The Widner Cottage is going to be open to the public twice this summer for tours:

First, the Phinney Neighborhood Association's Home and Garden Tour will roll through on June 12th, from 11-4 pm (see link).

Second, the Cottage will be featured as the AIA Seattle's Open House on July 17th from noon to 3 pm.  More information here.  As part of the tour, the house will be published in Seattle Magazine, in the Northwest Home section in July.

I'm trying to organize a tour of recently completed backyard cottages in the month of June.  If you have one that you'd like to have considered for the tour, please contact me!

Matt@CASTarchitecture.com

CAST architecture was featured in a couple of articles in the latest Forum magazine (published by AIA Seattle):

Sunset Substation Park was highlighted in an article, Ideas Toward a Renewable City, by Kate Cudney and Tom Mulica.

In a second article, New Edge/New Blood:  Refreshing reminders from ten young firms on keeping your competitive edge, by David Spiker, I talk about our use of blogging as a tool to highlight recent work and causes such as Backyard Cottages and reforming the Multifamily code.  Hopefully it is giving people a broader understanding, beyond the glossy portfolio, of the values that drive our designs.

One of our clients is documenting the process of transforming their bungalow with passive solar addition  (Design brief here) with a image laden blog. Check it out!

Stefan and I attended a conference put on by Passive House Northwest at Evergreen State College on Friday and I feel like we got a bit more of the nuance of the standard, understanding of more of the nerdy building science, as well as a chance to look at first hand some of new projects being brought to the US market. A little more background: Passive House is a concept developed by the PassiveHaus Institute in Germany.  They developed the tools that are used to model performance, and do the training and certification of Passive House consultants.  While there are about 30,000 PH projects worldwide, the US rollout has led to a few complications.

First, within the name, there are two inherent misconceptions:  that they are passive solar houses, and that it is a strategy for houses (since the direct german translation for haus would be 'building' , it's easy to overlook the impact on larger institutional and commercial projects).

Second, the Passive House standard was developed in Germany, and there are concerns that it doesn't address other climates.  In very cold climates, for example, the PH standard would call for an impractical amount of insulation, while in hotter areas, a code compliant house with an interior air seal might make the cut.

Third, the software is a black box, and as one conference goer pointed out, the Northwest is home to a lot of DIY building science 'rogues' who want to see into the box, fiddle and tweak the system to optimize it for our climate. It's a bit of a culture clash manifesting itself in the black box/open source conversation. Plus it is proprietary, so I feel a little bit of the same resistance I have to LEED and the USGBC.

Fourth, the spent energy metric is based on an area measurement.  Since the US first adopters are building houses, and on the small side, the bar is pretty high because the same energy hogs populate big and small homes alike.  Joe Giampetro has recently finished his 'Mini-B' passive house--essentially a small DADU, so it can be done, but there is no inherent reward for building not so big.

The flip side of the argument would be that we shouldn't be building single family detached at all.  Urban Olympic, our multifamily Passive House, seen in the prior post, will be an excellent data point to compare how the overall size of the building affects the energy model's performance and cost of construction.

All in all, if you are a building science nerd, I'd recommend the next event, scheduled for June 17th.  Regardless of your commitment to green building, the underlying idea is powerful, and will have a big impact on the industry over the next 20 years.

Urban Olympic is a community of 9 townhouses, and will  mark a couple of firsts for us:  our first Passive House project and also our first project under the new Seattle multifamily code.

Passive House is a rigorous green building standard focused on exclusively on energy consumption, energy efficiency and air quality. They are super insulated, almost airtight, and therefore need very little energy input to heat (up to a 90% reduction of the energy used by a typical code compliant house).  The heat from equipment, people and lighting retained within the insulated building envelope essentially replaces the furnace/boiler as the primary heat source. Fresh air is conditioned through a Heat Recovery Ventilator (HRV) with the exhausted air.  Although solar gain does factor into the equation, Passive Houses are not passive solar houses.

Urban Olympic, to my knowledge, will be the first multifamily Passive House in the United States.

