Housing on the Green - WSCN Townhomes Update

This week we released a first look at our Housing on the Green project for the West Seattle Church of the Nazarene.  The project is a joint venture of DNA, Paar Development, and WSCN. Proceeds from the development will be used to fund a renovation of the church and improvements to the grounds including a public playground.

The project features a cluster of six new homes built along the alley side of the church green.  Each of the homes has a two car garage accessed from the alley, a main living level that faces out to the public green, and a top level with two bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a sleeping loft tucked into the eaves of the roof.

Between the homes and the park are a series of transitional spaces:  A covered porch steps down to a semi-private yard, which steps down to the level of the park.  Each height transition is marked with visual cues such as railings, fences, pathways, and planting beds that provide clear definitions between the public realm and the private realm and all of the gradations in between.  The homes are not connected internally to their garages so that comings and goings from the homes help activate the commons.  In turn, people using the commons help keep an eye on the housing.  Many opportunities are created for chance interactions among neighbors that help build strong communities.



The project owes a great deal to Ross Chapin and his book Pocket Neighborhoods.  Ross has been a generous teacher, and his work has been enormously helpful in explaining concepts of community design to our clients and their neighbors.

The project has received some publicity in West Seattle Blog and KIRO, and is being followed with some interest in the community-at-large. We held our third public meeting last night, received some good feedback, and will be taking some steps over the next couple weeks to help with the public outreach some more, including:

• Post signage at the site showing some project imagery.  Stake out building footprints on the ground.
• Publish a document explaining how the funds raised by the development will be used by the church.
• Publish a draft of the comp plan amendment (required as a precursor to the rezone).
• Set up an informational website to make project information easy for the public to access.

Project Team:  David Neiman, Juan Vergara, Erin Feeney.

Marion Green Update - Groundbreaking, Design Changes, and First Sale

Marion Green, our most ambitious courtyard townhouse project to date, broke ground last month.  One of my favorite features was that we designed the project around preserving the original streetscape, re-purposing the original garages as automobile and pedestrian entries to the site.  Partway through the permitting process, we discovered that the zoning code would not allow us to keep the automobile entry, as the existing walls blocked sight lines that allow pedestrians and cars to see each other.  In the first week of earthwork we discovered that there was not enough room on site to get equipment in and out without removing the second garage.  Finally, when it came time to start hauling away demolition debris and soil, we needed the entire front of the site for loading, at which point all of the existing site walls came down.  It was a disappointment, but one of those growing pains that all projects go through as they progress from concept to reality.

Original streetscape with garages and street walls preserved.  The intention was that equipment and materials would come in ant out in the area between the two garages.

Current design.  The only remnant is the blade wall on the north property line that holds up the neighbors yard.  Everything else is new.

This picture gives you an appreciation for the mismatch between my original design intent and the scale of the equipment coming in and off the site.

Now for the good news:  We just sold our first unit!  We got a good price (about $50/sf than the previous best comp for the neighborhood), which is encouraging, as a design like Marion Green is more expensive to build than a conventional project and construction costs in general are rising quickly in the current boomlet.  The way this season is shaping up we expect the units will sell out well in advance of project completion this fall.  For anyone following the project as an interested buyer, I would encourage you to contact the sales team soon to let them know.

Howell Green and Westview Townhomes.

A pair of new courtyard townhomes we designed for Paar Development are heading for completion and were recently listed for pre-sale. To help with the marketing we prepared the videos that can be viewed below:

Westview Townhomes - 2808 14th Avenue W

Westview is a four unit development featuring a central courtyard shared by all of the units.  Because the site has alley access, it doesn't require an elaborate structured courtyard like Beacon Green or Marion Green. The courtyard provides private decks for each unit as well as a rain garden that handles all of the project stormwater.  Roof decks for each unit look out over Interbay and Puget Sound. Projecting decks along the street front help break up the facade and draw human activity to the public way.

