Designed by Wittman Estes, The Seattle housing shortage has increased pressure on single-family neighborhoods to provide more usable space on limited single-family lots. Normative new housing demolishes existing small buildings and replaces them with ?Seattle Modern Boxes? that maximize building size and density within zoning setbacks.
Photography: Nic Lehoux
Grasshopper Studio and Courtyard offer an alternative density called courtyard urbanism. Maintaining the small footprint of a 1940s house, a multifunctional studio was added along the rear alley. The resulting interstitial space formed a private terrace open to the sky. This courtyard urbanism tripled the usable square footage of the site by blurring the lines between indoor and outdoor space. A central Silk tree provides dappled shade in summer. The illusion of a much larger property is created through ?borrowed landscape? from adjacent trees and sky above. Photography: Nic Lehoux
Inspired by ancient Chinese south facing courtyard housing, the central paved terrace is a protected private area for dining, entertaining, lounging and year-round play. The wide covered walkway to the north sometime becomes informal seating, at other times a stage for children?s performances. The open plan studio is programmatically indeterminate to encourage maximum flexibility. Future uses include visiting guests, short-term rental space, utility/workshop space, and play space for the main house. A pavilion roof, floating over volumes t...