Matt Hutchins was recently featured on the Compounding Change podcast. This show is about how small actions create big results, hosted by Seattle Realtor, Gunnar Conley. They talk of good planning, complete neighborhoods, density, and the built-in affordability of accessory dwelling units. It’s part of Matt’s mission to make cities, neighborhoods, and homes agents to fight climate change. Go to: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/compounding-change/id1513993853?i=1000518698366
Matt Hutchins was a guest presenter at Olympians for People-Orientated Places (OPOP) speaking to the value of Accessory Dwelling Units (ADU) in our communities. Matt shares details about ADU options and relevant design tips. Watch the full video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-ZNvrlb2jM&list=PLkaUO3cFG5vm9YIeiYMNyZexq4uehfMcs
Visit www.opopnow.org/adu-101 for more details.
CAST’s Matt Hutchins: ADU 101 VIRTUAL WORKSHOP
This redlining map codified racial segregation and economic discrimination into our zoning code, shaping Seattle neighborhoods for nearly a century. Breaking the pattern of equity is the core work of the Seattle Planning Commission.
Cast’s MATT HUTCHINS TO JOIN THE SEATTLE PLANNING COMMISSION
On a personal note, I’ve been selected to join the Seattle Planning Commission. The Planning Commission advises the Mayor, City Council, and City departments on broad planning goals, policies, and plans for the physical development of the City. I’m going to do my best to focus our big picture planning efforts on fighting climate change, creating affordable housing, equitable development, and pushing for complete, walkable, vibrant neighborhoods throughout Seattle. I’m pretty excited!
CAST ARCHITECTURE’s AWARD-winning Rainier Beach Urban farm ND WETLANDS
Rainier Beach Urban Farm and Wetlands Classroom Building has won an AIA Washington Council Civic Design Merit Award and an Honorable Mention from the AIA Seattle Honor Awards.
Rainier Beach Urban Farm and Wetlands (RBUFW) transformed a former City of Seattle seven-acre tree nursery into an urban agriculture center for a culturally diverse area of Seattle. Run by Tilth Alliance and Friends of Rainier Beach Urban Farm and Wetlands, the project inspires and educates people to safeguard our natural resources while building an equitable and sustainable local food system. Local food production for a neighborhood abundant with immigrant culture means refugees, who were forced to flee their homeland farms, now pass down food, farming traditions, and identity to the next generation through RBUFW. At the heart of the farm is the new Classroom Building. It brings together people from a full spectrum of cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds.
The building program was a result of a community-driven process that led to the design of a flexible gathering space and a commercial kitchen for community meals and cooking demonstrations. In addition to monthly community dinners, kid’s summer camps, and a pay-what-you-can farmstand, RBUFW hosts fresh food related programs for community-supported agriculture, gardening, beekeeping, and food production.
The Classroom Building’s canopy is framed with parametric trusses that transition from convex to concave, wrapped in translucent polycarbonate. It cantilevers 24 feet to create a protected porch where the community can gather outdoors, regardless of the weather. To either side of the canopy, service boxes contain restrooms, storage, and the community kitchen. Situating the new building on a slope between two groves of trees at the edge of the site maximizes the arable land in front of the building and minimizes the building profile for the neighbors. Beyond the Classroom Building, RBUFW’s site was designed to include substantial wetland restoration, permaculture, greenhouses, over 30,000 square feet of in-ground farming, and composting and cold storage facilities. An original garden shed was renovated to create space for administration, restrooms, and a conference room.
Rainier Beach Urban Farm and Wetlands is a vibrant community hub for food, urban farming, and environmental education in the heart of Rainier Beach-- one of the most diverse zip codes in the nation. The 7.2 acres site is ½ dedicated to organic food production and ½ restored natural wetlands. They offer a variety of community education classes and workshops including growing and preserving your food and conserving our environment, plus volunteer opportunities for individuals and groups year-round.
As a vibrant working farm and environmental center, it provides 20,000 pounds of fresh produce thru CSAs and a pay what you can farmstand. The Good Food Bags program links local farms to consumers. A youth employment program prepares young people for agriculture careers. Community meals feed thousands every year. Nearly half the site is a wetland that has been painstakingly restored, removing invasive species and replanting thousands of wetland trees and shrubs.
CAST PRINCIPAL MATT HUTCHINS RECEIVES 2020 AIA SEATTLE VOLUNTEER AWARD
CAST co-founder and principal Matt Hutchins was honored at the 2020 AIA Seattle President’s Dinner with the Volunteer Award.