Howell Green Townhomes - 1724 17th Avenue

Howell Green is a seven unit development on top of Capitol Hill. Like Westview it has an alley that provides access and parking, with a central courtyard that provides open space and stormwater retention.  The courtyard is set a half-level below the main floor, so that the main living areas and private decks feel connected to the common areas. The stairways are designed to have a split level entry so people can easily circulate from the private decks down to the commons without using exterior stair that would eat up space and create a lot of visual clutter. The site enjoys good southern exposure, so the units are oriented to provide more units that can capture the light and solar gain. The solar shades, the roof overhangs, and the canopies have all been integrated together to form strong horizontal planes that create visual interest, protect the areas of natural finish, and create a bottom/middle/top composition that recalls some of the more traditional buildings in the area.  

Both projects are currently listed for pre-sale.  See www.westviewtownhouses.com and www.howelltownhouses.com for more information.

Roxette Apartments

Seattle is currently going through a multi-family housing boom, and we are booming right along with it. Looking around the office, almost everyone has a an apartment project or two on their desk.  The first one out of the gate this year is the Roxette, a 20 unit addition to the Roxborough Apartments at 18th & Denny on Capitol Hill.  While we are waiting for our first official design review meeting, we have set up an informal public meeting to show the project to the neighbors and take some early feedback.

Apartment development in lowrise zones is a hot topic in Seattle these days.  LR3 zones were given a height increase up to 40' in the 2011 code revision, and the most recent crop of projects have produced a lot of projects that are out of scale with their neighbors.  The Roxette project is focused on creating a building massing that respects the scale of the adjacent 3 story apartment along the front facade, stepping up to a four story height farther away from the street.  

PUBLIC PRESENTATION:  5:50PM, January 28 ; Polish Home Association - 1714 18^th Ave E.

Ryther Campus Renewal

Ryther is a children's behavioral heath services institution located in North Seattle. For generations Ryther has provided care for children in the state foster care system, many of them suffering from abuse, neglect, and addiction.  Over the years, state funding has become leaner and a funding gap has opened up between the cost of providing care and what the state is willing to pay for it.  Ryther has always managed to bridge this gap through philanthropic support, but doing so has been a constant struggle. Recently, Ryther began a new initiative to secure their future by opening their doors to private outpatients, becoming a health care provider that can serve any child or family that needs help with the wide range of issues where Ryther is uniquely qualified to help.

To facilitate this transition, Ryther has embarked on a major fundraising initiative to renovate the campus. While much of our work will focus on the nuts & bolts of getting the buildings fixed up and ready for another generation of service, we've also been tasked with something really special:  Transforming a fairly non-descript institutional campus into a place that is expressive of its unique nature, namely that Ryther is a mission driven institution, dedicated to healing families and helping children to realize a better life.

Throughout the process we have looked for opportunities to express the child centered nature of the institution through architectural form.  Just in time for Ryther's annual fundraiser, we unveiled our design for the new campus entry and lobby.

The project  features many unique design elements, but the common theme that runs throughout is that they are invitations to children to engage with their environment in an open-ended, creative, and imaginative way.  They are a way of expressing, in built form, the values of the institution.  They are playthings for children, but also a means to communicate Ryther's values to parents who are making choices about where to take their children for help.

Design Team: David Neiman, Liz Pisciotta, Erin Feeney. John Barker Landscape Architect

New campus "kidscape" features playful hopping stones that weave along the entry path and into the garden areas. A forest of colorful poles are used to mount bird and bat habitats, lighting fixtures, and signage.  Footholds on the poles allow kids to climb and walk among them.

New entry to the clinical services building.  A leaf shaped canopy captures rainwater from the upper roof and channels it into a new stream bed.  The building entry features a playful entry door sized just for kids.

The walls, ceiling, and floor of the lobby takes the color ideas that begin in the kidscape and extends them inside.  The design features a playful mix of ceiling coves, niches, skylights and pendant lights.  The kids corner can be accessed by crawling through big holes in the surrounding walls.

The campus lobby kids corner.  A  peaceful, skylit space intended to encourage calm behavior, the room is decorated with a sea-to-sky mural, soft furniture, and a thickened wall that kids can nest inside.

Therapy rooms feature a inviting floor-play corner, colorful lighting, and decorative ceiling clouds.

First brainstorm sketch of the pole forest.

In addition to being Ryther's architect, we are also proud supporters.  If you wish to join us in making a donation to Ryther, here is the link to their fundraising page.

