The big opening is tonight from 5 to 9, between 1st and 2nd just south of Pioneer Square--

Yesterday we hoisted the installation in place. While we still have to do lighting, the impact is great! From the end of the alley, the installation looks like a lonely cloud hovering there, and only once you get beneath it can you see the message "WASTE NOT."

We are working on a collaborative art installation for the Nord Building's upcoming Alley Party, sponsored by two non-profits, Feet First and the International Sustainability Institute.

Feet First is an advocate for walkable communities, and ISI works on documenting global best practices for urban sustainability.  They have been working with their neighbors to transform alleys from nuisances to assets. Part of the program to invigorate the alleys as a vibrant urban places is their Alley Parties.  Each one incorporates art, music, food and drink to draw people into the alley and give people a different perspective on what they can become.

This Thursday, CAST, in collaboration with Christopher Ezzell of E Workshop, and Vashon Island artist Shahreyar Ataie,  will open an art installation that will float over their the Nord Building's section of alley, using about 600 recycled 2 liter bottles.   It will be up through the New Year.

So come one and all!  Did I mention there will be food, drink and music?

Alley between 1st and Second, just South of Occidential Park

314 First Avenue

November 3rd,  from 5 pm to 9 pm

Greenwood resident Kate Lichtenstein contacted us last spring to help her design a backyard studio / guest house for her modest 650 square foot 1920's one bedroom home (shown above). While the home's scale fits nicely with Kate's desire to have a simple and ecologically responsible lifestyle it falls a little short when it comes to a rough and ready workshop space for art, bicycle repair, ski tuning and building projects. Kate's home also lacks the space for a home office / guest room - something that she would like to integrate into the new structure.

Our initial goal was to have her project under construction by late summer 2009 but we were unable to get the project off the ground by that time. In hindsight, the stalling of the project turned out to be a stroke of luck...

In March of 2009 Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels proposed legislation that would allow Seattle homeowners to construct backyard cottages on their property. The legislation was reviewed and ultimately passed by the Seattle city council on November 2nd 2009 (with a 9 to 0 vote too! Kudos to Seattle voters for electing progressive urbanists for city council members!).

For Kate the ordinance has opened up new possibilities for a structure that can both accommodate her current needs and provide a potential source of income as a rental unit if her finances ever fall on hard times. Besides allowing for a legal detached rental unit the ordinance also allows for the construction of a two story structure – an arrangement that will work well for Kate’s needs and will help to preserve the spaciousness of her backyard.

Kate is planning to build with a mind toward sustainability and has a special interest in using recycled building materials whenever possible (she is, at this time, planning to write a parallel blog on the topic of recycled building materials). For us at CAST architecture Kate's project is an exciting chance to test out the new backyard cottage ordinance and work with a client who is committed to building green. We see her project as an excellent opportunity to provide the general public with information about the process of designing and building a backyard cottage in Seattle. Kate and her partner Ric Cochrane are always game for an adventure and have graciously agreed to allow us to share their experience with you. To that end, we are planning to blog about Kate's project as we travel through the design and construction process. Please subscribe to our feed if you would like to follow along in future posts…

We just heard that another one of our projects is going to be featured in Fine Homebuilding Magazine! The Artalejo-Lacas Residence is a 'zen craftsman'--traditional bungalow massing with some really wonderful spaces inside and details inspired by Japanese vernacular houses.

The project will be in the annual Houses issue--which is, well, especially cool because only a handful of houses nation wide make the cut.

The ordinance  to allow backyard cottages in the other three quarters of Seattle just passed 9-0!  The council's comments focused on the exhaustive community outreach, successful pilot program and benefit of having this housing choice for Seattle. Excellent work by the planning commission, DPD and council.

Usually, the city's process oriented decision making can be cumbersome, and having spent hours in meetings, testifying, and communicating with council, I feel vindicated that our involvement has helped in some small way to bring some innovation to the Single Family zoning.

We're excited to design some of these--in part because of the opportunity to foster multi-generational housing, and the option of building a smaller free standing structure rather than building an addition.  Plus, it is a really fun scale--I think more people will be thinking about bonus studios rather than housing units.

I would like to take a moment to welcome Parkour Visions, our new building mates, to our corner of Freelard. We've always tried to keep a fun group of creative folks in our building and I think we are set to continue the trend.  This weekend Parkour Visions had their grand opening, and all of us at CAST are looking forward to getting to know Rafe and Tyson better as we take them up on some lunch time workouts!  There has to be some form of symbiosis (or karmic irony) that an architecture firm and a Parkour gym are sharing the same building, but we are all excited to find out what it is like to play more directly in our built environment!

CAST has been involved in a number of  pro bono projects over the years, such as parks, community gardens, community centers, art installations, and smart development, and one of those, the Interbay P-Patch, is being published in an upcoming book on pro bono design by Public Architecture. This project was originally headed up by Nathan Walker, and after he left town, we've continued our involvement, adding a kiosk, arbor and most recently cool signage at the street.

We're really excited about the P-Patch, one, because it is a project that is near and dear to our hearts, and two, it can inspire more firms to offer their expertise to help civic and community causes, and more citizen groups to see that if they can dream it, they can build it.

With the impending vote on the backyard cottage ordinance, everyone in the office has been doing a little daydreaming about the DADUs and what they would build.  I have been working on a idea that started with a little ink drawing. It's now developed into a preliminary model/floor plans.  I've flipped the shed roof to have more volume in the shop/studio and worked out the bathroom so that my shop could easily be converted into an open kitchen/living space.

I have also been working out a simple steel structure, clad with structural insulated panels for easy construction and minimization of waste.  The goal is prefabrication of the components offsite, then assemble.

I'd love to try out using a geothermal pre-heating loop, with a hydronic radiant system run of a domestic hot water heater and test the new PV shingles, but that might get a bit expensive.

We're almost there--the committee passed the measure to allow backyard cottages in Seattle.  Next stop will be City Council. There are some notable amendments to the ordinance--the 50 per year allowed cap has been eliminated.  The heights have changed somewhat.  A discussion to limit the cottage height to no more than 15' above the primary residence's roof (which would affect sloped lots primarily) was tabled without conclusion.

The discussion is a little strange, in that some of the requirements being tossed around are more stringent than for building a single family house.  Case in point--if this relative height limit section passes, you will need a topographic survey to prove that the cottage conforms (not required on a new house if well within setbacks and under height), thus added about $2000 to the pricetag for the drawings.  This doesn't make any sense if the city is serious about this as being an affortable option.

Another case in point--Councilmember Rasmussen was leaning toward a neighborhood notice, similar to a MUP, but the neighbor's recourse, provided the cottage design fits the requirements, is nil.  The cottage is a Level 1 decision (no notice necessary, just like a new single family house), but creating such a provision would form a special class of notice ("Here is what is happening next door, but there is nothing you can do about it.  Thanks for coming down.").

Unfortunately, I had to run out before the discussion on the privacy issue, another NIMBY favorite, but in the end the ordinance is one step closer to fruition.

You can see the entire meeting online at the Seattle Channel here.  Backyard Cottage discussion starts at 107.30.

Thanks to Stefan for hosting our seasonal CAST dinner.  Great food and a big turnout, and it felt like some of the events we hosted pre-construction industry implosion.  We had a lot to celebrate:  our 11th year in business, and some great new projects on the boards, such as Vagabond Ranch,  the Causey's Learning Center expansion, and Zander and Megan's new house, plus welcoming aboard Forrest Murphy, our latest collaborator.