We've completed the first round of design on our CAST architecture case study backyard cottage.

Kate and Ric's cottage is intended to serve as an art studio, workshop and guest house. It is also designed so that it may function as a rental home if needed. Our initial round of planning looked at how the spaces might work as a rental thinking that those functional requirements would be more restrictive than the requirements for an art studio and workshop.

Elements common to all three schematic design options:

All three options place the cottage at the SW corner of the site, chosen for it's relationship to the more public areas of the existing home and for an opportunity to create a shared outdoor room for both the cottage and the home. They all have a gable roof which was chosen for the height bonus allowed in the ordnance and to help marry the form of the cottage to the form of the existing home. All three options have the kitchen, living and bath rooms on the first floor and a bedroom loft on the second floor. Another feature common to all the options is the use of salvaged galvanized steel scaffolding components (see image below) which we plan to use as treads for ladder to the loft spaces.

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SCHEMATIC DESIGN OPTION 1

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This design incorporates an existing garage which more or less sits on the South and West property lines. The city land use desk (walk in) indicated that it was probable that we would be able to grandfather the building envelope of the existing garage into a new backyard cottage but they were unwilling to guarantee it. They recommended that we go through formal land use approval early in the process. Regardless of their final call we did know that we would have to stick within the building envelope of the garage for all portions of the backyard cottage that did not conform to the new ordinance. The potential advantage of using the existing garage is that it would allow us to use up less of the yard space for our new structure.

This drawing illustrates the site plan and floor plans. The existing garage is the portion of the structure that bumps out to the south and the west.

This is a view of the cottage from the SE. You can see the envelope of the existing garage on the south side of the structure.

A view from the NE looking through the shared outdoor room.

A view looking from the dining room, past the scaffolding ladder and into the living area.

A view from the living room into a private shade garden inspired by small Japanese courtyard gardens and created in the 5' setback from the lot line. a four foot concrete wall and cedar fence above create a very private and intimate indoor/outdoor space.

A view from the street.

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SCHEMATIC DESIGN OPTION 2

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The major element in this design is the creation of a covered outdoor workspace to the south of the cottage.

The covered patio to the south provides a sheltered outdoor workspace. The loft space is pulled back from the east wall allowing two stories of light to fill the first floor studio.

View from the SE

View from the NE

Loft space

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SCHEMATIC DESIGN OPTION 3

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This scheme ended up being the winner with Kate and Ric. They felt it was the best fit for their needs in terms of layout and size. It features a simple open plan on the first floor and a second floor that is more private than the lofts in the first two options.

Pass through doors and a simple plan define this scheme.

View from the SE.

View from the NE.

Entry from shared outdoor room

Looking toward the kitchen and dining room.

Bath with a private shade garden.

Loft.

We can't seem to get enough of Seattle's new citywide backyard cottage ordinance...

In addition to the two custom solutions we are currently working on we've also started up plans for a prefabricated backyard cottage. Designed to be trucked to your home and assembled in minimal time, this compact home is your ticket to instant gratification. If you are looking for a space to make art, stash guests on extended stays or earn a little rental income - look no further...

The first floor features the living, kitchen and dining rooms as well as a bed and bath. A double height space over the living room and a portion of the dining room brings light deep into the interior and provides a feeling of spaciousness.

The second story loft looks out over the living and dining rooms and has space for an office, a guest bed and overflow storage.

The cottage is designed to ship on a single semi and assembled in minimal time. We're currently working with a regional manufacturer and a local builder to see if we can get the price point to come in under what you would pay for a similar site built structure... Send us an email or give us a call if you would like us to keep you posted.

We are very excited to see this survey of Seattle's urban community gardens, especially since the Interbay P-Patch is included as one of the case studies.  The P-Patch is one of my personal favorites because of the impact it has had in strengthening this vital community, and has been instrumental in showing other neighborhoods how to implement their own community garden.

Further, the P-Patch really showed us just how satisfying working on these small pro bono projects can be. Since the P-Patch, we'll donated about 5% of our yearly output to pro bono causes, including daycares, parks, and community centers and hope that we'll have more opportunities to help concerned citizen groups visualize and build a better city.

Our installation just got linked on the Stranger's SLOG.

The Department of Planning and Development (DPD) has posted a new client assistance memo (CAM) to outline the citywide backyard cottage ordinance. CAMs are guides intended to help people navigate the building permit processes in the city of Seattle.

CAM 116B, Establishing a Backyard Cottage (Detached Accessory Dwelling Unit) "This Client Assistance Memo (CAM) explains the requirements and process for establishing a detached accessory dwelling unit (also called a DADU or mother-in-law unit) on an owner-occupied Single Family zoned lot in southeast Seattle."

If you are considering building a cottage in your backyard it is still worth reviewing the DPD's older, more comprehensive (but now somewhat inaccurate) publication: "A Guide to Building a Backyard Cottage in Southeast Seattle."

