Uytae Lee of About Here ticks through the design entrants at a recent mass timber architecture competition, showcasing the vast architectural diversity possible with the eco-friendly construction method.
Civil engineer Donna Breske produced a video digging into the issue of excessive water hook-up costs blocking homebuilding and driving up housing costs. She argues Seattle needs a systemwide plan to upgrade water mains that is not dependent on gouging builders.
Clark/Barnes architects want to transform a landmarked office building at Second Avenue and Pine Street into housing, adding 12 additional stories of mass timber construction to accommodate more homes. The innovative project is meeting significant opposition from nearby residents and historic preser
On Tuesday, Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell rolled out a package of design review reforms intended to speed up homebuilding and comply with a state deadline that is fast approaching. The mayor has proposed a six-month pause on design review requirements to ensure state compliance in time and provide a t
Urban planner Markus Johnson proposes a series of building code changes that would provide more desirable and accessible multifamily housing at a more reasonable construction cost than most current multifamily development in Seattle.
Once plentiful across the city, small apartment buildings with flats stacked on top of one another are incredibly rare in new construction. The reasons behind that are multifaceted, and stemming the tide will take a push on multiple levels of government.
In Seattle, any person can nominate just about any building for historic landmark status — even without the consent of the building owner — which can delay or upend housing projects. The Washington State Legislature is advancing legislation that would place guardrails on historic landmark programs.
A new study found co-living congregate housing could spur conversions of vacant offices, which are much costlier to convert to conventional housing. It could also return Seattle to its affordable single-room occupancy roots.
New renderings, created by Neiman Taber Architects, present a vision for voters of what publicly-funded social housing would look like in Seattle. A dedicated funding source for social housing is on the ballot in February via Prop 1A.
As a new 45-story apartment tower goes up at the Elephant Car Wash site, Seattle is building apartments at a rapid pace – but a slump may be on the way.
New housing, hotel, and research science developments in Seattle’s downtown core will be exempt from the onerous design review process for three years. Only Councilmember Cathy Moore voted against the proposal.
St. Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral officials cited multiple headwinds against development for delaying plans for housing and renovation of the historic Nicholas School on their North Capitol Hill campus.
New developments downtown would get an exemption from design review for three years under a proposal from Mayor Harrell. But first he must win over the Seattle City Council.
Three years after the Seattle City Council tasked the department of construction with examining how to reform its cumbersome design review process, the agency released its report. The department still remains nearly a year away from making substantive changes to design review.
To prevent a 19-story apartment building long in the works, a group of Belltown residents are trying to stop code updates to Seattle’s Living Building pilot program. The purported risk of bird deaths headline the group’s laundry list of concerns.
Uytae Lee of About Here dives into some highly creative apartment designs that we don’t normally see. Could bending the rules a bit deliver great results?
Two housing projects — one in Wedgwood and one in Capitol Hill — are running into similar issues around tree retention, parking, and scale.
Delivering 35 new family-sized homes, Shared Roof features a unique financing model catering to a range of incomes, built-in community, and hip cafes spilling into a public courtyard. Is the model replicable? The developer thinks so.
Seattle is considering legislation to support conversion of existing commercial buildings to residential. Mayor Harrell is seeking to incentivize and facilitate reuse of vacant commercial properties and fulfill a plank of his Downtown Activation Plan.
Builders, lawmakers, and housing advocates warn the ‘One Seattle’ growth strategy is “nothingburger” that will come up short on affordability, livability, and complying with state law. Fourplexes would be too constrained to deliver sufficient housing.
SPU’s practice to target developers with unsubstantiated fees to upgrade public assets for the water system continues unchecked. For the year 2023 more than 100 building permit seekers received such requirements as a condition of approval for new water service.
The state responded to feedback from urbanists and homebuilders by finetuning its draft model code for missing middle housing to be more generous around lot coverage, floor area ratio, setbacks, and design standards.
Misunderstanding the size of an acre, floor area ratio, and the area of a circle ruins many conversations about the basic shape of where you live.
