The cottage in Phinney Ridge is taking shape--it is all dried in and the drywall is up. Â One of the owners is pictured above savoring being on the cutting edge of increased density in Seattle's single family zoning!
The Widner's cottage is starting to take shape!
Kate and Ric have begun construction on their backyard cottage... They have been working hard the last few weeks and have enlisted the help of a few friends and colleagues along the way. A few key players have been helping guide us through the process:
- Rusty Borromeo of Borromeo Construction LLC is providing his general contractor and construction expertise
- James Jenkins of O'Brien & Company is contributing his green building knowledge and will be our Built Green Verifier - we are aiming for 5 star Built Green certification
- Cory Fraser of LFD Structural Engineering LLC provided the calculations and engineering for our plan set
Ric has been doing a wonderful job of photographing the process and has put together a few galleries of the construction process thus far (all images in this post are © 2010 Ric Cochrane). He has also agreed to write up a blog post on the experience thus far - so stay tuned for that!
DECONSTRUCTION GALLERY
An existing shed (that was a bit worse for wear) was painstakingly deconstructed and all reusable and recyclable materials were sorted and stacked
LABOR OF LOVE - THE FOUNDATION
Digging in the dirt and other fun activities - the true definition of 'sweat equity!'
LUMBER FROM THE BONE-YARD
Salvaged beams, columns and decking are being purchased from Bruce Borjesson of Pacific Resources
We have been working with a couple who are planning on moving out of the original house, and into a new backyard cottage. Â We're pushing the limits within the ordinance--almost exactly 800 square feet--in order to build a 2 bed room, bath and a half cottage. Although the house is small, the spaces inside feel just right. Â And we'll be able to include a lot of high finish touches and crisp details because we aren't spending money on lots of square footage. Having a finite perimeter and volume really focuses the mind on the priorities of the design.
The character of the house the client's wanted is very craftsman and the scale and roofline fits right in with the neighborhood in general--certainly not the scary developer vision that opponents of the ordinance summoned during the public hearings. Â It reinforces that these projects are for people with a vested interest in both their property and their neighborhood and are very sensitive to the impact on their neighbors.
Here is another view which shows off the walkout patio off the dining space, the entry mudroom and the band of windows that wrap the living room, dining and kitchen:
We are also going to integrate a rain water harvesting system, radiant floors on a super efficient combination boiler, vaulted ceiling upstairs, and a extra height crawlspace with a rat slab to make up for some of the storage space lost in the downsizing. Â For floor plans, follow the jump below:
First floor plan:
Second floor plan:
We've completed the second round of design on our CAST architecture case study backyard cottage.
The plan has been fine tuned to optimize it for advanced framing. We adjusted the spaces to work better with Kate and Ric's needs and have started looking at potential materials and finishes.
We've also started talking about systems - at this point everything is on the table, solar hot water, energy efficient boiler, hydronic floor heating systems, rainwater cistern for flushing the toilets and watering the yard, super insulated walls...
I suspect that our choices will narrow as the reality of our budget forces us to separate the wheat from the chaff. Right now however, the possibilities seem limitless!
The Seattle channel recently interviewed myself and CAST clients Kate Lichtanstein and Ric Cochrane regarding the backyard cottage we are currently working on together. They included our project in a broader story that profiles an owner of a recently completed backyard cottage and gives a basic outline of the new Seattle backyard cottage ordinance.
Seattle Channel Video can be played in Flash Player 9 and up
UPDATED AUG. 8th 2019
Now that the new legislation is in place we’ve updated Quickstart Guide for 2019. Please keep in mind that this information is intended as a high level primer for the code that governs backyard cottages in Seattle… It should only be used as a basic starting point for planning. If you would like to move forward with the design and permitting of a backyard cottage for your home we recommend careful scrutiny of the entire ordinance and the assistance of an architect or design professional.
Download guide as a printable pdf
We've seen an unexpected level of interest in backyard cottages in the 2 months since the new ordinance has been in effect. Perhaps the most interesting thing about the projects is the diversity of needs for each one...
