Beacon Green Featured in 2013 NW Green Home Tour

360 Panorama view from the roof deck

Beacon Green, our first Courtyard Townhouse project, will be featured in the NW Green Home Tour.  The tour is this Saturday - April 27th - 11 am to 5 pm.  Project address is 1734 13th Ave S.  Tours are open to all, you just show up & join in.

Street View

The project is just finishing up with the framing, but it'll be complete enough that you can walk through the floors & see the shared courtyard and the view from the roof decks.

View of the shared central courtyard

The Seattle smart car dealership will be bringing out one of their Smart for Two models to help show the unit that will be sold with a smart car included.

For more detail about the 2013 NW Green Home Tour - See https://www.ecobuilding.org/guild-chapters/seattle/green-home-tour

For more detail about the units for sale & project features, see http://www.beacongreen.com/

Tour: Saturday - April 27th - 11 am to 5 pm.  Project address 1734 13th Ave S

Home of the Month

The Walsh Hollon Residence is featured in the May issue of NW Home.  The article is here. There will be a public open house on May 19th.  Hope to see you there.

http://nwhomemag.com/article/green/elements-style

One Corner Two Houses

The city is studying new legislation to regulate development on small single family infill lots.  Thus far the discussion has centered around neighborhood groups proposals to dramatically limit the size of such projects, and developers attempts to create new rules that would dramatically increase the number of potential sites for such projects.  Jim Burton and I have an opinion piece in Crosscut today laying out a new idea that we hope can address the concerns of both camps while providing infill that actually improves the fabric of neighborhoods.

http://crosscut.com/2013/04/16/urban/113943/seattle-density-one-corner-two-houses/

Marion Green Courtyard Townhomes

Meeting time changed to Tuesday, April 9th, 7:00pm.  SAAS 12th Avenue Conference Room (1140 12th Avenue, in middle of block between Spring and Union/Madison streets. 

This week we started the permit review process for Marion Green, our first project for which we are both architect and developer.

Following in the footsteps of our Beacon Green project, we are pioneering an entirely new approach to small scale multi-family housing:  The Courtyard Townhouse.  These projects represent a huge step forward for infill development that we are hoping will supplant the typical “4-pack” auto-court projects that have dominated the market for the past 25 years.  This new housing type mitigates the visual impact of the parking, provides generous open spaces, facilitates connections between neighbors, increases access to natural light, and creates a community center for all the residents to share.

The courtyard is the way in and out of the project.  It’s the front porch for the rear units (and the back porch for the front units).  Living rooms and kitchens look into the courtyard.  Semi-private deck spaces for each unit ring the periphery, and the center of the court provides communal space for group events.

Garage Level Floor Plan

Courtyard Level Floor Plan

The courtyard townhouse has a unique parking solution.  Parking is located in the middle of the site and  buildings are pushed out to the edge of the property creating a large space between the buildings.  Cars are parked in the center, and then covered with the courtyard roof deck.  In addition to concealing the parking area, this configuration is also a more efficient way to park cars and maneuver them.

Where a typical development would provide five parking spaces, we are able to provide parking for seven.  This extra parking allows us to create housing that’s more appealing to families, and so we are able to target some of the units to a whole different demographic than a typical townhome project.

The project will provide five new townhomes.  Three of the homes will be larger 3-4 bedroom units with 2 car garages.  Unit 4 will be a small 2 bedroom unit with a one car garage.  Unit 5 will be a 1 bedroom unit with no parking.  It’s a project made up of units that are either in the top 20% or the lowest 20% in terms of size.

Marion Green is a three story townhouse with roof decks on a block composed mostly of one story houses from the early 20th century.  There's no way for this project to seamlessly fit into its context, but we did want to find a way to help stitch together the old & the new.  To this end, we decided to keep the old terraced garage structures along the street & re-purpose them as gateways into the project.  One garage is used to frame the car entry drive, while the other marks the pedestrian entry stair.

