In a city where the land use policy discussions are centered around density, the lack of new housing units, affordability even rent control and sustainability, why aren't Backyard Cottages more popular and more prevalent?
On Thursday, I'll be on a panel discussing the state of Seattle's Backyard Cottages with City Council from 12-1 pm. The premise of the 'Lunch and Learn' is one, to assess the status of current planning efforts and two, look at some alternative strategies from Portland.
--Matt
If you've been dreaming of a project but aren't sure where to start, Matt will be giving an interactive seminar on March 24th about the design and construction process, with tips about budgets and contractors, and what an architect can do to make your project a success. Plus, there will be snacks!
The seminar is put together by the American Institute of Architects, and you can sign up here .
For the third year running, CAST architecture was named as one of the best architects on Houzz.com. Now that the website has a database of more than 3 million photographs representing thousands of firms, it is more of an achievement than ever before. Thanks to all our great clients for continuing to bring fresh challenges! We're looking forward to a great 2015!
The siren's call of Seattle's summer has brought everyone back to town. Last night, we celebrated our the solstice (a little late), the return of Holly from Sonoma and Forrest from Madrid, and had a little send off for Gunnar who is heading back to Norway's midnight sun.
CAST has a few other reasons to celebrate:
We're starting a two projects in Mazama (schematic design images upcoming).
Kenny's house is nearing completion:
Our first modular home on Bainbridge Island for Michel and Chas just went on the market this morning:
And the Mazama Ranchero is going to be published in a few magazines this fall, as well as the Lichtenstein cottage in a feature about Small Spaces:
Plus, Rainier Beach Urban Farm and Wetlands is in permit, ready for construction this fall:
Happy summer, everyone!
For their efforts on the Anderson Residence, Model Remodel has won a Green Remodeling Excellence award from the Master Builders Association.
Congrats to Jason and his crew for a fantastic job!
We had a fantastic turn out for the Sand Point ElementaryEarth-day work party this past weekend. A special thanks to Loren Yaguchi and all the folks from Abbott Construction's special projects group for donating materials, shop time, and a whole lot of can do to make the benches we designed become a fantastic kit of parts for the community to assemble!
30 new stacking benches for the outdoor classroom fully assembled - a testament to the prep of the folks a Abbott Construction and all the volunteers who turned out to work on our local public school!
Thank you to Carter Capps, pitcher for the Seattle Mariners and Taylor Graham, defender for the Sounders FC for signing autographs and helping with our projects!
Richard Swann author of “Our School Garden” putting the newly assembled benches for the outdoor classroom to good use!
Mark your calendars! The Andersons Residence, a 4 star Built Green home, will be open to the public for touring as part of Northwest Eco Building Guild Green Home Tour on April 27th.
The Anderson residence is a Built Green renovation, addition and transformation of an existing single family home. The plan opened, simplified and streamlined the existing first floor in addition to adding a new second story to provide much needed space for a growing family.
If you are interested in urban agriculture and would like to share your ideas to shape the Rainier Beach Urban Farm, please join us Saturday, July 28th from 11:00 am to 12:30 pm for an open event to discuss the project! Stay for the community picnic or just get your hands dirty during the drop-in work party every Saturday from 10 am to 3 pm.
In collaboration with Seattle Tilth, the Friends of R.B.U.F.W., and the Berger Partnership, CAST will be designing an urban farm in Seattle. The site is a former municipal nursery in Rainier Beach--10 acres of mostly wetland with some hoop houses at the north end. We'll be undertaking the challenge to not only make a model for urban agriculture, we'll also be greatly increasing the ecological function of the wetlands.
This project is in one of the most diverse zip codes in the nation, and we'll be involving the community to shape the design, as well as creating facilities for small scale commercial farmers, entrepreneurs, and other programs such as Seattle Youth Garden Works. The hope is to make a community hub centered on growing and sharing food.
The first community design meeting is June 19th on site (time TBD). Please come and share your vision with us!
Great News--We won the 2012 BEST SMALL HOUSE AWARD from Fine Homebuilding magazine. They did a very nice video (link) with interviews of our awesome clients. The Widner's DADU has been covering in our blog before (here and here).