Illustration by James Yamasaki for The Stranger "On December 13, the Seattle City Council passed new rules for buildings in high-density residential neighborhoods. The decree has drawn predictable criticism from some activists, who complain the new rules will change the city's character, but in fact the gripes of these activists hit on exactly what's great about the new rules: They allow more housing." -Dominic Holden for The Stranger

Read more at the Stranger: Ditching Town Houses

A triumph for the 'Seattle Way'--years of contentious hearings, studies, tweaks resolve into ultimately a unanimous decision.  There is a certain super-tanker inertia about the city process that eventually prevails but it does it take a quite a while to steer the ship of state toward higher goals. Big thanks to Councilmember Sally Clark, the DPD staff, and CORA supermen:  Brandon Nicholson, Bradley Khouri, and David Neiman.

The new Multifamily Code is scheduled to come up for a vote before Council on Monday.  After years of process, hearings, and work shaping the outcomes, the new code will have some new attributes geared toward more flexibility in heights, parking, setbacks, and density.  It disincentivizes the '6 pack' townhomes everyone dislikes and gives out bonuses for green building, designs that hid parking and give a better streetscape.

For those of us who participated in the sausage-making legislative process over the years, it is great to see that it will finally come up for a vote.  If you want to see the vote, and who wouldn't, it will be at City Hall at 2pm Monday.

I will be participating in a panel discussion put on by the AIA to discuss different aspects of pro bono work, such as benefits, management, and liability.  Geoff Piper of The Global Studio, and Rachel Minnery of Environmental Works will also be speaking.  It will be informal, informative, and hopefully, inspirational. Geoff used to work at CAST a few years ago, and has clearly moved on to bigger and better things: His Global Studio is working with communities around the world to build schools and community centers.

The discussion is sponsored by the AIA Small Office Roundtable and the Congress of Residential Architects (CORA)

We are going to be having a party to christen the new office on January 28th, from 5 pm until... The party is a joint venture with the building's other inhabitants--D.Boone Construction and Cascade Bicycle Studio, so it should be a diverse crowd.

We'll provide snacks and beverages--come on over, see our awesome new space, and catch up with CAST!

The new space is coming along: walls are up and the electricians are there now. The storage loft to the right over the copy room is decked.

I wanted to highlight more of the work of The One Percent program. Founded in 2005, it is a unique effort to encourage architects to donate a mere 1% of their annual hours for projects for the public good.  That may not seem like a enough to make a difference, but if every architecture professional committed that much time, it would total 5 million hours a year--or to put it another way--a 2500 person firm working full time all year, every year for the public good.

It is such a good idea, and it is amazing to me that it isn't a part of my profession's DNA.  If lawyers can do it, why wouldn't we?

Right now, the One Percent's website has, at last count, 865 firms nationwide that have made the leap, and pledged more than 280,000 hours of service, and you can find inspiration, rationalization (for the doubters),  as well as a matching service where pro bono clients and  architects can find each other.

If you are an architect, sign up!

If you are a non-profit, or community group, post your project and connect with a expert that can help your organization.  Whether it is an expansion, tenant improvement, fixing an accessibility problem, or to masterplan/visualize the org's ambitions, architects have expertise and ideas that you can harness.

As one of the early adopters of the 1% idea, CAST has been selected as one of fifty  1% Design Advocates nationwide, so in the next couple of months, I'll be putting together some open events to discuss pro bono service.  In the meantime, if you have any questions about pro bono service, please feel free (no pun intended) to contact me:

matt@CASTarchitecture.com.

256.9886

After ten (ten!) years in our current location we are moving to a new space in Fremont into Dave Boone's great building @ 115c N.36th overlooking the Ship Canal.

As you can see, it is perfectly raw and we'll be burning the midnight oil to get it into shape for the new year.

After the holidays, we'll be having a building wide celebration in concert with D.Boone Construction, and Cascade Bicycles.

The Fremont Town Homes completed last year are going to be on a green design tour hosted by Mark Mays of ecohome seattle. This is a great opportunity to get inside and kick the tires of some really interesting sustainably minded projects.

For more information see Mark's annoucnment below or contact him directly at Mark Mays 425.280.4223. Follow this link for a list of all the addresses and an option to view them on a map, or cick through to view the invite in its entirety.

Greetings Green Home Tourists!

Here are the final four selections for the Green Home Tour this Sunday starting at 1pm at Martha Rose’ Fish Singer Place development in Shoreline. The address is 433 Fish Singer Place with access from Dayton Ave N., just a couple houses south of N. 160^th just up the hill from Sears and Central Market on Hwy 99. We will spend 45-60 minutes at Fish Singer as there is so much to see and Martha will be there to help explain the green features and systems. The site development is amazing with many eco-friendly functions along with the great aesthetics.

We can carpool or caravan to the next homes on the tour. For those that asked, there is no charge for the tour. We are fairly passionate about green homes and are happy to share the passion with others. Of course we are happy to provide real estate services for those that would like us to provide them, but this is all about seeing, learning and appreciating the fantastic work these architects and builders have done in their green home implementations without a bunch of sales hype.

The second home is a green remodel just a few blocks from the Phinney Center. This is one of the best Built Green remodels I’ve seen in terms of staying within the character of the original design as well as the neighborhood, and the quality of craftsmanship, materials and green systems is fairly rare compared to many of the green remodels I’ve seen.The architect was Amy Williams with Blue Canyon Construction as the contractor. I’m supposed to be getting a copy of the checklist so we can know more about what is behind the walls and under the floors that would demonstrate a good green home design.

Home #2 on the map is a Four Star Built Green home that has many green features and systems which you will already have seen at Fish Singer, but this is definitely one of the better infill townhomes I’ve seen with tight energy envelope, plumbed for solar hot water, great daylighting, nice choice of materials and great feng shui. This home was designed by Stefan Hampden at Cast Architecture and was presented at last year’s NW EcoBuilders Guild 10x10x10 event.

The last home on the tour is in a high density luxury home development, but really it is not so ostentatious like the Street of Dreams green homes with massive square footage. I’m sure the pricing has more to do with the location and views, but the unique geothermal system along with the overall energy efficiency design, choice of green materials,and high quality craftsmanship definitely makes this home worth seeing. The listing broker will be available to answer detailed questions about the home.

Here is the NWMLS link if you’d like to get more details about the homes and preview some pictures.

Click the following URL to see the Listings: http://www.matrix.nwmls.com/DE.asp?ID=1059716656

<<...>> Look forward to seeing everyone Sunday and feel free to pass this email on to anyone else you think might be interested.

Mark Mays Real Estate Broker LEED Green Associate CHAMPIONS REAL ESTATE SERVICES 525 5th Ave S. Suite 100 Edmonds, WA 98020 Cell: 425-280-4223 Fax: 206-905-0810 mark@mays108.org www.ecohomeseattle.com

The Widner's cottage is starting to take shape!