Posts tagged design review
Project Spotlight: Madrone PassivHaus

The Madrone Apartments, located in Seattle's Central Area, represent a radical approach to urban residential development to achieve excellence in sustainability. Comprising 107 units spread across two distinct yet interconnected “towers”, this project redefines high-density living with its innovative design and commitment to sustainability. Built on two compact infill sites, the eight-story development creatively maximizes the available urban space while offering a unique living experience that blends privacy, comfort, and environmental responsibility.

 

One of the most notable aspects of the Madrone Apartments is the project team’s commitment to sustainability. The project is certified by the Passive House Institute of the United States (PHIUS) as a Passive House Multifamily Apartment building, a globally recognized German benchmark for energy-efficient construction. This standard is achieved through a highly insulated building envelope, which utilizes state-of-the-art materials and technical detailing to effectively retain heat and maintain consistent indoor temperatures. The inclusion of high-performance windows further enhances the building's thermal efficiency, reducing energy loss while maximizing natural light. This strategy manages solar gain to exploit the sun's energy for heating purposes in the heating season and to minimize overheating during the cooling season. Where necessary, some units provide cooling to offset the potential overheating in the summer months.

The focus on sustainability extends beyond just energy efficiency. By prioritizing these principles, the Madrone Apartments not only lower operational costs for residents but also significantly reduce the building’s environmental and carbon footprint. The Passive House design approach and standards deliver superior air quality and comfort for residents while creating a resilient building, with long-term performance as the expectation for owners and residents looking to maximize a building’s lifetime. The design process to produce a Passive House certified project involves the entire consultant team as early as the Schematic Design phase. This is unusual compared to most urban housing projects. 

 

The interconnectedness of the structure with the envelope design, the mechanical design with the floor plans and building elevations, the plumbing design and the electric design contribute to the unique solution for Madrone. This approach creates a healthier living environment, contributing positively to the overall well-being of its residents and the broader community. As extreme climate events such as wildfires, heatwaves, and winter storms become more common every year, the region’s housing supply will need to increasingly meet demands to protect residents in what has historically been a temperate environment.

 
 
 

The Madrone Apartments feature two separate “towers”, connected by an exterior bridge that spans a centrally located courtyard at each floor. This strategically splits the project into two masses and allows natural light to pass through to adjacent sites. The bridges connecting the two towers also serve as a unique architectural feature that enhances the overall aesthetic of the complex. This element creates a visual link between the two sides of the building while also providing a sheltered exterior passage for residents. The bridges, combined with the courtyard further contribute to the development's sense of cohesion and unity, providing a shared space for residents to gather, relax, and enjoy the outdoors. This quiet and often shaded courtyard provides a sheltered place on the site that is not subject to the increasingly hot summer sun and wet Seattle winters. Multiple bioretention planters located at the courtyard level manage onsite stormwater collection from the building roof within the project.

A key design priority for the Madrone Apartments is maintaining privacy in a high-density urban setting. All residential units are thoughtfully oriented away from adjacent buildings, either outward, with windows facing the street, or inward, overlooking the courtyard or to the rear of the adjacent empty lot. This deliberate design strategy ensures that both residents and neighboring properties experience a sense of separation and privacy, which is crucial in densely populated urban areas. The result is a harmonious balance between community engagement and individual seclusion, catering to diverse resident needs.

A straightforward material palette and elegant facade design contributes positively to the neighborhood’s character and increasing modernity and allows for a more timeless presentation that will age cleanly as adjacent areas are developed in the future. An upper level setback was provided voluntarily to the street to reduce the height and overall mass facing the low-rise zoned lots across the street. This recess aligns with a jog in the facade’s massing at the north corner, creating a transition towards the currently underdeveloped property immediately to the north. While the material palette was intentionally kept simple and elegant, quality and texture were prioritized wherever residents or community members were most likely to interact with the project’s facades. The majority of the exterior  materials are integrally colored or prefinished, providing a thoughtful and durable solution. All windows are high performance and feature a projecting prefinished metal trim that adds pattern, depth and texture to all east and west facing facades.

 
 

The Madrone Apartments are situated in Seattle's Central Area, a neighborhood rich in history and cultural diversity that has undergone significant transformation over the past decade. Historically, the Central District has been one of Seattle's most racially and ethnically diverse neighborhoods, and was once the center of Seattle's black community and a major hub of African-American businesses. However, recent years have seen a wave of development, with numerous multifamily apartments rising to meet the growing demand for urban living. Amidst this rapid urbanization, Madrone Apartments stands out with a thoughtful approach that balances needed housing density at a time when Seattle faces a massing housing shortage, with quality construction and a long-term design intent. By maximizing the unit count within the constraints of two compact infill sites, Madrone not only contributes to the area's ongoing evolution into a bustling urban hub but also creates opportunities for affordability. The project’s design ensures that a high number of units can be accommodated without sacrificing space or comfort, making it possible to offer a mix of living options in a neighborhood where such opportunities are increasingly necessary. This approach aligns with the neighborhood’s history of inclusivity, aiming to provide a diverse range of housing options for its residents. The site’s location has one of Seattle’s highest ratings for walkability and bike transit access, supporting residents who work and recreate at a neighborhood scale. This access further supports the growth and redevelopment of small businesses in the immediate area.