Transit conveys culture as its conveys passengers. The former Russian capital provides some lessons on how the Seattle region could do better. Seattle has begun constructing a major light rail system with Link, defining the contours of its urban development for generations. Every mile of track laid and station opened
All urban design and architecture is implemented with a particular goal in mind — often to shape people’s behavior in a particular direction. Hostile architecture, also known as unpleasant or exclusionary architecture, or defensive urban design, is a type of design which “uses elements of the built environment to guide
In House Bill 1110, the Washington State Legislature read the will of the people and demanded that we tackle the housing crisis more proactively by allowing middle housing in most cities and towns. The Washington State Department of Commerce has created a basic zoning template that supersedes local code if
Washington State Legislature legalized “missing middle” housing across the state, allowing more homes on a lot in the form of rowhouses, duplexes, triplexes, quadplexes and sixplexes. Seattle will now need to legalize sixplex homes citywide in areas served with frequent transit and fourplexes elsewhere. This restores Seattle to a bygone
The Washington State Department of Commerce has released draft guidance and model codes to implement the state’s a new middle housing law. The new law will apply to most cities with a population of at least 25,000 residents (and some smaller cities), requiring them to broadly legalize middle
Nature-centered urban design makes us smarter, healthier and more resilient. On October 25th Seattle Town Hall and the University of Washington College of the Environment welcomed UW alum Dr. Heather Tallis as the featured speaker for The College of the Environment’s 2023 Doug Walker Lecture. Tallis discussed how harnessing
Freiburg im Breisgau is famous in planning spheres for its high rates of biking, walkable suburbs, and green ways of building. Mike Eliason has sung the praises here of the German Black Forest city for its Baugruppen housing approach and famed Vauban. Intriguingly too is that though Freiburg was originally
Since we last checked in on the megaproject/arcology beat, there has been some progress on the new NEOM linear city rising from the sands of Saudi Arabia. Contracts have been awarded, new towns have been developed for workers, and excavation continues apace. You can enjoy their most recent promotional
Spread out across Lake Union Park from August 19 to 24, exhibits and activities for all ages connect Seattleites with urban design concepts and planning for the city’s future. Despite the smoke from forest fires, hundreds of people flocked to Lake Union Park Saturday for this year’s Seattle
It is impossible to ignore the construction that is happening throughout the Puget Sound region. Cranes and scaffolding are everywhere. In Q1 2023 alone, the Seattle area had 51 cranes on construction sites which is part of an all-time high number of cranes for North America. “The three top sectors
“Those who assume that a net-zero building like the Bullitt Center is either too expensive to be profitable or requires cutting edge technology are mistaken.” When the Bullitt Center – the world’s first commercial building to achieve net-zero use of energy and water – opened in Seattle in 2013, it was
One would be excused for missing the door to 911 Pine Street. It is a classic alcove doorway, deserving of little attention even if it wasn’t overshadowed. Unlike its neighbor at 901 Pine, it does not have a box office, lengths of velvet rope, and a giant marquee of
My journey to urbanism took a twisted path. I grew up in rural Kitsap County, studied forest ecology, and worked in the woods of Alaska, Washington, and Oregon for 10 years in outdoor recreation and biology for the Forest Service, National Park Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, a public utility,
Right now, the city of Seattle is at a crossroads. As a robust job market, the city has never had a housing plan that meets the demand. Thankfully, the Washington State Legislature has done a lot of work this spring, legalizing fourplexes everywhere in Seattle, and legalizing sixplexes near frequent
Commerce recently had a consultant create a form-based code, but the draft fails to advance housing abundance. Now that Washington State’s Middle Housing bill (HB1110) has been signed into law, the next question is what implementation will look like — what kind of housing and where. The Department of Commerce
American architect and urban designer Daniel Burnham’s famous “make no small plans” imperative is destroying your city and your life. You should get a bingo card when attending a city planning conference. Instead of numbers, the squares should have pop-planning phrases to be crossed off as you hear them
It’s always interesting when one of the architecture channels has an opening drone shot that makes you go, “Wait, I know that leafy hill in front of towers in front of a sound.” Welcome to a lovely residence in the Leschi neighborhood (or just slightly south). The rest of
It’s one of the rare years that Ramadan, Passover, and Easter coincide, so it feels appropriate to take a look at the city where the three big faiths collide. Often, and unfortunately this year, somewhat literally. And who better to calmly and thoroughly guide us through the Old City