Public Notice of the Streamlined Design Review process will be sent out to nearby property owners sometime next week.  We have also arranged with the local neighborhood council (12th Avenue Stewards) to do an informal public meeting to present the project & get feedback from the neighbors.  Meeting info:

Tuesday, April 9th, 7:00pm.  Seattle Academy (SAAS), 12th Avenue Conference Room (1140 12th Avenue, in middle of block between Spring and Union/Madison streets. 

Re-inventing Microhousing

As urban living has become increasingly desirable and as urban rents have continued to rise, micro-housing has cropped up in cities all across the country. This new housing type provides market rate affordable housing in dormitory sized studio units.  Seattle has been at the forefront of this trend, with over 40 projects either built, under construction, or in the planning stages.

Marion Microhousing - Street View from 12th Ave & E Marion St

Micro-housing was in the news this week. Councilmember Tom Rasmussen proposed a moratorium on the project type in response to neighborhood concerns about both the number and the design quality of the projects. Ironically, this happened to be the same week that we delivered the schematic design for Marion Microhousing, our first project of this type.

Main floor plan showing shared commons with lounge, fireplace, kitchen, laundry, study, and workout areas

Marion Microhousing begins with a simple assertion:  A large number of people living together in a communal setting needs an architecture that is designed to bring people together in ways that build community.  Not a radical manifesto by any means, but this is generally not the case.  To date, most micro-housing projects are designed as a code back-door-work-around strategy, with the architecture itself being a bit of an afterthought.

Typical floor plan with private sleeping rooms, private bathrooms, and shared kitchens

MMh is a different kind of project than what has come before.  Whereas most micro projects are a cluster of townhouses with multiple entries and stairwells, MMh is designed as a single building with one entry at the street.  The ground floor is given over to a generous commons featuring a lounge, fireplace, kitchen, study room, laundry, and workout area.  Access to the private rooms is through the commons, activating the space and creating opportunity for chance encounters among the residents.  The commons provides a public counterpart to the private rooms, a place to bring people together for movie night, weekend dinners, group meetings, etc...the kind of social glue that can make living with 50 other people into a positive, desirable experience.

Cross section showing commons at the ground floor with private rooms above & below

We believe good design has the capacity to improve the lives of the people that live in it.  This in mind, we don't just want to produce boutique show projects. We want to create better archetypes that other developers will emulate. For this to happen, they can't just be attractive - they have to outperform the kind of project we are trying to displace. One thing MMh has working for it is that its economics look really good.  The apartment format of the building is much more space efficient that its townhouse-pod predecessors, so it's not just more desirable from a user standpoint - it's a better development model.  We'll see how the marketplace of ideas responds to this offering, but I'm very optimistic.

Design team:  David Neiman and Liz Pisciotta

David Taber Portfolio – Part 1

Below are a few of my greatest hits from back east - stay tuned for Part 2 coming in March!

 

515 Park Avenue

This luxury multi-level penthouse in central Manhattan was completely gutted, redesigned and refitted as jewel-box pied-a-terre.  White plaster walls served as a backup to the sculptural staircase and extensive contemporary art collection.  Interior partitions were held off the exterior walls to maintain sight lines throughout each floor while the continuity was further expressed with black walnut floors throughout.  2” thick acrylic pocket doors separate flowing spaces on the lower level while parchment panel and steel framed doors provide privacy on the level above.

Elliptical steel plate and black walnut stair
 



Wenge kitchen cabinetry and black slate counters
 



Stone clad bathroom and vanity
 




Parchment clad bedroom and doors, stair hall and bedroom beyond
 

Schuylerville Residence
A 16-acre wooded site with a spring-fed pond and mountain views drove the design of this new 3,200 SF residence.  Sightlines throughout the house, through numerous windows and glass doors, ensure both expansive and intimate views of the surrounding area.  For the overall design, a simple organization of discrete spaces for cars, living, and sleeping satisfied the owners' minimalist aesthetic; the massing of these three spaces is most evident from the exterior, where each space is located within its own "box."  Each box is clad in different white materials, allowing the ever-changing quality of light throughout the day and seasons to activate the subtle distinctions.

