Room With a View (of a room)

Wow. Somewhere in the development process someone is to blame for screwing up. Probably the responsibility lies with the building department, but the proposal should never have come to the table. The developer AND architect really should not have put money before impact... The other day I was walking around Seattle and found this little gem of lame planning:



Look at how close these two buildings are together! The completed one has been occupied for a few years now. Not sure if the building under construction was recorded/planned before people purchased their units in the condo tower, certainly I hope those buyers researched before signing. Either way, there a few along the way who should have stopped this mammoth screw up.


I'm thinking the buildings are no more that 9 feet apart at their closest, which is probably some ridiculous minimum in the code book - but that doesn't mean you should take advantage in this way. It's not good for the condo owners, it's not good for the future owners of the new building, and it's not good for anyone who even has to look at this failure.


I'm sure there are tons of dialogue and posts and news bits regarding this particular debacle. Another great post regarding a similar theme can be found here at hugeasscity.com. For sure, density is fundamental for a city to thrive. Though with density should come a heightened sensitivity to the space a building will occupy... with its neighbors.

Keeping History

Growing up in Boston means I'm used to lots of historical buildings making up a city. Living in Seattle means the city has to take what it can get. After all, when cities back East were building subway systems, Seattle in parts still had dirt roads. Urban renewal takes shape in many forms.

That said, there's still history in certain neighborhoods. Some younger than others, such as in Capitol Hill. A lot of the buildings that haven't been torn down for new construction stand about four stories tall, and are usually made of cmu and wood timber. There's a new development happening down the street from our offices, The Packard Building, and in a nice turn they are keeping the facade of the building. This is common when dealing with much older buildings, though not ones as young as this project... take a look below:


The old building beyond the face has been removed, and currently there's a large pit waiting to be shored and made into below grade parking. The new building will sit within the old building's facade, and rise above another few levels. I really like the look of the new building, and it fits in well with other recently completed projects in the neighborhood. I'm also a huge fan of setbacks, such as with the entrance courtyard shown in the photo to the right. You can currently see right through the large openings where the windows used to be, and see the clouds beyond. Hopefully we won't have an earthquake anytime soon!

zHome: The first zero-energy development in the nation.

Building Green is gaining much momentum these days in the industry, and is becoming common place in the Pacific Northwest. From LEED standards, to new marketplace products, to actual developments, we are becoming much more advanced and responsible in our practice. Often times though, you'll find just some basic tweaks to a project so that the builder can claim "building green". This is obviously not the case with LEED standards, as they review and investigate in order to reward a project with a certain level (gold, platinum, etc.) of certification. LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is a voluntary, consensus-based national rating system for developing high-performance, sustainable buildings. Developed by USGBC, LEED addresses all building types and emphasizes state-of-the-art strategies for sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials and resources selection, and indoor environmental quality. LEED is a practical rating tool for green building design and construction that provides immediate and measurable results for building owners and occupants.

One project that is not simply making small claims but really reaching to achieve a high set of standards, is zHome (zero energy homes) with their development in Issaquah. The force behind this project is Howland Homes, Port Blakely Communities, King County, the City of Issaquah, and various other partners. The below picture shows the design, depicting many advanced features that will seriously raise the building green bar.



A excerpt from the City of Issaquah website regarding this project follows:
"Construction starts today on the first multifamily, production housing project in the nation to use no more energy than it generates during the course of a year, resulting in a carbon neutral development. Located in the City of Issaquah, zHome will consist of 10 attached townhomes that use zero net energy, 60 percent less water, have clean indoor air and use only low-toxicity materials. zHome’s purpose is to demonstrate that homes that offer these types of cutting- edge environmental building principles are possible and scalable for mainstream housing production."

Take a look at the project website to learn what's possible these days...

Residential Style in Tower Form

Skipped a day of work recently during a perfect Seattle summer week and biked around the city. I had in mind my previous post, "Stuff I'm Digging (and not) ... Condo Tower Designs" regarding how a fair share of the new condo developments downtown are looking more like office buildings than residences. So as a quick follow up to the previous post I thought I'd add another project, one that I feel is very successful at creating the residential feel.

In the core of the city is rising the Escala condominium project. This tower is being developed by Lexas Companies of Seattle, and was designed by Thoryk Architecture of San Diego. Escala has been in the makings/construction for a long time. Perhaps due to the tight lot size being fully maximized, existing buildings in close proximity, and the extremely deep parking garage they had to dig and shore. They're now at the phase of the construction when the building shoots up quickly, that being the floors above the foundation and the retail - where each level repeats itself. The first thing you notice when you are at street level is the intimacy being created for the pedestrian. With the base is still covered in scaffolding, you can already start to feel the details and gathering spaces develop a sense of welcome. The picture shown here depicts a wide open space in front of the building, but in reality it's a fairly dense block and a relatively narrow street. Which I think makes the pedestrian consideration even more important to ground the building at street level and create a neighborhood feel (being that there are 30 plus stories looming above).

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The other aspect of the design helping to create the residential feel is the footprint of the building. Lots of balconies, curving faces, angled corners, and other details not found on office buildings. The building speaks residential. Hopefully they will tuck some cafes in the nooks and provide areas for outside eating. I found an old 2003 article written about urban living in Vancouver, Canada, detailing how the successful approach in the developments there was soon going to be adopted in US cities. We're now 5 years later, and certainly Seattle is benefiting from the lessons taught by Vancouver. Take a look at the article here. And please be sure to let me know your opinion about this post and the related previous... perhaps leave me a comment! Agree or disagree?

Stuff I'm Digging ... 12th and Pike Construction

Seattle is currently a sea of construction cranes. From 40+ story residential and office towers, to full-block apartment/condo buildings, to smaller lot-sized buildings. And while not all of them are worthy or appropriately sized for their location, there is definitely a plethora of good things happening (which is what I'll focus on, choosing to ignore the bad).

The city is getting bigger. I believe an urban core should get tall, and the close-in neighborhoods should get dense. So here we are - getting bigger, taller, and denser. Down Pike street from our offices are a couple of appropriately sized small-lot buildings on the same block. In between them are old brick and masonry buildings, all with an excellent pedestrian friendly street presence. Capitol Hill is a fantastic neighborhood with restaurants, night clubs, galleries and shops, residences, and all the amenities of urban living.

One of the recent additions to the 12th and Pike block are the Agnes Lofts. The building itself is four stories. There's Boom Noodle and the Balagan Theater at street level, and three floors of lofts above. Designed by Weinstein AU, this project commands the corner of the block and maximizes the lot, but does so in a way that adds to the neighborhood rather than taking over the neighborhood. I'm all about a city progressing. Out with the decrepit and in with the new (and hopefully save what can be saved - if worth saving!). People moan about their old haunts being torn down, but usually those old haunts are almost falling down.

The second project sits one lot to the west of the Agnes Lofts. This one is called Eleven Eleven, and was designed by Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen. I have to admit, I'm pretty psyched by this one. Granted, the prices are going to be really expensive, but that's no reason to not like the building! This one sits on a narrow, small, inner block lot. I wish all blocks could be developed this way, rather than all the buildings being torn down for one full-block building. C'est la vie, but at least we get one in our neighborhood...

What's great about this one is the use of materials and colors in combination with the architectural design elements, which together are stated to give homage to the automotive and industrial businesses that used to adorn the neighborhood. And check out the remaining buildings on either side. What a great block!