Planting the SEEDS of Social Equity

Recently, we featured a few members of our staff were accredited for  SEED (Social Economic Environmental Design) is a network of design professionals interested in community-based design practice. This network provides guidelines for pursuing a design process informed by inclusivity and participation, which can lead to SEED Certification.

Recently, four Schemata staff members (below) received their SEED certification, joining Joann Ware, who has been SEED-certified for some time.

SEED Projects

Two of our current sites, PAHO and Acer House, are also currently in the process of being SEED certified Click the below for project updates.

PAHO

Acer House 23rd & Cherry

What is SEED?

Social Economic Environmental Design or SEED is a credential sought after by those in the architecture and design industry that are interested in developing community based design principles. Unlike other certification programs such as LEED, Built Green, Passion House; SEED focuses on building a design process that achieves their mission To advance the right of every person to live in a socially, economically, and environmentally healthy community.

5 SEED Principles

1. Advocate with those who have a limited voice in public life

2. Build structures for inclusion that engage stakeholders and allow communities to make decisions

3. Promote social equality through discourse that reflects a range of values and identities

4. Generate ideas that grow from place and build local capacity

5. Design to help conserve resources and minimize waste

Application Process

To apply for SEED certification, visit the SEED Homepage and select “Start SEED Evaluation Application”

Building Equitable Housing on the Hill: Capitol Hill Transit-Oriented Development

Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood has reached a critical crossroads in its development. With unprecedented growth and skyrocketing demand for accessible housing, the historically LGBTQ arts district is struggling to maintain its ties to its history and its unique sense of place, while moving into the future.

Capitol Hill Transit-Oriented Development is a response and a remedy to this crisis — providing context-sensitive, equitable housing for people of all income levels and backgrounds, that strengthens the vibrant Capitol Hill community.

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The Early Stages

In 2009 Sound Transit completed their first light rail line, enabling increased mobility across the city and into surrounding communities. Seeing the undeveloped lots around newly opened stations, community leaders across the city began pushing for more inclusive engagement processes, and transit-oriented developments that would provide much-needed housing in close proximity to transit.

In 2009, Schemata Workshop Principal and Founder Grace Kim was invited by a community group to represent Capitol Hill business and property owners in conversations about station development. As the group developed guidelines for the TOD parcels, Grace was asked to submit a proposal for a consultant contract to identify community priorities for future development. This led to a year-long community engagement project that allowed residents (renters as well as property owners) and other community stakeholders to discuss and outline neighborhood-wide priorities:

• Permanent Home for the Farmer’s Market

• Affordable Housing

• Cultural Center

• Community Space

• Affordable Commercial Space

• Daycare

• Limited Parking

• High-Quality Design

• High Sustainability Standards

The resulting Recommendations Report led to changes to land-use development standards, a Development Agreement between the City and transit authority addressing community concerns, and most importantly the formation of The Capitol Hill Champion, a community entity, that would steward the recommendations of the report over the next five years.

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Building the Future

Schemata Workshop went on to play a pivotal role in the project’s development, building on the community desires identified in the early engagement process. The Capitol Hill Equitable Transit Oriented Development includes a four-parcel site atop what is now the highest ridership station in Seattle’s light rail system. Affordability was a key value of the project, and 40% of the 435 units will be affordable. Schemata Workshop was responsible for developing the design principles for the four building campus, identifying opportunities for district strategies, and guiding the site-wide public art program. Schemata Workshop also designed two of the four buildings on site — Station House and Park Apartments.

Station House includes 110 units of family-oriented affordable housing, for hardworking households earning less than 60% of the Area Median Income (AMI) and was designed for Community Roots Housing (CRH), a local public development authority. CRH aspires to have the greenest housing portfolio in the region. Station House incorporates a rooftop PV array, low-VOC materials, and continuous exterior insulation and high-performance windows. Prioritizing urban agriculture, Station House’s rooftop garden provides residents access to local, organic produce and an adjacent roof deck to enjoy the city and mountain views. At the street level, a community room weaves together public art and space for workshops and events, with a commercial storefront to respond to the dynamic pedestrian and transit activity along John Street. Meanwhile, homes along 10th Avenue are brick-clad and set back from the street with porches to respond to neighboring residential character.