Madrona Art Walk Today 2-5pm

Our office is participating in today's Madrona Art Walk.  We are featuring the work of Iona Park, a recent emigre from New York to Seattle.  Iona's work features bold color and texture studies as well as landscapes and still life studies.  Drop on by, check out the art, get the whirlwind tour of our new office while you're at it.  1421 34th Ave Suite 100

Housing on the Green - West Seattle Church of the Nazarene

This month we began work on a new housing development for the West Seattle Church of the Nazarene.  In a year where we have designed a number of unique projects, this may be the most unusual of the bunch.

The project began a few months ago when our client Paar Development was approached by WSCN to look at their churchyard as a potential development site.  The church sits on a large parcel of land with an adjacent green that has for generations served as open space for the neighborhood.  The church building itself needs significant repair and the WSCN leadership was faced with the prospect of having to sell off the land to raise money for the repairs.  Joe Paar and I reviewed the site, determined that its zoning would allow two new single family homes and quickly concluded that such a development could not generate enough revenue to meet WSCN's needs.  In developing two houses, WSCN would give up their legacy and still be unable to fix the church.  The idea was a non-starter.

I continued to do some digging.  After a bit of research, I concluded that the site was a candidate for re-zoning.  So I drew up a quick site plan based on changing from single family zone to low-rise multi-family zone (LR1) that would allow development of six units.  By increasing the unit density, the new plan could generate enough return to pay for the church repairs with enough left over to build a playground in the park as well.  We returned to the congregation with the new proposal, it was met with great enthusiasm, and earlier this month we began the process of applying for a contract re-zone on the site.

Existing SF Zoning.  Two Single Family Homes.  In this scheme, all of the open space becomes private yards for the homes, the church loses her legacy open space, and the scheme fails to generate the revenue needed to repair the church.

Rezone to LR1.  The change to multi-family zoning allows six (6) new units along the back of the property, saving the front two thirds as a public green.  This scheme generates enough revenue to repair the church and upgrade the park.

The re-zoning process is lengthy and complicated.  It'll likely take 12-18 months to get through the various hoops.  We filed the initial paperwork last week to get the process started.  Much to our surprise, within a couple of days West Seattle Blog (WSB) had picked up the story, that the church site was to be re-zoned and that townhouses would be built on the site. The comment section was filled with many concerns about the trees, the neighborhood, development, parking, etc..  Pastors Shaun and Terry Mattson quickly got the editor of WSB in for an interview, and filled in some of the details about the project.  A follow-up story in WSB was well received and the comments were very encouraging. Comparing the tenor of the two stories and the public reaction is an object lesson in the importance of talking to the neighbors about upcoming projects.  Nothing is worse than what people will imagine if given an information vacuum.

Over the next few months we'll work through the initial process with the city, put together some preliminary design ideas and the head out into the neighborhood to do public meetings & get feedback from the folks that live nearby.

Beacon Green in the Sunday Times

Lawrence Cheek has a very thoughtful article about small scale infill housing in the Sunday Times that features some discussion of our Beacon Green project.

http://seattletimes.com/html/pacificnw/2021705622_cover0915architecturexml.html

...Still more innovative is David Neiman’s Beacon Green town-house project on Beacon Hill, a beneficiary of that code revision.

Like a lot of local architects, Neiman had steamed for years over Seattle’s dreary “four-pack” and “six-pack” design convention for infill town houses, which typically feature two flanks of craftsmanoid units with a dark and dreary concrete “autocourt” between for driveway and parking. In 2006 Neiman hatched an idea for a three-unit commission he had: Why not put a lid on the autocourt, preserving ground-level parking, and turn its topsides into a second-floor outdoor commons?

“It violated about 15 different parts of the code,” Neiman says. “We had to submit to a very high level of scrutiny, and it was a two-year process just to get from idea to permit. By then it was 2008, and the bottom fell out of the capital market, so the project never saw the light of day.”