Entry breezeway, garage left house right
 

 

View into living "box" from foyer
 

Tile clad bathroom and vanity
 

 

NOMAD

This project is in collaboration with MacArthur Fellows artist, Fred Wilson and is slated for the permanent collection at Tang Museum at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, NY.  A modular mobile environment, NOMAD can remain “crated” and left on display or “uncrated” and reconfigured to suit different areas within the museum.  The various components can be transformed into seating, tables, bookshelves, monitors, 2 and 3-dimensional art display and an espresso bar.  Currently, full-scale mock-ups are being fabricated and tested for constructability, geometric compatibility, function and comfort.

NOMAD "crated"



NOMAD "uncrated"

2D & 3D art display components and espresso cart within the Tang Museum

Fred with book podium and (3) table mock-ups

 

AIA Seattle/Northwest Home Open House

Photographer Ed Sozhino taking photos for publication

One of our Umbrella Houses was just selected as the AIA Seattle/Northwest Home Open House for May 2013.  A committee of architects from the Seattle AIA awards six projects every year.  Each home is published in NW Home magazine and shown in an Open House tour.  The tour will be May 19th.  We'll be sending out more info when it gets closer.

NW Home Editor Shannon O'Leary interviewing owners Greg Hollon & Brenda Walsh

New Townhouse Projects at the Seattle Home Show

Paar Development, one of our key townhouse developer clients, has a booth at the Seattle Home Show this week (Feb 16-24) showing units in our Beacon Green project.  In addition to Beacon they will have two other projects on display - Westview Townhouses and Marion Green.

Beacon Green.  View from Rooftop Deck

All of the projects are courtyard townhomes, where all the units are clustered around a central commons that provides generous open space, access to natural light, and opportunities to meet neighbors & build community among the residents.

Beacon Green.  View of Common Courtyard

Beacon Green is the first project of its kind.  Featuring a structured courtyard lid over the parking area, it is the realization of many years of work to pioneer a new approach to townhouse infill (more details here).  This six unit development on the top of Beacon Hill has views to the horizon in all directions.  The units are toward the smaller & more affordable end of the market.   Beacon features an innovative parking solution that provides some units with no parking, some units with conventional parking, and some units with a smart car garage that includes the smart car!

Westview Townhomes - Street View.

Westview Townhomes is a 4 unit development on the west side of Queen Anne overlooking Interbay.  The project steps up a sloping site and features a tree lined central courtyard that provides private decks for all of the units as well as a rain garden that manages stormwater and creates a privacy screen between the units.  Westview features larger 3 bedroom units and an advantageous site that provides regional views of the city and Elliot Bay from most levels of the units.

Marion Green - Street View

Marion Green is a project that David Neiman Architects is developing as a joint venture with Paar Development.  Like Beacon Green it features a structured courtyard lid over the parking area.  Unlike Beacon, it features 3 and 4 bedroom units with 2 car garages, targeted at buyers that might normally be looking for a detached single family home.  We'll be putting out a more detailed post on this one soon.

Paar Development's booth is 632 L 10′

Wellington Alley Apartments

When the new multi-family code went into effect two years ago, it removed a requirement that developers provide one parking stall for every unit of housing. Since that time, we've been up to our elbows in a variety of new project types that have been enabled as a result.

Many of our apartment clients are taking older properties that had been previously frozen in amber, and converting obsolete spaces (storage lockers, boiler rooms, maintenance shops) into new apartments.

At Wellington Apartments we are replacing a dilapidated garage structure along the alley & adding three small apartments on top.  At 300 square feet, the apartments are very compact and affordable.  A sleeping loft will help them live a little bigger, and provide a little more privacy for the bedroom area.

The design features a cement panel siding that appropriates the variegated color palate of original brick building but uses it at a different scale in a wholly contemporary fashion. The color and material palette selection creates a contextual relationship between the original building and its new annex, while maintaining a clear distinction between old and new.

