We've been working on a house on the shores of Lake Washington near Seward Park. It will feature some fantastic window walls, plenty of outdoor living space, and an interior bridge over the living room/entry to connect the dual suites upstairs.  More to come!...

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!

We helped out a great organization, Orphans to Ambassadors with a pro bono design and donation for a chicken coop to help feed 423 orphans at the Institute for Women's Excellence in Rwanda.  During the month of May, they build the coop, some rocket stoves, and some rainwater harvesting projects for this and other orphanages in the area.  Great work!

Hopefully, we'll have the chance to help out with more their future projects!

Please support them with a donation!

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).

We've just about wrapped up another project we're really excited about, the Anderson Residence. All that remains is a stretch of sunny weather long enough to allow the painters to finish up the exterior painting (we've had some nice sunny days this spring but not too many in a row).

The Anderson residence is a second story addition and first floor renovation of a 1940's home that transformed a traditional divided plan into a contemporary open plan filled with natural light.

The new design simplifies and streamlines the first floor, while the new second floor provides additional space for a growing family. The dining room is a light filled double height space with an adjacent floating stairway that creates a visual center for the home.

A combination of Japanese inspired detailing with modern ideas about living and space permeate the home.

The Contractor, Model Remodel, did a fantastic job from framing to details and undertook all the legwork required to achieve a 4 star Built Green certification. I would like to send out a big thank you to the clients, the contractor and all the individuals who have contributed to this fantastic home.

Contractor: Model Remodel / www.modelremodel.com Photos: Tim Matsui / www.timmatsui.com

In collaboration with the Berger Partnership ,Via Architecture, and Rushing, we put together a competition proposal for the replacement of Memorial Stadium and a new vision for the Center as a whole.

The design is an organic and topographic intervention that flows through the Center and surrounding neighborhoods, creating new connections, opportunities for new programs, and experiences at the Center. It creates a dense, flexible fabric stitched together with multi-modal transit to bring in new audiences, local/daily users, and new amenities for regional visitors.

Some of the important features:

Connectivity:

Right now the Center acts as an island in the city, but should be a hub linking neighborhoods rather than separating them. To that end, we're showing a linkage through the Bay to Lake trail, a transit center with bus, Rapid Ride, sub grade parking, and a new loop of the streetcar. The northern edge, bounded by Mercer will have a new lid park to bring in foot/bike traffic from Queen Anne and a plaza at the corner of Mercer and 5th. Broad Street becomes a greenway linking to SAM Sculpture Park to Lake Union. In effect, it's location makes it an ideal 'transit oriented park' to draw Seattleites to and through the Center.

Layered landscape:

The new topography defines the Center Green, an organic open space at the heart that spills out in all directions. Memorial Stadium is replaced by a field with a 'kop' style hill as seating, perfect for multi-use such as a musical performance space.  From 5th, the landscape opens up for a vista to the International Fountain. Underneath the Center Green, we have a series of public event spaces, storefronts for fringe/alternative cultural institutions to colocate and share resources, layers of parking, and finally a grid of ground source heat pumps to lessen energy use for the Center overall.

We didn't stop at the boundaries of the original 9 acre site, but extended the idea to carve out new access from Uptown and the meandering pathways that run through the Center Green terminate at a bridge to the apex of Key Arena--a great new public view point to downtown and the Sound.

Expressive Environmental Infrastructure:

Beyond Seattle 2030, the design begins to illustrate the path toward making the world's first Living Building District. The goal is to create a beneficial closed loop system for using on site resources and expressing the infrastructure so visitors can see, understand, and take the lessons of sustainability home. Floating above the landscape, there is a layer of solar canopy (about 150K SF) to generate energy for the spaces on the 9 acre site. We also did a first pass on other locations for solar throughout the Center, and could easily add twice that amount on existing roofs and walls of other center buildings. The draped landscape collects storm water and purifies it through a series of rain gardens and native landscape.

The Center as a cultural incubator:

We're also proposing a mix of new, smaller multi use spaces to support the growth of new cultural generators, like SIFF and KEXP.  Tucked under the knoll overlooking the performance/field, we are proposing a new multi-use performance/community space which can be configured like the Center's Northwest Rooms or opened up for larger events. At the corner of Mercer and 5th, we've opened up a new urban plaza that acts as both a local Queen Anne gateway and spill out space for the community space and cultural incubators.

Although we were not selected as a finalist for the competition, I think we put together a very forward looking, connective, and sustainable solution which would do the city proud.

Special thanks to Studio 216 for the help with the renderings!

Soon we'll be able to post our design concept for the revitalization of the Seattle Center, as part of the Urban Intervention competition, but here is a little sneak peak:

Once they announce the finalists, we'll be able to release the full content of our proposal, as well and give full credit to all the great collaborators we worked with.

2011 was good, but 2012 is going to be much better!

Stefan, Tim and I will be set up on the main floor (room 1).  Drop by and see us!

We've had a booth for eight or nine years, and it's always a good show--lots of new products, and a chance to talk with contractors, architects, etc in a no-pressure atmosphere.

In December, Stefan and I asked Tim to become a full partner in CAST architecture.  Tim has been with us since 2006, and has done some fantastic work, including the Artalejo-Lacas, Anderson and Bookloft residences.

Tim's work has been influenced by his interest in traditional Japanese architecture, small space design and Urban density issues. His path has been fueled by an 18-month research scholarship to study urban housing in Japan while a graduate student. This interest has most recently manifested itself in his efforts advocating for the passage of the Seattle Backyard Cottage ordinance. He is currently engaged in the design of efficient and elegant homes and cottages in various Seattle neighborhoods.

Tim is a registered architect in the State of Washington. He received a master of Architecture from the University of Washington and a Bachelor of Art and Design from Montana State University.