risk. During summers, smoke from distant fires now blankets urban areas causing smoke damage and indoor air quality issues. Fire seasons are now lasting longer. The National Fire Protection Association’s Firewise program is a great baseline for building in fire country, and CAST architecture regularly goes beyond designing residences resistant to climate change.

The Berm House in Washington’s Methow Valley uses hardscape to create a defensible perimeter, plus the majority of the exterior of the home is treated with flame-resistant shou sugi ban technique.

Defensible Site planning
The first layer of fire protection begins with the site itself. Design landscapes with defensible zones, creating clear, well-maintained spaces between the home and surrounding vegetation. Using fire-resistant plants, non-combustible materials like gravel or stone, and strategic placement of trees is pivotal to slow the spread of fire toward the house. The goal is fuel reduction—limiting the amount of flammable materials and vegetation around the home.

The selected materials and finishes at Bear Creek Base Camp in the Methow Valley include weathering steel panels which are highly durable, minimize maintenance, and are fire-resistant.

Fire-resistant envelope (roof, walls, eaves)
Choosing flame-retardant materials that can withstand high heat and resist ignition is essential. Specify exterior cladding like fiber cement panels, stucco, or brick, and opt for roofing materials such as metal, tile, or composite shingles. A simple, low-maintenance roof can be important. Windows can be designed with double or triple-pane tempered glass, which can withstand substantially higher temperatures than standard glass.

Icicle Creek Retreat (left) in the Wenatchee Forest has a concrete base set above the average snowfall line to protect siding and wood framing from the freeze-thaw zone. There is no exposed wood on the exterior to aid in fire protection.
The exterior of Isabella Ridge Escape (center) is clad in weathering steel panels that are durable, require almost no maintenance, and add a layer of fire protection.
The exterior of Wolf Creek Retreat (right) has a concrete base and pre-rusted weathering steel panels to aid in fire protection.

Minimizing venting
Make it airtight. Vents and openings are often weak points in fire-resistant design. Incorporating ember-resistant vent covers and tightly sealing gaps around eaves, doors, and windows can prevent embers from entering the home. Design a fire-resistant attic and crawlspace access points.

Buffer = Hardscape, not decks
Wind-blown embers generated during wildfires are the single biggest hazard. Use hardscaping around the home to create a defensible perimeter. This can include non-flammable elements like stone or brick pavers, retaining walls, concrete or metal planters, gravel paths, and water features.

Mechanical air filtration
As wildfires generate large amounts of smoke, ash, and fine particulates, incorporating air filtration into the home helps improve indoor air quality during wildfires. Ensure ductwork is properly sealed to prevent unfiltered air from entering the system.

Sprinklering
Integrating exterior fire suppression systems, such as eave misters, roof sprayers, perimeter sprinklers, water storage, redundant power, and remote control systems can add additional layers of protection.

Designing homes with layered fire protection is not just a consideration for rural areas—it is an essential strategy for resilience in an era of increasing wildfire risks. Thoughtful design may not only help protect individual homes but also contribute to the broader effort of creating safer, more resilient communities.

Matt Hutchins addresses the critical issue of “missing middle” housing in the U.S., exploring the housing gap that falls between single-family homes and high-density apartments. Serving as a jury member for the Denver Single-Stair Housing Challenge organized by Buildner, he focuses on innovative solutions to promote accessible, medium-density housing options.

Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orW8tnmPSv0

Missing-middle housing is a housing type that fits in the middle between single-family detached houses and larger apartment buildings. That’s duplexes, tri-plexes, four-plexes, ten-plexes, and small apartment buildings. It’s any sort of increment of density that is greater than a single-family house, but isn’t the blocks of apartment buildings that is much of what we see in the development world today. Missing-middle housing is important for urban development because American cities have lots of space. They are nowhere near full. We have empty parking lots. We have lots that were never developed. We have space in our cities we can use or reuse. There are many opportunities within our cities to densify and make use of existing infrastructure without having to assemble a whole block or use more “high-wire acts” with regard to development.

• Make good use of small lots

• Use of single-stair buildings is a critical tactic for taking advantage of small urban lots

• Adapt building regulations and make required changes

• Use underutilized urban land

• Use space correctly

• We have already invested in the urban infrastructure

• We can have a more efficient city and residents with a lower carbon footprint

• ADUs and DADUs are powerful tools to keep communities together, keep the property in family, and create generational wealth

• Missing-middle housing is compact, efficient, and sustainable

A hybrid outdoor-indoor model to expand access to high-quality early childhood education and address the childcare availability crisis.

View the white paper here

A growing body of scientific literature demonstrates significant benefits to young children from nature-based education. Some of these evidence-backed benefits are seemingly self-evident, such as increased physical activity correlating with lower levels of childhood obesity and enhanced motor-skills development. Constantly changing weather is a direct stimulus that develops resilience and self-regulation. Regular exposure to nature is widely recognized as reducing stress levels in people of all ages.