View from Mercer St

Site Plan

Cross Section

Floor Plan

View from the alley

Client:  Hamilton Urban Partners

Project Team:  David Neiman, Liz Pisciotta, Mike Lafon

Structural Engineer:  Harriott Valentine 

Umbrella House Meets Puget Sound

Along West Seattle's Beach Drive, about halfway between Alki and the ferry dock, we have a unique pair of houses going up side-by-side.  The project began as a new house for a couple who had lived in their home on Beach Drive for decades.  We helped the take their land and short plat it into two lots so that they could sell off half the land & use the proceeds to build a new home on the remaining parcel.  We designed and permitted their new home, but before beginning construction, the owners wanted to get the other lot sold off so that they could firm up their construction budget.

City Closers, the listing broker, asked us to produce a quick prototype design (some conceptual plan drawings & a web video) to help illustrate what could be done with the empty lot.  The day after it was put on the market, we got a call from an interested buyer who was very taken with the project and decided to buy the land and hire us to build the house we designed, all in one fell swoop.  Within 72 hours, the lot was under contract, and we were designing two waterfront houses side-by-side.

The project has been a great opportunity for us to further explore our Umbrella House concept.  The houses are only 30-40 feet away from Puget Sound, so our general emphasis on technical detailing for a challenging climate has been further sharpened by the wind driven weather and salt corrosion issues that come along with the marine environment.  The backyards facing Puget Sound are one of most beautiful and ever-changing patches of land we've ever worked on.  A site of this quality really reinforces the need to create floor plans, decks, and grading that are well  integrated & help to stitch together the interior and exterior living spaces.

Along the way we've been constantly using our 3D modeling software to study the views from various rooms of the house and check privacy relationships between the adjacent homes.  We've also had a chance to learn a lot more about a range of issues, from corrosion resistance & low maintenance finishes, to universal access design, and the latest developments of many energy efficiency technologies.  I'll share more detail in upcoming posts.

The first house, for Carl & Carol Binder, is currently under construction and will be completed Summer 2013.  The second house, for Zach Mosner and Patty Friedman, is currently under design.  Construction should begin in Spring 2013 with completion in early 2014.

Architect turns Architect/Developer

Big News.  David Neiman Architects has just purchased on a property near 14^th & Marion that will be the site for our first townhouse project with us acting as the developer.

Marion Green will be a five unit townhouse project.  Like it's predecessor Beacon Green, it will be designed with all of its units clustered around a central community courtyard.  More than that, can't really say for now.  We're working on preliminary plans & will have something more definitive ready for public design review & community meetings in a few weeks.

I'm delighted that we've found a great piece of land that I think will allow us to pull off exactly the kind of model development that I've been wanting to do for a long time.  Look forward to sharing more soon.

Beacon Green Courtyard Townhomes

We just got the building permit approved for Beacon Green Courtyard Townhomes.  Beacon Green is an entirely new townhouse archetype that addresses two of the most difficult issues to resolve successfully in small scale multi-family housing:

1)  How to reasonably accommodate automobile parking while mitigating impacts on open space, livability, and overall project aesthetics?

2)  How to create housing that encourages community & provides a place for neighbors to meet, gather, and strengthen social ties?

The typical Seattle townhouse is designed around a central parking court that consumes the majority of the site area for automobile maneuvering and is devoid of human activity.  We used the flexibility of Seattle's new multi-family code and streamlined design review program to push the buildings to the perimeter of the site, put our parking in garages between the buildings, and then cover the parking areas with a courtyard lid.

It took a couple hundred hours of extra work to get through various bureaucratic roadblocks that come along with doing a first-of-its-kind project.  Once this goes to market and gets seen seen by the community at large, we believe that other developers will want to emulate it, and the city will make the necessarily accommodations to allow projects like this to proceed as smoothly as any other townhouse project.

Project features include:

• The courtyard brings natural light into the center of the project, provides a large commons for all of the residents, and provides a gracious means of accessing the units in the rear of the site.
• The visual impact of the automobile is greatly reduced, and the amount of open space is more than doubled compared to a conventional townhouse.
• The project fits six units onto what is typically a 4 unit site, providing smaller, more affordable units than a conventional townhouse project.
• Some garage levels are flexibly configured to allow the alternative of a full size garage, a Smart car garage with one bedroom, or no garage and two bedrooms.  The sales offering will market these units with a Smart car included.