In the spring of 2020, downtown Seattle sat empty. A once bustling and growing core of tower cranes, thriving businesses, and active neighborhoods was now silent. Office workers were gone, and in the interim worked remotely, which soon became long-term preference. During the slow recovery, restaurants, retail, and transit all
With St. Patrick’s Day upon us, it is time to roll out the festivities, including the wearin’ of the green, the drinkin’ of the beer, and the watchin’ of the best Simpsons episode. Besides the stereotypes, there is a significant reason the holiday has both extensive traction and a
A bill allowing single-stairway “point access block” buildings would enhance housing and neighborhoods. On February 2nd the Washington State Senate held its first hearing on SB 5491, a bill that adds a powerful tool to the state’s housing arsenal by permitting point access blocks — compact single stair buildings with
The future of wildly popular streateries now rests in a narrow view of the street’s past. It’s 9am on a Thursday morning in the multipurpose room of the Ballard Service Center. Six of the seven members of the Ballard Avenue Landmark District Board sit around a conference table
“Summit of Our Noble Efforts” – Jay Inslee The Washington State Convention Center’s new Summit Building opened to the public on Friday, January 27. As part of a ribbon cutting ceremony, the fools let The Urbanist’s Ryan Packer and Ray Dubicki in for speechification and press tours. We took
Tollefson Plaza in downtown Tacoma confounds me. It’s an attractive space next to a bustling university campus and an art museum. It is adjacent to a pedestrian urban trail, near the city’s convention center, and it is flanked by well-served multi-modal transit stops. But it’s nearly always
An we come upon the last day of the year, a perfect opportunity to look through The Urbanist’s media archive for a retrospective of the year in snippets. There’s the topics we covered from the legislature through the budget. But a smart eye can also catch the empty
Air Conditioning and Summer Insulation are Necessities, Not Amenities. After moving to Seattle in 2020 from Southern California, I was surprised to find that the mysterious knob on my apartment wall didn’t activate an air conditioner. Instead, after a brief period of rattling, I slowly started to feel the
Design review is currently under the microscope, with a stakeholder process evaluating the problems of housing delays and racial inequity. The Seattle City Council recently passed an extension of a Covid-era design review exemption for affordable housing projects. Councilmember Dan Strauss and the Mayor’s Office also floated a pilot
In the song “Five Feet High and Rising,” Johnny Cash sings “Well, the rails are washed out north of town/ We got to head for higher ground/ We can’t come back till the water goes down/ Five feet high and risin’.” Unfortunately, with climate change we are facing a
American malls are so ubiquitous that it is difficult to consider they were purposefully conceived, actively designed, and meticulously managed. Every facet of an atrium ceiling or food court placement was decided based on cost, profitability, and aesthetics. But malls have rarely been considered as Serious Architecture. Meet Me by
Given this podcast is dropping on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, there is a solid chance that you or a loved one will spend some time at a mall in the next week. Shopping at climate controlled temples of consumer capitalism is, after all, the point of the holiday. As you
With drone footage showing construction beginning on Saudi Arabia’s half-trillion dollar megaproject called The Line, it’s useful to ask what’s going on in the desert. Stretching over 100 miles inland from the Red Sea, the mirrored, car-less, low-carbon project begs whether the repressive regime is greenwashing its
As a volunteer with Friends of Street Ends, a group that works to open and enhance Seattle’s shoreline street ends for public access, I had the opportunity to tour the Duwamish Waterway in July, where one dozen street ends abut the shoreline. A centerpiece of Seattle’s industrial heritage,
After Totem Lake, a neighborhood that is experiencing a spree of significant growth, the next notable constellation of new commercial and residential development in Kirkland is occurring around NE 85th Street/Central Way. This corridor primarily consists of the city’s Downtown, which expands into the greater area known as
The code provision that prevents the city from looking like Blade Runner. In most American cities, the tenants of downtown skyscrapers have their names written across the skyline. Every tower in Los Angeles seems to be labeled by a bank icon or expensive consulting firm. Chicago buildings that aren’t
Yet designing for cars continues to be a problem in the city’s fastest growing neighborhood. When cataloging development in Kirkland, it’s evident where the City has focused much of its development capacity: Totem Lake, a neighborhood defined by its strip malls, car dealerships, car services, light industry, and
One saga demonstrates the difficulties developers face in getting infill projects permitted, even after reforms meant to encourage them. The City of Seattle permitting process for new housing is riddled with impediments that disproportionately challenge the small business owner seeking to acquire permits to build much needed smaller housing projects.