Matt has spent more than twenty years working to increase the vitality of the city and the environment. With AIA Seattle, he has been a steadfast advocate and public educator on abundant urban housing options, backyard cottages, Residential Small Lot Zoning, sustainable building and zoning reform. He co-chairs AIA Seattle’s Housing Task Force and serves on the Public Policy Board, and served in the past on the Housing Design Forum Committee, and co-facilitated the chapter’s ADU tour and City Leader Breakfast.
CAST is thrilled to have Matt leading our firm!
Thank you to all the people who were honored in 2020 by AIA Seattle for your work to keep Seattle a beautiful and inclusive place!
Experience the Canyon Street Neighborhood:
13 permanently affordable homes situated in the Town of Twisp.
CAST has been working with the Methow Housing Trust (MHT) to create affordable housing in the Methow Valley. Five 2- and 3-bedroom homes are now occupied in Twisp, Washington. An additional 8 units are under construction as part of a second phase of construction. The design phase of the project was completed on an extremely aggressive schedule due to the Valley’s short building season.
While modest in size, the homes combine a high design sensibility with an incredibly tight budget. The homes are durable, easy-living, energy efficient, and designed for accessibility to allow residents to age in place. CAST collaborated closely with the MHT to make tough decisions about value and optimize efficiency.
Video courtesy of Danica Ready, Executive Director of the Methow Housing Trust
Cedar Cottage
The Cedar Cottage has been selected as one of ten cottage designs highlighted by the City of Seattle’s Pre-Approved DADU Design program. Our design, based on a custom cottage in progress, has been tailored to be economical, flexible, and accessible. It will be 4 star BuiltGreen certified, and work an most Seattle sites. We’ll have a one and two bedroom version.
The city’s website will come out soon, but you can find more information on our special stand alone site www.CASTcottages.com and find out how you can get great design at a reasonable cost.
New Ideas for Constructing Affordable Homes, May 13th, 2020
Palo Alto, like many cities throughout the region, has failed to construct enough homes to create the diversity of housing stock needed for our community members. But it doesn’t have to be this way. In this workshop, we’ll explore new and creative ways to build more housing at every income level through shared equity, small lot zoning standards, and talk about what we can do locally.
Co-hosts: Palo Alto Forward, League of Women Voters of Palo Alto
Panelists: Lisa Ratner, League of Women Voters of Palo Alto
Matt Hutchins, CAST Architecture
Elaine Uang, Co-Founder of Palo Alto Forward
Moderator: Gail Price, Palo Alto Forward
Kelsey Banes, Peninsula for Everyone
Cedar Cottage, originally designed for the Phelan family
Recently, Seattle put out a call for lower-cost designs to be ‘pre-approved’ for building permits. One of the biggest challenges for backyard cottages is the uncertainty and permitting difficulty for many people who may never have taken on a big project like this before. CAST answered the call, putting together four designs ranging in size and features, derived from our long experience with the backyard cottage market. Here is a preview of the four models, each has its own special hook—sloped lots, accessibility, expandability, or super small size:
Cloud Cottage, 481 sf footprint, multiple configurations from studio, or 2 story version with studio over garage, 1 bedroom or 2 bedroom.
Kestrel Cottage—one or optional two bedroom (not shown here), all on one level for accessibility and aging in place.
Crow’s Nest, original design for Matt and Amy Stevenson, adapted for Seattle’s Pre-Approved Cottage program
Over the next month, regardless of what this City does, CAST will be developing some or all of these designs and making them available for purchase with an agreement to use CAST for the site specific engineering, permitting and zoning work. If you are interested in finding out more, contact Matt@CASTarchitecture.com.
This year Matt has been honored by Seattle Magazine as one the city’s 35 Most Influential People for his work around abundant housing options:
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Urban Density
Matt Hutchins
In Seattle’s ongoing civic war over density versus “traditional neighborhood character,” backyard cottages and mother-in-law apartments (accessory dwelling units, or ADUs, in city parlance) might seem like an unlikely battleground. The small, secondary units can provide extra income for homeowners or an extra living space for family members or guests. But some opposed legislation making it easier for homeowners to build these units, arguing that the bill would allow developers to blanket Seattle’s single-family neighborhoods with luxury apartments. Matt Hutchins used his expertise as an architect who actually builds backyard cottages to make the case that housing diversity does not mean development run wild. A member of More Options for Accessory Residences (MOAR), Hutchins was a constant presence during the ADU debate, arguing forcefully and effectively that Seattle’s neighborhoods should be places for everyone, including people who don’t make six-figure incomes.
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Movers & Shakers: Seattle's Most Influential People of the Year 2019
Seattle Magazine, November 2019
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