Introducing CAST’s Infill Housing Toolkit: We put together recent, current, and future projects to showcase strategies and case studies for abundant housing infill development.

Site Typologies
Constrained Lots
Typical Infill Lots
Large, Assembled Lots

Design Features
Single Stair
Stacked Flats
Low-Energy Design
Low-Carbon Building
Diverse Unit Mix
Open Space

RiversMeet, a mixed-use project in the town of Winthrop in Washington’s Methow Valley, is positioned to become the upvalley entrance to “old downtown.” The site is a challenging set of narrow parcels overlooking the confluence of the Methow and Chewuch Rivers.

RiversMeet is envisioned as a template for how buildings can work within Winthrop's westernization code while striving for high levels of sustainability and providing more inclusive housing options.

The program will provide two 2-bedroom residential units overlooking the river, with approximately 1,870 SF of pedestrian-level retail space. The second floor incorporates 1,870 SF of office space. The second floor incorporates 1,870 SF of office space, continuing the client’s tradition of renting below market rate to community non-profit businesses.

GREEN DESIGN
1. Concrete mix uses fly ash, reducing use of higher-carbon cement
2. Low-Carbon Foamed Glass Aggregate replaces typical underslab foam board insulation
3. Gutex wood fiber exterior board insulation
4. Low-Carbon Wildfire Resistance Strategy:
- Wood siding treated with a non-toxic solution that provides fire resistance without the high carbon penalty of fiber cement
- Exterior sprinkler system
- Fiber cement siding reduced to areas where it's most effective
5. FSC-certified wood framing package
6. High-efficiency all-electric heat pump space heating
7. High-efficiency heat pump water heating
8. Solar array

TEAM
Client: Peter Goldman and Martha Kongsgaard
Architect: CAST architecture
Builder: North Star Construction Company  www.Northstarbuilds.Com
Civil & Structural: DCG, now Facet   www.dcgengr.com  
Electrical: TFWB   tf-wb.com
Environmental:  Grette  www.gretteassociates.com 
Geotech: Geoengineers  www.geoengineers.com/ 
Mechanical: Ecotope   www.ecotope.com 
Survey: Tackman   www.tackmansurveying.com

Chris Walter, @ChrisWPhoto, talked with Matt Hutchins about the significance of Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs).

At CAST architecture, we have been focused on ADUs for more than a decade. They're fun to design, perfectly fit a niche for new housing in established neighborhoods, and provide many benefits for owners and residents.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJaLht9v5Yw

CAST’s Cedar Cottage is a City of Seattle Pre-approved DADU. Our vision is to adapt the high-design cottage, simplify it, and make it accessible.

See more at www.castcottages.com

“Part of the reason we love backyard cottages is just the opportunity. If you have a home with a possibility for a second house – it could be whatever you want it to be – a studio, a place for grandma, a rental, and having that flexibility is huge. We have people who have it as an Airbnb, or a long-term rental, as a place for their kids and then their retirement home. This flexibility is fantastic. It opens up so many opportunities in this great city.”         -- Matt Hutchins, AIA, Certified Passive House Designer

Backyard cottages = Flexibility and Opportunity

Published at Seattle’s Daily Journal of Commerce https://www.djc.com/news/ae/12162400.html

ON THE BOARDS - METHOW VALLEY’S RIVERSMeet WINTHROP proposed MIXED-USE BUILDING

RiversMeet, a proposed mixed-use project in the town of Winthrop in Washington’s Methow Valley, is positioned to become the upvalley entrance to “old downtown.” The site is a challenging set of narrow parcels overlooking the confluence of the Methow and Chewuch Rivers.

CAST’s client, Peter Goldman, as part of his development proposal, intends to request the town make zoning changes to allow for long-term rentals in the commercial district. RiversMeet is envisioned as a template for how buildings can work within Winthrop's westernization code while striving for high levels of sustainability and providing more inclusive housing options.

The program will provide two 2-bedroom residential units overlooking the river, with approximately 1,870 SF of pedestrian-level retail space. The second floor incorporates 1,870 SF of office space. The second floor incorporates 1,870 SF of office space, continuing the client’s tradition of renting below market rate to community non-profit businesses.

Team
Client: Peter Goldman and Martha Kongsgaard
Architect: CAST architecture
Builder: North Star Construction Company  www.Northstarbuilds.Com
Civil & Structural: DCG   www.dcgengr.com   
Electrical: TFWB   tf-wb.com
Environmental:  Grette  www.gretteassociates.com  
Geotech: Geoengineers  www.geoengineers.com/ 
Mechanical: Ecotope   www.ecotope.com 
Survey: Tackman   www.tackmansurveying.com