Twin eleven-story towers are in the works for Northgate Terrace, a strip-mall style office park a quarter mile southeast of Northgate Station anchored by Re/Max Realtors and AAA Insurance. The freshly laid site plans, however, are contingent on the Seattle City Council granting a contract rezone to provide a
It’s time to get ready for the 12th annual Seattle Design Festival, which will be held August 20-26 at locations across the city. This year’s theme is connection and it will be explored through a variety of interactive exhibits, events, and workshops intended to “unleash the design thinker
Buried behind a storm of mammoth projects are yet more potential development proposals in Downtown Bellevue. While these projects don’t possess the scale of the mega-projects addressed in the previous article, they do jockey for their potential place in the city’s skyline and will impact the look and
Among the many projects up for consideration in Downtown Bellevue, a significant faction stands out for the sheer scale of its developments. These projects are defined by being constructed in multiple phases, consisting of multiple mid-rises to skyscrapers, including hundreds of dwelling units, and adding millions of square feet of
What do we want this city to be? And who do we want it to belong to? In a recent essay published by the New York Times, Ismail Muhammed posed the questions above about New York City — a city he first encountered as a college student and then returned to
Since 2018, a deluge of construction projects in Downtown Bellevue has been completed and begun to form Bellevue’s adolescent skyline. This spree has been in part due to the highly constricted zoning that the city has imposed elsewhere in its jurisdiction. Aside from small pockets in BelRed and Factoria,
Shipping container homes have become all the rage in recent years. But they’re not necessarily as practical as they might seem when it comes to bringing them up to code for habitation. They also aren’t exactly inexpensive. Vox takes a dive into the hot building trend.
As founder of Larch Lab, a design studio and think tank devoted to climate adaptive architecture and urbanism, Mike Eliason holds a wealth of knowledge about how to create buildings that make for denser, more sustainable, more livable cities. In this episode, he uses the same simple language to demystify
Few things perfectly encapsulate the problems of planning like a city’s land use code. Unlike the building code, which dictates the life safety requirements to make sure a building doesn’t burn down or collapse, the land use code simply sets your building’s height, location, and how much
On Thursday, Mayor Bruce Harrell promised the imminent release of housing data dashboard that will show his administration is on course to meet a campaign pledge of producing 1,000 units of emergency housing and shelter beds in his first six months in office. Until the dashboard is out, The
Every eight years the City of Seattle has a chance to make progressive changes to how we grow ranging from jobs, amenities, mobility and — most importantly — housing. And, in every one of these cases, we did the bare minimum and only saw things get worse by not adding enough homes.
A partnership between developer Lake Union Partners and nonprofit Mt. Baker Housing is bringing 700 homes to a previously environmentally contaminated site on Rainier Avenue S near the future Judkins Park Link light rail station. Grand Street Commons, as the development is known, will also include over 60,000 square
The Puget Sound Regional Council adopted a Regional Housing Strategy which could have a big impact on housing growth — if cities and counties follow through. In this installment of housing notes, the Seattle metro region emerges as a nationwide leader in building multi-family housing, the Puget Sound Regional Council adopts
Despite skyrocketing housing prices across Washington State, the state legislature has failed to pass any bills easing statewide housing restrictions and promoting missing middle housing housing growth in sacrosanct single-family zones. Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell had concerns with the missing middle bill and declined to endorse it, but he is
The tragic military attack on Ukraine by Russia has upended the world, making us think differently about things we took for granted even a couple weeks ago. But the new tension and uncertainty we are experiencing is something that influenced government policies in the United States for 40 years. One
Details are emerging on plans to replace the suburban-style Safeway grocery story adjacent to University Village Mall with an eight-story mixed-use development. The plans follow projects in the works to restyle Safeway stores in other urban Seattle locations, notably Queen Anne and Capitol Hill. Early Design Guidance (EDG) plans filed
Insulated glass has become ubiquitous, but it wasn’t always that way. Vox explains how insulated glass came about and how it changed architecture in the last century. The technology has had a dramatic impact in the way we live and the conditioning of buildings with expansive windows.
First a quick factoid to kick off this installment of housing notes. U.S. Census data shows that housing construction is on the rise across the country. In November 2021, 1.48 million housing units — both single-family and multifamily — started construction, the highest level since 1973. Even better, the numbers
For tenants of large apartment buildings, the prospect of a new water heating system installation can be cause for alarm. Prolonged utility shutoffs present a real burden for residents, at times even forcing them to relocate during the work period. But at Bayview Tower, a 100 unit affordable senior apartment
Vox looks at the story of the Craftsman home and how it became a staple across America in the 20th Century.
