As a part of Seattle Design Festival, b9 architects is excited to host a panel discussion, exploring alternative development strategies to preserve Seattle’s existing physical and cultural character while meeting the city’s growing density needs. With an esteemed panel, we will be examining strategies in design, municipal code, and policy in Seattle that balance future growth with current physical and cultural character. Our panelists include -

Moderator:

Rick Mohler, UW Architecture & Mohler + Ghillino Architects

Rick is an Associate Professor of Architecture at the University of Washington where he strives to leverage his design studio teaching as a vehicle for urban research and social advocacy.  He is a principal of Mohler + Ghillino Architects, a 2016 Affiliate Fellow of the UW Runstad Center for Real Estate Studies, chair of the AIA Seattle Public Policy Board and member of its Board of Directors and a member of the Seattle Planning Commission.

Panelists:

Jessica Clawson, McCullough Hill Leary, PS

Jessie is a land use attorney with the law firm of McCullough hill leary.  She assists developers throughout the state of Washington.

Brian Heather, SolTerra

Brian is Founder and CEO of SolTerra, a development company.  His passion is to bring elements from nature into our urban living environment.  He lives his passion through designing, constructing and building integrated environmental technologies and incorporating those systems into real estate development projects that are connecting people to nature and creating amazing community in urban environments.

Quanlin Hu, City of Seattle

Quanlin is a strategic advisor with the Office of Planning and Community Development. In her 6 years at the city, Quanlin has focused on community capacity building and placemaking in historically underserved community such as the Central Area. She is keen on making projects happen through creative solutions and strong partnerships across city departments and with community partners and stakeholders. Quanlin has a Masters in City and Regional Planning from the Ohio State University. She holds certificates in urban planning, commercial real estate development and finance, project management and LEED Neighborhood Development.

Matt Hutchins, CAST Architecture

Matt Hutchins is a partner at CAST Architecture designing residential infill, affordable housing, and backyard cottages. As a housing advocate, he has been working on making housing more abundant by flexible and pragmatic zoning reform. He is co-chair of AIA Seattle’s Housing Task Force, serves on the Southwest Design Review Board, and cofounded More Options for Accessory Residences (MOAR).

Maiko Winkler-Chin, SCIDpda (Seattle Chinatown International District Preservation and Development Authority)

Maiko Winkler-Chin is the Executive Director of the Seattle Chinatown International District Preservation and Development Authority, whose mission is to preserve, promote, and develop the CID as a vibrant community and unique ethnic neighborhood.  She has a 20+ year history in community and economic development.

The event is free and open to the public. It will take place 6-8pm on Thursday, Sept 13 at our storefront studio.

Click here to our facebook event and to RSVP

We hope to see you there!

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To learn more about our continuing research regarding this topic,
please click on the image below!  ↴

Update**

Thanks to everyone who joined the discussion! The event was engaging, insightful, and relevant for both the public and the design community. A special thanks to David Neiman for moderating and our stellar panel - Josh Bower, David Cutler, Gabriel Grant, Cary Moon, and Nick Welch.

**All images courtesy of William Wright

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Is Seattle's current zoning code preventing or encouraging positive growth in Seattle?

What actions can developers, architects, planners, politicians, taxpayers do to create positive change in Seattle's growth - urbanistically, demographically, culturally, and spatially?

Where are there areas of potential innovative ways of growth and change, pertaining to housing and zoning?

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In participation of this year's Seattle Design Festival and Design in Public’s year’s theme of “Design Change,” b9 architects is excited to host a panel discussion on the relation between housing and zoning in terms of Seattle’s current growth.

Through both a moderated conversation with our esteemed panel and the opportunity for an open dialogue about Seattle's rapidly changing urban fabric, we will delve into issues of zoning, density, value, and change. We invite you to join the conversation about how to create positive change and growth in Seattle! 

Where: b9 architects
When: Friday, Sept. 16, 6-8 PM

Our panel:

David Neiman (moderator)
Neiman Taber Architects

Josh Brower
Veris Law Group

David Cutler
Principal, Office for the City

Gabriel Grant
Principal, Spectrum Development Solutions 

Cary Moon
Urban Planner/Activist

Nick Welch
Seattle Office of Planning and Community Development

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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)