Design in Public is an initiative of AIA Seattle, which focuses on celebrating the variety of possibilities and ways that design can help build a better Seattle. This year's DiP's Seattle Design Festival is called "Design for Equity" - a call to ask, "what is equity and what is equitable design?" 

b9 architects is responding with an installation and subsequent event that questions the pursuit of equity with zoning code. As community builders and city orchestrators, we at b9 have witnessed a significant deal of inequity in our zoning laws that inhibit our community and our city to grow and provide opportunity for all. A topic that is omnipresent in the news due to recent code changes and following debates, zoning is a complex subject to explore and communicate.

We are currently still in the process of conceptualizing our installation with an intention of utilizing our storefront as a venue of discussion and exposure. Questions will be posed: what does zoning look like now? What would Seattle look like if the zoning map changed and building types intermixed? How would that impact the community? How would such changes affect neighborhood character, demographics, property values? How could zoning actively improve equity in Seattle?

Our installation will be informative and engaging, with the goal to provide an opportunity for the user to consider what zoning means to him/herself and to recognize zoning at a variety of scales. 

Our first pass at our installation is a series of maps of Seattle at different scales that display the current condition of zoning in Seattle and relate it to the current debate of rezoning, density, and affordable housing. In relation to the maps will be 3-dimensional sections of height and bulk limits of each zone, materialized into abstracted blocks that you can potentially move and rearrange to create zoning conditions to your judgment. 

The beginning of our maps to be displayed on our storefront windows. This one shows the urban villages of Seattle, color-coded based on Urban Villages, Urban Centers, and Urban Residential Villages. 

Be sure to check back to see the progress of our installation for the Seattle Design Festival: Design for Equity 2015! 

In the meantime, here are a few webpages that speak on this significant topic of zoning and equity.

Seattle council passes controversial changes to zoning (king5.com)

Housing Affordability and Livability Agenda (HALA)

9 words that shook Seattle: Are our zoning roots really racial? (Crosscut.com)

Rethink single-family zoning? Seattle officials open to some changes (Seattletimes.com)

Mayor Murray withdraws proposal to allow more density in single-family zones (Seattletimes.com)

Last summer, we moved into our new office space, and this summer, we're proud to launch our new website!

Our practice is constantly and happily always in progress, so stay tuned for more exciting news!

On a recent, sunny Thursday, the b9 team visited three of our job sites on Capitol Hill, all within a remarkable (less than) quarter mile radius of each other. The three projects represent a range of our work, from 10 townhomes on two parcels at 12th Avenue East and E Harrison Street, where we are co-developer/architect (1 on map); to a 51 unit apartment building that will become the south west corner of 12th Avenue E and E John Street (2); to 5 rowhouses just a block away at the corner of 13th Avenue E and E John Street (3). We are excited to have three distinct and innovative projects all under construction in this incredible, urban neighborhood.

We enjoy contributing to the conversation about how to grow our neighborhoods (and city) responsibly, and how to add density that is effective and equitable. We create outdoor spaces that encourage and enrich community, and design compelling architecture that is enhancing in all ways to its inhabitants and surroundings.

The 5 rowhouses at 13th E and E John Street is furthest along in the construction process, with finishes beginning to go up in all units. The 10 townhomes at 12th Avenue E and E Harrison Street have recently broken ground, with excavation completed and foundation work underway. The apartment building at 12th Avenue E and E John Street is preparing for its Design Review Recommendation meeting and working towards its construction permit. We expect construction to begin in late 2015.

Keep an eye out for this b9 triangle (and others!) in the coming months.

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Finishes going up in 5 rowhouses at 13th E and E John St

Foundation work underway for 10 townhomes at 12th Ave E and E Harrison St

Rendering showing facade to come at 12th Ave E and E Harrison St

51 unit apartment building to come at the southwest corner of 12th Ave E and E John St

Seattle’s (and b9’s) first passivhaus designed townhouses are now finished! In collaboration with Cascade Built, we designed five unique townhomes with the intention of efficient and environmentally responsible design.

For more information, check out these articles on the project as well as a previous post we wrote during construction:

Cascade Built’s website

BizJournal

Seattle.Curbed

Under Construction

Happy New Year from b9 !

2014 has been very good to us as we have steadily expanded both our office and our breadth of work. (Be on the lookout for posts on our first apartment designs !) With a new spacious office, an exciting set of new projects, a number of projects finishing up, and new additions to the team, 2015 is shaping up to be a great year !

To start off the new year, our whole team visited two projects that are close to completion. The first site we visited were the Fremont Townhomes – a project that exemplifies what b9 is all about. With a focus on community and interior and exterior buffers, the design aimed to create a dynamic internal, open courtyard, surrounded by the 10 townhomes. The modulation in material, decks, balconies, and landscape creates a variety of indoor and outdoor spaces, and the variation of open air levels encourages interaction between each home. When we visited the site, it was almost like a playground, where we all scattered and explored each unit (which are all different from one another) and came back together with a favorite one.

The second site we visited were the Olive Townhomes on Capitol Hill. Thanks to Seattle’s lovely 4:30pm sunsets, we arrived at the townhomes at dusk, which made photo-taking more difficult. Nevertheless, the project is near completion and it was fun to explore the spaces in and out of the units. The design approach to this project was informed by three primary concepts: create a vernacular style architecture that provides a base “mass”, carve out a centralized open courtyard and insert an armature at the center of the courtyard that expresses itself on all façades.