A Seattle Detached Accessory Dwelling Unit

Sustainable living in a tiny home

CAST is featured in Porch’s round-up: Everything About Tiny Living: Tips From the Experts

We are rethinking space and home. CAST believes tiny homes, accessory dwelling units (ADUs), and backyard cottages are inherently sustainable building options, as well as sensible answers to the housing crisis. Tiny homes require fewer materials to build, create less waste, and use less energy to power, heat, and cool when compared to traditional single-family houses. 

In addition, people who live in tiny houses will own fewer possessions and spend less overall. Downsizing will influence lifestyle in many ways—streamlining possessions, becoming more mobile, and building financial security—which leads to a lower carbon footprint. Typically, as one moves into a tiny home, other segments of life change positively as well including overall consumption of goods, services, and even food. And this, in turn, reduces the impact on the environment. Specifically, with carbon footprint in mind, the factor that will have the most impact is the size of the home.

Good design matters. Our backyard cottages are designed to be energy efficient, low cost, and built for privacy within their context. Daylighting is important in every home and especially in small spaces. Effective storage is essential. Layering and overlapping are key to designing successful small spaces while using different materials will create well-defined areas. Plan to maximize every square foot in common living areas and integrate outdoor space. Covering outdoor space makes it feel like an extension of the home, without having to heat or cool it.

Density and more efficient land use are critical to addressing our housing crisis, climate change, and persistent inequities in access to housing. Modest infill houses like tiny homes, ADUs, and backyard cottages are a key strategy to empower citizens to provide new housing, build generational wealth, and leverage taxpayers’ investment in infrastructure, transit, schools, and parks. Plus, these homes could create an affordable housing inventory.

Photo, above: Cindy Apple Photography
Photo, below: Benjamin Drummond Photography

A functional and sustainable tiny home in Washington’s Methow Valley

See more of this tiny home on our website.

this mercer island custom home brings in the outdoors

With neighbors close by, this home on Mercer Island is organized into two solid masses flanking a glass box that acts as the gathering area. An open staircase ties the levels together and a bridge links bedrooms upstairs and allows for a vantage point to the living room below and the backyard tree canopy. With glass doors and large stacked windows, the main gathering area is linked to the outdoor patio and beyond to the forested green space. The exterior materials are accentuated by wrapping into interior spaces. The dining room, kitchen, and large walk-in pantry offer intimate spaces, with a strong connection to the two-story living space. The pantry, with plentiful storage, can be closed off from the open kitchen and casual eating area.

See more in the Homes section of our website.

Photos by: Andrew Giammarco

A modern Tudor-style cottage built to fit the neighborhood and add density to Montlake

DADUs help seattle’s density

This well-crafted modern Tudor-style cottage in Seattle’s treasured Montlake neighborhood brings forward a model of urban density, while providing a private home. A gracious entry brings you to the great room with vaulted ceilings, dark-wood beams, and loads of natural light from all four sides of the home. The kitchen is designed with abundant easy-to-use storage and generous counter space. The dining area’s large glass doors open to a patio facing inward to the property’s shared courtyard that connects the private homes and provides opportunities to gather. A lot of home fits into the 1,225 square feet with three bedrooms, two baths, flexible utility space, and creative storage. Two entrances make access to both levels of the home straightforward.

See Built Green’s case study on their website: CAST architecture Modern Tudor DADU It highlights energy efficiency, low-impact development, rainwater catchment, indoor air quality, moisture protection, and materials with reduced environmental impact throughout the home and property.

See more: Blaine Cottage

Photos by: Andrew Giammarco

Modern, functional shou sugi ban clad tiny homes on wheels in the methow valley

Like some who found themselves in lockdown at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, this Seattle family of four realized if they were going to work and attend school online, they could do it from anywhere. Cue a temporary move to their summer place. A year into their stay, they decided they were putting down roots in the Methow Valley and decided to make the change permanent. Their out-of-the-box solution? The family spent the summer building a pair of tiny homes on trailers with the help of friends and local tradespeople.

CAST’s goal was simple: apply everything we’ve learned about efficient home planning to a design that would be buildable by non-professionals and legal to tow down the highway. This was a highly collaborative process as we sought a compromise between homeowner research into solutions pioneered by the DIY tiny-house community and our knowledge of modern construction best practices.

The result is a pair of elegant, flexible rooms-on-wheels clad in shou sugi ban charred-wood that are modern, warm, and ultra-functional.
Shou sugi ban is a Japanese preservation technique that burns wood to create a weather-proof finish. The charred outer of each tiny home is cypress harvested in Japan, milled, burned in a kiln, and sealed with oil. Over time, they will weather and gain a patina.

The simple pitched roof is matched by an outward tilting wall to create a playful form with extra headroom at one end for a sleeping loft (with a built-in desk below). The regular rhythm of high square windows makes the room feel much larger by illuminating the ceiling. At the entry side, floor-to-ceiling glass frames a wood stove, creating a cozy lounge space. Inside, a narrow service bar in the center will accommodate a small kitchen and a private compartment for a composting toilet.

Featured on Dwell+ ”A Family of Four Joins Hands to Build Two Tiny Homes in Washington”
More photos at: https://www.castarchitecture.com/mccarthyrekart-tiny-homes
Photos by: Benjamin Drummond Photography

Central to the name, identification and restoration of wetland habitat was central to the Rainier Beach Urban Farm & Wetlands. The location of all site improvements, including agricultural fields, buildings, roads, parking, and other farm infrastructure, was dictated by the need to not only avoid riparian zones, but to facilitate their enhancement. Rather than treating this as a limitation, our team of Landscape Architects, Architects, and Civil and Environmental Engineers used the wetlands at the center of the site as an organizing principle that strengthened the project.

