In the Daily Journal of Commerce: Green Building Blog

The final Feasibility Study and Community Design Report is available here

Congratulations to Parkour Visions--the City has selected them as a finalist for the 'Holding Pattern' competition to help energize one of Seattle's stalled building sites.  I'm hoping we'll have an opportunity to help them create an urban Parkour park, although temporary, here in Seattle!

We just heard that one of our past projects is going to be featured in Seattle Homes and Lifestyles next year!  The project was a remodel of a classic victorian on Capitol Hill. The original house was well kept, but overgrown, dark with a tiny kitchen:

The walls in the dining room were forest green, but you couldn't even really tell, because of the heavy drapes, and the 15' hedge that was gradually consuming the site.

We took down the hedge, pulled the drapes, then started cutting into the house to open up the spaces, and connect the house to the outside world.  We added an elegant back porch, perfect for grilling, using all the period details down to the last dentil.  Even though we maintained the perimeter of the existing house, by using the space better, we were able to triple the kitchen's size, and put in built-ins to maximize every corner without altering the character of the house.

We've been selected as one of the up and coming Seattle architecture firms shaping the future of our fair city.  The exhibit will be up at AIA Seattle in July with a reception on the July 1st from 5-7 pm. The exhibit will highlight ten or so local firms, and will be a great chance to see some fresh design thinking from around town.  The AIA hasn't published the full list of firms included yet, but when they do, I'll link up to their websites.

In collaboration with Parkour Visions, we put together a proposal to turn a site at 19th and Madison (currently an empty lot, that ironically Kevin in our office designed a 4 unit complex for at a prior firm before the economy tanked) into a Parkour Park.  Parkour Visions, in addition to being a gym (and one of our building's tenants), does training, classes, and preaches the Parkour gospel to the masses.  If you aren't familiar with Parkour, check this out: video clip 1:

video clip 2:

The proposal (found here), is for a Seattle Design Commission competiton called "Holding Pattern" to create temporary uses for vacant land spread throughout  the city, with the goal to activate these urban spaces.  We'll find out next week if the ParkOurPark is going to get the green light!

Part of the excitement about the Sunset Substation Park is the goal for sustainable architecture that we've set:  meeting the Living Building Challenge: From the International Living Building Institute:

"Living Building Challenge 2.0 is a cohesive standard – pulling together the most progressive thinking from the worlds of architecture, engineering, planning, landscape design and policy.

It challenges us to ask the question: What if every single act of design and construction made the world a better place?

What if every intervention resulted in greater biodiversity; increased soil health; additional outlets for beauty and personal expression; a deeper understanding of climate, culture and place; a realignment of our food and transportation systems; and a more profound sense of what it means to be a citizen of a planet where resources and opportunities are provided fairly and equitably?

Indeed, “Living Building Challenge” is not a merely a noun that defines the character of a particular solution for development, but more relevant if classified as a series of verbs – calls for action that describe not only the ‘building’ of all of humanity’s longest lasting artifacts, but also of the relationships and broader sense of community and connectivity they engender. It is a challenge to immerse ourselves in such a pursuit - and many refer to the ability to do so as a “paradigm shift”.

The Living Building Challenge is comprised of seven performance areas, or ‘Petals’: Site, Water, Energy, Health, Materials, Equity and Beauty. Petals are subdivided into a total of twenty Imperatives, each of which focuses on a specific sphere of influence. "

This is a relatively new standard, one-upping LEED standards, to think more holistically and less prescriptively about the impacts our buildings have on the greater environment.  I encourage all to check out their website and find out more about this program.  There is a broad overview of the Challenge, but the nitty gritty technical requirements are behind a paid registration firewall.

As we go through it, I'll be posting more information about our experience and the techniques that we're going to employ to meet the Challenge.

Check out the Substation blog for the latest!

The Artalejo-Lacas Residence has been featured in the Fine Homebuilding "Houses 2010" issue! It is on the newsstands now, check out the article which starts on page 45...

Artalejo-Lacas residence

We're busy, and that is news in an of itself.  Not that we haven't been keeping busy over the last year and half since the big crash, but given the abysmal state of the construction industry as a whole, we're happy to report that anecdotally there seems to be more activity out there (knock on wood). More housing starts, sales, news in the Daily Journal of Commerce about other firms hiring, and some of those holes in the ground out there starting to see renewed activity. So what have we been working on?

First, check out the latest schemes for the Sunset Substation pocket park in Ballard.  We've made a hybrid scheme out of the three prior options, increased the potential of the solar array, and reworked the parkscape with a more sculptural land forms and a sinuous path from corner to corner:

We've also been working on a great remodel/addition in Laurelhurst, opening up a classic midcentury modern house. There is a timber bamboo grove and small park to the north, creating an intimate feeling for the new kitchen and dining room despite the expanse of glass:

And we're making some progress on the Mitate House. I'm excited that as the design has been refined, we're getting more elegant volumes, a clean functional plan and expanding the opportunities for interaction with the landscape.  I'll be posting more shortly on this one--we're getting the renderings ready for the builder's pre-sale marketing and will highlight the sustainable construction aspects:

Plus we're working on a live/work in Fremont, renovations in Ballard, Sand Point, Montlake, Capital Hill, a restaurant, 2 backyard cottages, to name a few, and I'll feature some more projects this month.