We have a young couple with a small house on a large lot that would like an outbuilding with a workshop and guestroom. We have a couple planning to build and occupy a cottage in their backyard in order to open up their home for their children and grandchildren to live in. We have a third couple who have separated but are committed to raising their children together. They currently live in the same house and believe that adding a backyard cottage to the property will maintain the proximity they need to raise their children together while providing them the space they need as individuals.
In a bit of a surprise, we have yet to see anyone looking to build a cottage for the sole purpose of rental income. Although one of the guys here at the office has been running the numbers and is strongly considering building a cottage for rent in his backyard.
We've completed the first round of design on our CAST architecture case study backyard cottage.
Kate and Ric's cottage is intended to serve as an art studio, workshop and guest house. It is also designed so that it may function as a rental home if needed. Our initial round of planning looked at how the spaces might work as a rental thinking that those functional requirements would be more restrictive than the requirements for an art studio and workshop.
Elements common to all three schematic design options:
All three options place the cottage at the SW corner of the site, chosen for it's relationship to the more public areas of the existing home and for an opportunity to create a shared outdoor room for both the cottage and the home. They all have a gable roof which was chosen for the height bonus allowed in the ordnance and to help marry the form of the cottage to the form of the existing home. All three options have the kitchen, living and bath rooms on the first floor and a bedroom loft on the second floor. Another feature common to all the options is the use of salvaged galvanized steel scaffolding components (see image below) which we plan to use as treads for ladder to the loft spaces.
SCHEMATIC DESIGN OPTION 1
This design incorporates an existing garage which more or less sits on the South and West property lines. The city land use desk (walk in) indicated that it was probable that we would be able to grandfather the building envelope of the existing garage into a new backyard cottage but they were unwilling to guarantee it. They recommended that we go through formal land use approval early in the process. Regardless of their final call we did know that we would have to stick within the building envelope of the garage for all portions of the backyard cottage that did not conform to the new ordinance. The potential advantage of using the existing garage is that it would allow us to use up less of the yard space for our new structure.
This drawing illustrates the site plan and floor plans. The existing garage is the portion of the structure that bumps out to the south and the west.
This is a view of the cottage from the SE. You can see the envelope of the existing garage on the south side of the structure.
A view from the NE looking through the shared outdoor room.
A view looking from the dining room, past the scaffolding ladder and into the living area.
A view from the living room into a private shade garden inspired by small Japanese courtyard gardens and created in the 5' setback from the lot line. a four foot concrete wall and cedar fence above create a very private and intimate indoor/outdoor space.
A view from the street.
SCHEMATIC DESIGN OPTION 2
The major element in this design is the creation of a covered outdoor workspace to the south of the cottage.
The covered patio to the south provides a sheltered outdoor workspace. The loft space is pulled back from the east wall allowing two stories of light to fill the first floor studio.
View from the SE
View from the NE
Loft space
SCHEMATIC DESIGN OPTION 3
This scheme ended up being the winner with Kate and Ric. They felt it was the best fit for their needs in terms of layout and size. It features a simple open plan on the first floor and a second floor that is more private than the lofts in the first two options.
Pass through doors and a simple plan define this scheme.
View from the SE.
View from the NE.
Entry from shared outdoor room
Looking toward the kitchen and dining room.
Bath with a private shade garden.
Loft.
We can't seem to get enough of Seattle's new citywide backyard cottage ordinance...
In addition to the two custom solutions we are currently working on we've also started up plans for a prefabricated backyard cottage. Designed to be trucked to your home and assembled in minimal time, this compact home is your ticket to instant gratification. If you are looking for a space to make art, stash guests on extended stays or earn a little rental income - look no further...
The first floor features the living, kitchen and dining rooms as well as a bed and bath. A double height space over the living room and a portion of the dining room brings light deep into the interior and provides a feeling of spaciousness.
The second story loft looks out over the living and dining rooms and has space for an office, a guest bed and overflow storage.
The cottage is designed to ship on a single semi and assembled in minimal time. We're currently working with a regional manufacturer and a local builder to see if we can get the price point to come in under what you would pay for a similar site built structure... Send us an email or give us a call if you would like us to keep you posted.