Rainier Beach Urban Farm and Wetland

complex sites

Finding the right place to build the Icicle Creek Retreat within a 22-acre private inholding in the Wenatchee National Forest required a careful and deliberate process. CAST worked closely with a wetland biologist and a geotechnical engineer to identify a buildable site, triangulating between several types of stream and wetland buffers, geological hazard areas, location of access roads, and forest fire safety concerns. The project required both SEPA review and Conditional Use Permit approval through the Chelan County Hearings Examiner.

Icicle Creek Retreat in the Wenatchee Forest, Washington

The Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe Hatchery Building is located on the beach in a known archaeological site. CAST worked closely with the Tribe’s Cultural Resources team to develop an amendment to the Tribe’s Archaeological Resources Protection Act (ARPA) permit and to incorporate the resultant Monitoring and Discovery Plan (MDP) into the project specifications. Located in the intertidal zone, the design required close coordination with Structural and Geo-Technical engineers to ensure that the building will be resistant to higher tide levels predicted to occur with rising sea levels.

Rendering of Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe Beach Shelter and Hatchery Building in the distance

Seattle’s urban infill

CAST is closely associated with efforts to moderate density infill within existing neighborhoods in Seattle. Working with two families in parallel, we designed a duo of townhomes near Lake Union. Considerable attention was given to how the facades were grouped, and the way color and pattern emphasized vertical proportions while keeping surfaces in scale. We stitched together spaces between five floors while accommodating the structure needed for multi-level cantilevers over the parking areas. Thoughtful window openings bring lots of natural light and privacy within this tight city lot.

Icicle Creek Retreat, Wenatchee Forest Washington

Design for snow country

The straight-forward roof of Icicle Creek Cabin is made for its environment. We kept it simple and avoided complex shapes—a roof that holds snow reduces the chance of slough off and provides an energy-saving bonus. Deep eaves and generous covered entries and walkways help keep outdoor circulation free of ice, reduce shoveling, and simplify living.

See more: Icicle Creek Cabin

Contractor: Warm Homes Construction, Aviathar Pemberton
Roofing: OJ Industries Roofing

siting the berm house in washington’s Methow valley

Bermed into a meadow, the Berm House has a low profile and opens to the valley panorama of mountains and agricultural fields. The south-facing building orientation optimizes passive heating, and the large overhang protects from snowfall and intense summer sun. The home is post and beam structure with a cross-laminated timber (CLT) roof, prefabricated in northeastern Washington. Thermal bridges are minimized by wrapping the house in continuous external insulation, including under the foundation, isolating the home from outdoor temperature swings. The bermed roof, with 12-inches of soil, adds thermal mass and protection from weather exposure.

Seattle’s university cooperative school charrette

A fact of life: community-centered work takes a long time—often five or more years—to turn projects from dream into reality. A shared vision created and owned by the stakeholders is the solid foundation that sustains the project through the inevitable challenges and transitions of this long gestation. One of the main tools we use to help develop this vision is the Community Design Workshop, often called a “charrette.”

CAST architecture is working with University Cooperative School to expand its space in the historic Maxwell Building. Developing such a vision was the focus of our recent workshop with teachers and staff. The group’s excitement coalesced around the concept for a central space we are calling "The Hive," a versatile, warm, and inviting student commons where kids of all ages can cross paths for both structured and unstructured activities.

During the charrette, we used a series of guided design exercises to draw out feedback: a brainstorming discussion; a walkthrough of the unfinished space with the main room dimensions laid out on the floor with tape; a game where participants voted on the appeal of various inspiration images with colored stickers; and a facilitated sketching exercise to document the emerging consensus.

This may have been one of the easiest workshops we have facilitated. With some stakeholder groups, we need to work extra hard to ensure all voices are heard (not just the loudest ones). These elementary school teachers—long accustomed to consensus decision-making—were amazing to work with, ready to jump into each stage of the meeting with insightful comments and actionable suggestions. 

See more at the community section of our website.

El centro de la raza roosevelt early learning center

Construction progress! This side-by-side construction shot and rendering look down the central circulation spine at the José Martí Child Development Center, which connects the entry, classrooms, and outdoor play area. This new center will provide high-quality Early Childhood Education for 74 children.

A unique aspect of our involvement is that we've been part of the larger team since the early feasibility stage of the project, long before there was a specific childcare provider.

We have played a crucial role in shaping the evolving design of the overall building to ensure the space would be viable as an ELC. From big-picture design elements like the location of the play yard and the relationship of the main entrance to the sidewalk and courtyard; to detailed technical aspects, such as maintaining at-grade egress from toddler classrooms, we’ve provided clear direction to the evolving pieces of the larger building. We ensured the five floors of apartments above wouldn't impinge on the necessary duct and exhaust shafts that allow us to include a much-needed full commercial kitchen in the center.

CAST is proud to be part of the team for the Cedar Crossing affordable housing project, in partnership with El Centro de la Raza, Bellwether Housing, and Mercy Housing NW. On-site child care is an important component of the project, which co-locates resident services in the same building with family-sized housing units.

See more at El Centro de la Raza Roosevelt Early Learning Center.