Neiman didn’t have much work for the next few years, so along with a number of underemployed architects in other small firms, he spent considerable time working with the city toward liberalized multifamily housing rules. The efforts bore fruit, and Beacon Green, an improved version of the lid/deck idea, is now nearing completion. Six modest-sized (885 to 1,350 square feet), three-story town houses will share a second-floor deck of 1,240 square feet with parking underneath. Each unit will have a semiprivate area on the deck delineated by planters. An idealist, Neiman expects that sharing the rest of the deck will energize a sense of community within the development.

“People who buy here will self-select,” Neiman predicts. “If you want a yard with a 6-foot fence and want to be left alone, you won’t be coming here. If you want a certain level of interaction with your neighbors, you will. My intuition is that the world is probably divided 50-50 this way.”...

Beacon Green Tour

We had a great turnout today for the Beacon Green Tour.  A couple hundred people came through, some architects & design wonks, but mostly the general public.  People responded really well to the courtyard concept & were very interested (or patient at least) in a little talk I did about the history of the Seattle townhouse & how Beacon fits into that story.  Next up comes Marion Green our project at 14th & Marion, starting construction in November.

Beacon Green Tour Saturday 9/14 10am-4pm

The AIA Explore Design Tour is tomorrow, Saturday Sept 14th, 10am-4pm.

1734 13th Avenue S (North Beacon Hill).

If you've been within earshot lately, or have not properly calibrated your spam filter, you've probably heard me say it already...but perhaps it bears repeating:  Beacon Green is an entirely new kind townhouse project featuring housing clustered around a shared courtyard that builds community among neighbors.  For the last 25 years, almost every townhouse in Seattle was built on the 4-pack model, which was essentially a parking diagram that people had to live above.  It took seven years of work, but we've finally managed to bring a project to market that turns all of that on its head. Beacon Green is housing designed from the ground up around the needs of people, open space, and community.

Project Size:  Six (6) three-story townhomes.  Five (5) parking spaces.  Unit size varies from 1450sf 3br to 880sf 2br units.  Two of the units can flex from 1br to 3br depending on how the parking level is used.

Construction cost:  $125 per SF construction cost.  Does not include land & soft costs (design, permits, financing, etc.)

Sales:  Units are all sold.  Sales prices ranged from $350,000 to $465,000 (approx $340/sf)

Notable Features:

• Built-Green 4-Star Certified.
• High-efficiency heat pump for heating and A/C (4x more efficient than gas).
• Heat Pump hot water system (2.5x more efficient than gas).
• Heat recovery ventilation saves energy and insures clean healthy interior air.
• High-efficiency spray foam and blown-in-blanket super-insulation system.
• Durable rain-screen siding system.
• The project provides more than 2.5x the amount of open space required by code.
• Flexible parking scheme allows owners to use basement level for parking or bedrooms, adapt over time.
• Smaller unit sizes and higher unit density creates housing that is more affordable, make better use of city land, puts more people close to transit. 
• Unit 6 is designed for a basement ADU that allows the owner to have rental income, more flexibility over time.
• Low VOC finishes, cork flooring, modular carpet tiles, recycled content tile.

Tickets are available for the Tour at Beacon Green, 1734 13th Avenue S.  I also have (4) comps available.  First come first served!

Beacon Green in Seattle Magazine

Seattle Magazine / Northwest Home has a feature article about the Explore Design Home Tour that features Beacon Green.  The article can be seen at:

http://www.nwhomemag.com/article/architecture/explore-design-home-tour

Beacon Green is just a couple weeks away from completion and has just sold out. Paar Development had an event to celebrate substantial completion where I had a chance to meet a couple of the buyers.  They were very excited to move in & be a part of a small community.

Beacon Green...Getting Close

Beacon Green, our first courtyard townhouse project, is approaching completion.  Some notable milestones coming up:

• August 27th we'll have a small VIP event to celebrate substantial completion. 
• The September issue of Seattle Magazine/Northwest Home will have a feature on the project.  We'll send out a link when the issue hits the newstand.
• September 14th we will be one of seven projects featured in the AIA Explore Design Home Tour. Tickets for the tour can be purchased via the AIA website:  http://www.aiaseattle.org/hometour
• Five of the six units have already been sold.  Just one more to go!

If you can't make the tour but really want to see the project, send me an email & I'll set something up.