Vox looks into why so many rowhouses in London are getting deep basement additions and why wealthy residents are lashing out.
Seattle doesn’t lead on a lot of things when it comes to building codes, land use codes, or even energy codes — though given that our housing deficit is in the hundreds of thousands and we can’t come anywhere close to meeting our climate goals, we absolutely need to.
As U.S. cities grow in population, increasing their density provides opportunities for more housing, jobs, recreation, and infrastructural efficiency. When developed thoughtfully, urban density can also decrease carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions through such reductions in car use and an increase in smaller, less energy-intensive homes. For example, Seattle’s
City Beautiful visits San Antonio to evaluate the city’s river walk as walkable urbanism. The city’s riverwalk isn’t the only one of its kind, but it does stand out for its own charm and uniqueness.
This November in celebration of National Native American Heritage Month, the University of Washington Department of Architecture is presenting a lecture series titled “On the Ground: Indigenous Voices on Constructed Place.” Hosted by Bobbie Koch, architectural designer at 7 Directions Architects/Planners, and Jim Nicholls, professor of architecture at the
(And four things we don’t) Now that the dust has subsided on construction and the glitter has settled on the opening night festivities, let’s get down to the brass tacks. Seattle has a brand new arena for a brand new hockey team, the Kraken. Here’s a close
Vox explores why so many new buildings seem to prominently feature rectangular panels as exterior cladding.
The story of how Chicago got its famed waterfront lakeshore parks is a true saga with a series of battles and efforts. Wealthy elites, railroads, legal cases, swindlers, World’s Fair, and others all were part of the efforts. And today, there are new efforts to rethink how portions of
Tonight the West Design Review Board will take another look at a proposal for a 19-story residential tower near the waterfront in Belltown. The building’s design was approved back in February, but the developer has identified a necessary design departure that breaks with existing guidelines, so they’re back
As the homelessness crisis deepens its impact across the U.S., Washington State designers are improving tiny house designs with the goal of bringing more people into shelter. The first time I stepped into a tiny house constructed for emergency shelter, I was struck by how thin the plywood walls
The annual event will take place on Saturday and Sunday, August 21-22, 10am-7pm, at Lake Union Park. What kind of world do we want to emerge to as the shared experience of the Covid pandemic ebbs away? According to the event’s organizers, the question of what we want to
This story in London highlights one microcosm of how far historic preservation rules can go. For a while, an artsy organization got away with making changes to a historic building, but then they got bolder and things went awry.
What is it like to live in co-housing? This video shows what life is like in a Vienna co-housing community.
Fifteen housing advocates applied for 15 open seats on Seattle’s design review boards this winter. A public records request revealed that all 15 were shut out as the City opted instead to appoint mostly architects with connections to major firms or past or current board members, even in seats
Dave Amos talks about how the principle of universal design as applied to street design can make streets better for all users.
Research has identified strategies that can effectively combat the urban heat island effect. As the current heat dome traps Seattle within its sweltering grip, it has become painfully apparent that as the climate changes, we will have to change as well. Weather events like heat domes, which occur when high-pressure
Dave Amos of City Beautiful visits Seattle’s waterfront and looks at what is happening as it transforms from having an elevated highway running through it to a new waterfront space. Amos also looks at what other cities have done with highway removals, including Portland and Rochester, and compares t
Jason Slaughter of Not Just Bikes talks suburbs and how not all are the same. Slaughter particularly emphasizes how streetcar suburbs and suburbs that are not car-dependent can offer a good option to people with a variety of amenities while not living in the central city. Slaughter focuses on Riverdale,
Seattle has been taking the lion’s share of the region’s housing growth for the last decade, but developers are starting to look to Tacoma in greater numbers. One big reason why is that Tacoma’s permitting and approval process is simple and quick, while Seattle’s has increasingly
Visit Europe and the alleys are alive. They are a place for people with active uses filling up the storefronts. Sure, they still have places for trash pick up and parking ramp entrances, but they don’t think of these spaces as the forgotten voids between our dense urban structures.
Excitement has long been building for Sound Transit’s many system expansions that are due over the next few years. With the agency’s extension of light rail service to Downtown Redmond beginning in 2024, Downtown Bellevue in 2023, and Northgate in just a few months’ time, it is an