Matt Hutchins from our office will be leading the AIA how to work with an architect discussion at the seattle AIA office this Saturday.  If you are considering a remodel, addition or new construction, and are interested about the process and value proposition of working with an architect please consider attending this talk from 9:30 to noon on Saturday the twelfth.  See below for more info:

Making your Project Happen:

How to Select and Work with an Architect

Trying to figure our how to make the most of your budget? Dreaming about a project and not sure where to start? Curious about green design or how to plan for your family's changing needs?

Whether your project is a small remodel or new construction—or if you are just curious about the design process—AIA architects can help. Join Matt Hutchins AIA and Don Larkin AIA for an information-packed seminar on the basics of the design and construction project including budget advice, tips for hiring the right contractor, what to expect, and how you and your architect can work together to make the most of any project.

Saturday March 12, 2011 9:30am - noon AIA Seattle, 1911 First Avenue Cost:  $15 To register, click here: www.aiaseattle.org/node/5311

PRESENTERS

Matt Hutchins

Matt Hutchins is a licensed architect who graduated with Honors from the University of Colorado and Arizona State University. Prior to CAST, Matt practiced in Boulder, Aspen and Phoenix, designing custom residential, mixed-use and commercial buildings. He has taught design drawing at the University of Washington School of Architecture, undergraduate design studios at Arizona State University, and has written articles for Building Edge Magazine. He is an artist with a primary focus in wood block printmaking. http://www.castarchitecture.com

Don Larkin AIA

Don Larkin is a licensed architect specializing in custom residential architecture.  He is the owner of an architectural design firm in Newcastle, Washington, and designs custom homes and remodels throughout the state of Washington.  With over 20 years of residential experience, he designs projects of all styles, sizes and budgets to meet the unique needs of the client.  He encourages client participation throughout the design process and considers the client the most valuable member of the design team.  To view photos of his work, please visit his website at www.DonLarkinArchitect.com.

We had about 15 at the AIA/CORA Pro Bono Design panel discussion.  Joining me on the panel was Rachel Minnery from Environmental Works, and Geoff Piper from Global Studio.

A couple of valuable points that came out of our discussion:

1.  Pro bono work is different than being a volunteer.   Pro bono service is the application of our professional abilities, judgement, experience, creativity to work for the public good.  Volunteering is a valuable component of civic life, such as working for Habitat for Humanity, but is probably relatively unskilled labor.

2.  Vet potential clients--they need to have the community connection, stability, and personnel to carry out the mission, because our work as architects is really just the beginning for any pro bono project. Our work may be the seed, but it takes a committed organization to make the investment a reality.

3.  Treat pro bono projects just as you would any other project in the office.  Otherwise, you're doing both your client and our profession a disservice by treating it as a less than serious undertaking.  That means contracts, liability, life safety, and solid construction documents.

4.  Work on projects/issues that you are interested in.  First it will help make the commitment easier to make, help you build experience in that area, and help to show people (and potential clients) where your heart lays.

As architects, we're often not in the driver's seat with regards to the project, but with pro bono, you have to take up the mantle of a shared mission with that community group or cause, and part of the compensation for your investment in time is taking the project where you think it should go.  Your vision may be underrated in the private sector, but essential to many non-profits trying to raise funds.  It is a wonderful opportunity to be entrepreneurial,  make connections with a larger community, and act not only as problem solvers, but problem identifiers.

Thank you to all our friends and colleagues that came out last night to help us celebrate our new office space!  Standing room only!  Now if only one of us had thought to snap a picture when the crowd was actually there....

Since we haven't decided what to do with the big wall that separates the desks from the conference/copy space, we took all the recycled moving boxes, cut them down on the table saw, then glued them up, thus recycling them again.   Perfect for the party!

Join CAST and 89 other exhibitors at the Phinney Ridge Home Fair!  Always a good time to pick the experts' brains about whatever home improvement issue you may be having.  Plus, there is a special emphasis on green companies and services, including landscaping, solar tech, 'passive house' (super insulated/energy efficient construction--not 'passive solar')

See you there!