 
 

The Madrone Apartments represent a sophisticated approach to urban infill development, skillfully balancing the priorities of sustainability, privacy and density. By optimizing the use of two compact mid-block urban sites, the project sets a new standard for urban living within the existing neighborhood fabric. By adhering to the Passive House standard for design and construction, the Madrone Apartments exemplify a commitment to produce innovative, sustainable, and community-focused design.

Project Spotlight: 13th Avenue Apartments

Completed in 2023 the 13th Avenue Apartments features one of b9 architects’ cleanest and simplest designs to date. Seeking our help in 2018, the client had already gone through an early design process with another architect, but the design they arrived at could not be realized due to code compliance issues. Through a flexible and collaborative design process, the team created an elegant, 20-unit infill project, mid-block on 13th Avenue in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood. With an elegant and organized facade that belies its complicated design, the 13th Avenue Apartment represents excellence that can be achieved with the right client, material selection and detailing.

When the project first came to b9 architects, it looked very different. With another firm’s preliminary Design Review proposal that did not have a path to meeting Seattle’s land use, energy or building codes, our design team worked with the client to propose a new solution. After an initial site investigation, the client agreed to have b9 restart the design process, keeping the idea of two structures, but connecting them with a series of stacked exterior walkways and interior stairwell and elevator. This strategy allowed the “front” structure to act as a centerpiece for the design while the structure in the rear could act as a secondary element. With an engaged client and multiple b9 team members owning specific aspects of the project, the design process focused on collaboration and quick decision making to move the project forward, helping the client make up for lost time.

The project design takes advantage of the “single exit” allowance in the Seattle Building Code. Limited to 4 units per floor and a maximum distance between each unit’s entry and the stair and elevator, the project benefits from providing only one stair. The elevator permits the project to provide a small roof deck for all residents with access to amazing views of downtown Seattle, the Puget Sound and the Olympic Peninsula and Olympic Mountains beyond. The circulation spaces are the “connector” described above that tie the front and rear portions of the structure together. From the street, the building reads as two elements due to the circulation being inset from the north and south side facades. The rear facade shifts half of the mass to provide relief for the homes across the alley and to create a variety of unit types within the project.

 

Due to the dimensions of the site, the modulation at the center of the site creates relief to adjacent sites, similar to many of b9’s infill housing projects.  However, the difference at this site is that the front facade is purposely clear and simple. The Design Review process in Seattle frequently encourages projects to undulate massing to create depth along street frontages. With a site at 35’ wide by 120’ feet deep, we were adamant that the front façade should be flat and create depth and texture primarily with material expression. There is no space for the front facade. Instead of shifting in or out, the 13th Avenue Apartments relies on simple detailing, a brick frame or grid complemented with contrasting infill panels and large windows and doors. As an assembled integral colored material, brick creates texture and depth on the front volume of the project. Limited to two projecting balconies, this is the simplest front facade b9 has designed. When taken as a whole, the project is complex, carving out the center of the site to setback from an adjacent Single Family home to the south and established brick apartment to the north.

 
 
 
 
First Central Station Update
Photo courtesy of Genesee Martin

Photo courtesy of Genesee Martin


Our team is happy to report that First Central Station, a 385 unit mixed-use development in Seattle’s central district, has received unanimous approval from the East Design Review Board. b9 architects, Build LLC, Karen Kiest Landscape Architects, and local artist Paul Rucker presented the design. 

The meeting was the second and final stage in the city’s design review process and highlighted the team’s efforts to work with neighbors, community organizations, city officials, and the design review board to provide a unique project that is sensitive to a variety of concerns. The collaborative efforts of the architectural design team, b9 architects and Build LLC, have resulted in a project that captures the distinct design philosophies of each office and projected them on to different portions of the site, a strategy that produces a sense that the buildings have emerged from multiple voices as opposed to a single master plan.

 

The team utilized a variety of communication tools to bring the design review board up to speed on the project – renderings, diagrams, and a presentation model assisted in making plain the complexities of the design. In the end, the support of the board was a reminder that successful design can emerge from complex collaboration and neighborhood inclusion. It can be hard work, but the result, we believe, will be one of a kind.

 

To learn more about First Central Station and its design philosophy, be sure to check out Build LLC's blog post HERE

All images courtesy of b9 architects, Build LLC, and Karen Kiest Landscape Architects



Massing evolutions of each building:


Landscape Plan by Karen Kiest Landscape Architects 


Site Plan Diagrams


Site concepts by local artist, Paul Rucker

"On June 10, 1918, Seattle saw its first local jazz band perform in Washington Hall, at 14th Avenue and Fir Street. In the 1920s and 1930s jazz flourished in the Central District. We have an opportunity with the construction of First Central Station to acknowledge this legacy by integrating musical notation and themes in the wayfinding. The example shown here uses quarter notes as directional signs to bordering neighborhoods.

Naming of buildings uses solfège

Do= Building #1

Re= Building #2

Mi= Building #3

Solfège is a system for singing notes. If you’re familiar with the famous Rogers and Hammerstein song “Do-Re-Mi” from The Sound of Music, you already know the solfège note names: do, re, mi, fa, sol, la and ti."

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