We’ve been a little quiet on the blog lately… but that’s because we have been cranking our gears and working on a new project type for b9 – apartments!  Construction has begun on our townhouses in Fremont and we are working in the neighborhood again. The project is a new mixed-use apartment building and the proposed site is 743 N 35th Street.

You are invited to an informal Fremont Neighborhood Meeting to discuss the project.

Come see the preliminary design proposal and share your comments with those involved in designing the project. All are welcome!

Where: Fremont Public Library Meeting Room
731 N 35th Street

When: Saturday April 19th 11:00a – 12:30p  

The formal Early Design Guidance Meeting with the Northwest Design Review Board will be:

Where: Ballard Community Center, Sunset/Captain Ballard Room
6020 28th Ave NW

When: Monday April 28th 6:30pm – 8:00pm  

Contact: info@b9architects.com

This winter, the B9 team spent a portion of our time to focus on the b9Lab aspect of the practice. The b9 Lab was established to explore our interests in architecture, research new materials and building methods, and allow us opportunities to participate in design competitions. The Folly Competition was an exploration of the intersection between architecture and sculpture and the increasing overlaps in reference and concepts between the two disciplines. As the name of the competition suggests, a folly stands between the two disciplines and it is the task to give our interpretation of a folly for the Socrates Sculpture Park in Queens, New York (Sponsored by The Architectural League of New York).  The winner(s) of the competition will be given a $5000 production grant towards realizing the project.

Our competition entry:

What is the current condition of the architectural folly? In a cultural climate so infatuated with imagery and distraction, we can easily imagine the folly as the most fashionable form of architecture; a glossy image, a recent post, a quickly forgotten snippet. In the constructed object, however, we find a different set of values. We can pause at the folly. We can slow down. We can consider the folly as a landmark in our way that disrupts our frantic pursuits.

Lobby is conceived as a disruptive landmark, a threshold between the park and the city. Positioned at the entrance to the Socrates Sculpture Park in Queens, NY, the proposal pulls visitors through its’ porous edges and separates the experience of the city from the experience of the sculpture park. Inside this folly, space is condensed and the experience is intimated. You can hear the feet of the person just across the aisle. Shadows are cast on flowing walls of fabric. The typical elements of construction are stripped of their solidity and allowed to flap in the wind, open up to the sunlight, and cast unexpected shadows.

Site Plan

View of Lobby from park entry

Sitting on a platform in the Lobby

View at night with light at the heart of the Lobby

Section through Lobby

Lobby is practical and achievable. Standard materials and methods of construction are applied in unusual ways. Our palette is a simple one: dimensional lumber (2×2 and 2×4), steel connectors, plywood, paint and fabric.

Lobby is flexible and adaptable. The construction of our proposal is based on a system of modules that derive from the dimensions of our material. This system can be reordered to accommodate a variety of unexpected challenges and opportunities. This could also mean that elements of the folly begin to spread into other areas of the sculpture park.

Lobby provides a memorable relief valve for the visitor.

View of path into the Lobby

View to the park from the Lobby

There were over 200 entries for the competition and although our entry was not selected, we will be exploring future ways to realize our Folly | Lobby.

Stay tuned for more b9 Lab projects in the future.

As a follow up to our last post, two b9 projects in Seattle’s Eastlake neighborhood are well underway and we are excited to see the progress of these projects.

The project below will bring 6 row houses with roof deck views of South Lake Union. 

This project will bring four row houses by the lake near Lynn Street Park.

Check back for more images as these two projects progress!

Finally! Construction is under way on several b9 projects at the moment. Two of these, which are nearly neighbors in Seattle’s Eastlake neighborhood, require some imagination at the moment since they are barely out of the ground. Both projects were designed with their site in mind and made sure to take advantage of the local topography and maximize access to daylight.

Here are a few visual aids and, as always, let us know what you think!

Newtown project site

Render of Newtown project

This community of homes on Fairview Ave. will incorporate a street-side “dock” that opens to the west. Lake union is just across the street!

Here at b9, we are always looking for ways to innovate and to do work with clients who are excited about doing something different. The Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce has picked up on our project with Seattle-based Cascade Built to construct five townhouses in Madison Valley. Two of these will be built to Passive House standards, a rigorous metric for energy efficient construction. The primary design considerations for Passive House are a super-insulated envelope and the utilization of passive solar strategies. The construction methods seek to eliminate thermal bridges and provide a super-tight building envelope in conjunction with heat-recovery ventilators. The result is a home that can reduce the amount of energy required for heating and cooling by 90% compared to typical construction.

Read more from the DJC about the project here. And if you are interested in the Passive House standard and how it is being utilized in the Northwest, check out the resources on their website: Passive House Northwest.

Two of the homes planned will be designed to meet Passive House standards. The current design also proposes reclaimed wood siding at the street facade.