backyard cottage in phinney ridge
The Widner’s cottage is starting to take shape!
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CAST architecture's P-Patch is featured in the Power of Pro Bono book
John Peterson, of Public Architecture, is coming to town on October 20th to give a talk on how pro bono design is making a difference. Â His firm has been behind a national effort, call the One Percent, to mobilize architects to donate 1% of their time per year toward pro bono causes.
Recently they’ve published a book called the Power of Pro Bono detailing 40 project nation wide where architects have donated their time toward great causes. CAST architecture’s first pro bono project, the Interbay P-Patch is featured in the book.
We joined up with the One Percent several years ago after finishing the first project for the P-Patch, and have since completed several, with more on the way. I heartily recommend public service as an excellent way for architects to use their unique skill set to improve the community. Â Plus, personally, it feels great to know that you’ve made a difference in the lives of some of your neighbors.
Here are the details for the talk:
Wednesday, 10/20
Pan Pacific Hotel
2125 Terry Avenue, Lakefront Room
Cocktails start at 5:30, the talk starts at 6:15, with dessert and coffee afterwards.
I have been collaborating with Susan Black and Associates to formulate a vision for the expansion of the Washington Park Arboretum facilities, as part of the SR 520 replacement and the demolition of the highway ramps that currently dominate the north end of the Park.
With this project, we are proposing a “ new gateway structure to orient visitors, provide space for general services and curation/collection exhibits, and fulfill many of the aims of the 2001 Master Plan. As conceptualized, the development respects the history of the site and reclaims the altered landscape to natural, healthy conditions. It will provide organization, orientation, and education for visitors as a means to explore the greater Arboretum.
view of entry plaza-Washington Park Arboretum Visitor Center North Gateway
Friday’s nights Green Building Slam was a big success. The Guild packed the auditorium in the Central Library and was, dare I say, raucous? Â There was a lot of energy in the room and the enthusiasm was palpable. Â I wanted to highlight a couple of trends that we saw in multiple projects.
1. Â Passive houses–super insulated, airtight buildings that consequently use very little energy to heat (a hair dryer or toaster would do the trick).
Projects ranged from Joe Giampietro’s Mini B house , Jim Burton’s Backyard Box, and Dan Whitmore’s house. Â There are a lot of people working on the details, and trying out innovative strategies for meeting the rigorous standards, like the .6 air changes per hour (Joe’s was .58ACH and Dan’s measured .41 ACH). Â Here is a blog about passive houses–Existing Resources.
2.  Beyond Passive Houses specifically, there was a drive for measuring building performance using blower door tests, thermal imaging, etc.  The point was made  that the real time feedback is a great learning and teaching tool for both the designers and the craftspeople, linking the attention to detail required at all phases of construction to execute a high performance building with regards to energy usage.
3. Â Waste stream minimization:
Two projects highlighted efforts to reduce construction waste: Bastyr University housing, and Walsh Construction’s Salishan redevelopment. Â The Salishan project was especially notable, not only for the context, an affordable housing project with upwards of 100 units, but because they put in place a system of labled dumpsters to sort all the construction waste–down to just one unrecyclable dumpster load over the project’s construction.
I had a great time, first presenting the Sunset Substation Park, and second, learning about what other like minded companies are working on in our region.
napkin sketch
The AIA’s new awards program for housing, Futureshack, was this past week on Wednesday. Â The best thing about the program is the attempt to engage the public in a discourse about housing, density, green building. Â The awards even had a People’s Choice award, based on online voting.
Matt at Speed-Date-Design
This year the AIA also premiered a new feature, Speed-Date-Design–7 minutes to bounce your ideas of an architect (then onto the next person). Â As one of the Speed Daters, I talked with a couple interested in a multi-family development–almost a co-housing concept, plus a couple of homeowners about northwest contempory design and sustainable construction. Â They picked my brain about dormers, backyard cottages, and recycled building materials. After the Speed Date session, one of the bartenders working the event asked me about getting a permit for his garage. Â The informal format really helped make people who might not think that they could engage an architect feel comfortable about soliciting a little advice about building. I hope that the AIA does more of this kind of activity.
Both photos are courtesy of Andrew Buchanan–www.SubtleLightPhoto.com
It was great to see a solid turnout for the opening. It was so packed I couldn’t really spend time looking at the work, amongst all the starving architects jockeying for free wine, beer and food!
Come see the freshest work by a group of young architects, tonight at the AIA office downtown. We’re honored to be a part of this group!
Kate and Ric have begun construction on their backyard cottage… They have been working hard the last few weeks and have enlisted the help of a few friends and colleagues along the way. A few key players have been helping guide us through the process:
- Rusty Borromeo of Borromeo Construction LLC is providing his general contractor and construction expertise
- James Jenkins of O’Brien & Company is contributing his green building knowledge and will be our Built Green Verifier – we are aiming for 5 star Built Green certification
- Cory Fraser of LFD Structural Engineering LLC provided the calculations and engineering for our plan set
Ric has been doing a wonderful job of photographing the process and has put together a few galleries of the construction process thus far (all images in this post are © 2010 Ric Cochrane). He has also agreed to write up a blog post on the experience thus far – so stay tuned for that!
DECONSTRUCTION GALLERY
An existing shed (that was a bit worse for wear) was painstakingly deconstructed and all reusable and recyclable materials were sorted and stacked
LABOR OF LOVE – THE FOUNDATION
Digging in the dirt and other fun activities – the true definition of ‘sweat equity!’
LUMBER FROM THE BONE-YARD
Salvaged beams, columns and decking are being purchased from Bruce Borjesson of Pacific Resources
The final Feasibility Study and Community Design Report is available here
capitol hill after
We just heard that one of our past projects is going to be featured in Seattle Homes and Lifestyles next year! Â 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:
capitol hill kitchen: before the remodel
before the remodel: the dining room
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. Â We added an elegant back porch, perfect for grilling, using all the period details down to the last dentil. Â 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.
capitol hill kitchen: after
capitol hill dining room: after