We have been working on a house remodel in Sammamish for the last year and a half and it is finally closing in on completion, so I fiqured I post some construction photos from my site visit this morning.  One my favorite elements is a screen porch off the dining room, partially because it is a great example of the client's vital participation in the process, and part because it is going to be such a wonderful place to hang out.  The screen porch was born in programming when we were discussing how half the family loved hanging out outdoors, but the other half hated the bugs.  In order to keep the family together, the screen porch was the simple solution.  Connected to the dining room via a large panel siding door, framed with care so that the structure is all exposed, it cuts to the soul of the house they wanted:  engaged with the outdoors, family-centric, with a elegant simplicity that highlighted the materials and craft. Next summer: the landscaping with a stairway that bridges across a simple water feature.

The family room is also starting to come together.  The room has a band of 6' windows that wrap around three walls with bench seats below, a slate fireplace, and a coffered ceiling.  The bench seats will have leather cushions and storage underneath for games etc, making it the perfect cozy hang out spot.

The big opening is tonight from 5 to 9, between 1st and 2nd just south of Pioneer Square--

Yesterday we hoisted the installation in place. While we still have to do lighting, the impact is great! From the end of the alley, the installation looks like a lonely cloud hovering there, and only once you get beneath it can you see the message "WASTE NOT."

We are working on a collaborative art installation for the Nord Building's upcoming Alley Party, sponsored by two non-profits, Feet First and the International Sustainability Institute.

Feet First is an advocate for walkable communities, and ISI works on documenting global best practices for urban sustainability.  They have been working with their neighbors to transform alleys from nuisances to assets. Part of the program to invigorate the alleys as a vibrant urban places is their Alley Parties.  Each one incorporates art, music, food and drink to draw people into the alley and give people a different perspective on what they can become.

This Thursday, CAST, in collaboration with Christopher Ezzell of E Workshop, and Vashon Island artist Shahreyar Ataie,  will open an art installation that will float over their the Nord Building's section of alley, using about 600 recycled 2 liter bottles.   It will be up through the New Year.

So come one and all!  Did I mention there will be food, drink and music?

Alley between 1st and Second, just South of Occidential Park

314 First Avenue

November 3rd,  from 5 pm to 9 pm

Greenwood resident Kate Lichtenstein contacted us last spring to help her design a backyard studio / guest house for her modest 650 square foot 1920's one bedroom home (shown above). While the home's scale fits nicely with Kate's desire to have a simple and ecologically responsible lifestyle it falls a little short when it comes to a rough and ready workshop space for art, bicycle repair, ski tuning and building projects. Kate's home also lacks the space for a home office / guest room - something that she would like to integrate into the new structure.

Our initial goal was to have her project under construction by late summer 2009 but we were unable to get the project off the ground by that time. In hindsight, the stalling of the project turned out to be a stroke of luck...

In March of 2009 Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels proposed legislation that would allow Seattle homeowners to construct backyard cottages on their property. The legislation was reviewed and ultimately passed by the Seattle city council on November 2nd 2009 (with a 9 to 0 vote too! Kudos to Seattle voters for electing progressive urbanists for city council members!).

For Kate the ordinance has opened up new possibilities for a structure that can both accommodate her current needs and provide a potential source of income as a rental unit if her finances ever fall on hard times. Besides allowing for a legal detached rental unit the ordinance also allows for the construction of a two story structure – an arrangement that will work well for Kate’s needs and will help to preserve the spaciousness of her backyard.

Kate is planning to build with a mind toward sustainability and has a special interest in using recycled building materials whenever possible (she is, at this time, planning to write a parallel blog on the topic of recycled building materials). For us at CAST architecture Kate's project is an exciting chance to test out the new backyard cottage ordinance and work with a client who is committed to building green. We see her project as an excellent opportunity to provide the general public with information about the process of designing and building a backyard cottage in Seattle. Kate and her partner Ric Cochrane are always game for an adventure and have graciously agreed to allow us to share their experience with you. To that end, we are planning to blog about Kate's project as we travel through the design and construction process. Please subscribe to our feed if you would like to follow along in future posts…

We just heard that another one of our projects is going to be featured in Fine Homebuilding Magazine! The Artalejo-Lacas Residence is a 'zen craftsman'--traditional bungalow massing with some really wonderful spaces inside and details inspired by Japanese vernacular houses.

The project will be in the annual Houses issue--which is, well, especially cool because only a handful of houses nation wide make the cut.

The ordinance  to allow backyard cottages in the other three quarters of Seattle just passed 9-0!  The council's comments focused on the exhaustive community outreach, successful pilot program and benefit of having this housing choice for Seattle. Excellent work by the planning commission, DPD and council.

Usually, the city's process oriented decision making can be cumbersome, and having spent hours in meetings, testifying, and communicating with council, I feel vindicated that our involvement has helped in some small way to bring some innovation to the Single Family zoning.

We're excited to design some of these--in part because of the opportunity to foster multi-generational housing, and the option of building a smaller free standing structure rather than building an addition.  Plus, it is a really fun scale--I think more people will be thinking about bonus studios rather than housing units.

I would like to take a moment to welcome Parkour Visions, our new building mates, to our corner of Freelard. We've always tried to keep a fun group of creative folks in our building and I think we are set to continue the trend.  This weekend Parkour Visions had their grand opening, and all of us at CAST are looking forward to getting to know Rafe and Tyson better as we take them up on some lunch time workouts!  There has to be some form of symbiosis (or karmic irony) that an architecture firm and a Parkour gym are sharing the same building, but we are all excited to find out what it is like to play more directly in our built environment!