Park Apartments targets the higher-end of the housing market. However, due to affordability goals of the equitable transit oriented development (ETOD), 20% of the 76 units will be affordable to working class families. A second level amenity lounge will feature a full-kitchen as well as outdoor seating areas and BBQ grill. This space was intentionally designed to be at the tree canopy level to recall a beloved neighborhood coffee shop that previously occupied the station headhouse. Passive solar strategies are employed, with western units facing the plaza shaded by deep balconies. The street-level townhomes have entrances off 10th Ave which incorporate light brick and rich wood accents. Both buildings target LEED Platinum certification, and respond directly to the expressed desires of the community from the earlier engagement process.

Station House Apartments, Photo: William Wright Photography

“It was exciting to be a part of Seattle’s first Transit Oriented Development. It is such a great way to impact and tie into the community. ”

— Tegan Firth, Project Architect, Station House

Park Apartments, Photo: Schemata Workshop

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Bridging the Past

To acknowledge the neighborhood’s history as the center of LGBTQ life, Schemata Workshop worked closely with local LGBTQ organizations to create a memorial for lives lost during the AIDS epidemic, which devastated Capitol Hill in the 1980’s. Schemata worked with LGBTQ leaders and stakeholders to outline a public art program that emphasizes storytelling and memorializing the neighborhood’s history of community resilience. The AIDS Memorial Pathway (AMP) will include an augmented reality gallery, community space, and interpretive sculptures winding around the site, linking it to the neighboring Cal Anderson Park.

Capitol Hill Transit Oriented Development Plaza, Photo: Berger Partnership

For more information:

A Broadway Development More Than 20 Years in the Making, the Process to Fill Capitol Hill Station’s New Apartments Has Begun - Capitol Hill Seattle Blog, 2020

Let’s Talk eTOD - Housing Development Consortium

Alongside New Light Rail Stations, Seattle Plans Affordable Housing - CityLab, 2019

Where to Put Affordable Housing? On Top of a Light Rail Station - Crosscut, 2018

Apartments on Capitol Hill Light Rail Property Will Finally Break Ground June 19 - Curbed Seattle, 2018

Capitol Hill Station Apartments Rental Information

Highlights from 2012 Cohousing Conference

Last week over 350 people convened in downtown Oakland to talk about living community.  The National Cohousing Conference drew over interest from across the US and into British Columbia as well as 6 international countries (South Africa, Japan, Finland, New Zealand, Australia, and the United Kingdom).

As a long time attendee of the conference, I have worn many hats over the years (architect, presenter, board member, forming community member) which has informed the sessions I’ve attended.  While I left the board in December, I found myself following my passions in bringing affordable housing to this movement and participating as a member of a forming group.  Here are the highlights.

Swans Market Cohousing

Berkeley, Temescal Creek, Pleasant Hill, Doyle Street

I started off the conference with my favorite preconference activity – a bus tour of 4 cohousing communities.  While I have been on many a bus tour, this one stood out in the variety of the physical structures.  The first community was Swan’s Market – an adaptive reuse of a historic market in downtown Oakland.  This is a very urban mixed use site covering an entire city block – other uses within the historic building include retail at the street level, a children’s art museum, and a separate affordable housing community.  The next was Pleasant Hill – a traditional cohousing community built from scratch.  The third community was Temescal Creek – a retrofit community in Oakland.  Two existing buildings were purchased and backyards connected to accommodate a community, over time adjacent homes were purchased and incorporated into the community.  And the final stop was Berkeley Cohousing – a retrofit community formed around a farmhouse and few older structures with some new construction.  This community was formed to address a need for affordable housing in Berkeley and is a limited equity condominium model.

Friday morning was the Roundtable on Affordable (Co)housing.  This was a session that I helped coordinate with Katie McCamant and Betsy Morris to bring together affordable housing developers, bankers, and lawyers to discuss the perceived barriers to adopting principles of cohousing into their affordable housing projects.  There was general support of the idea and key discussions about developing partnerships and using language that was familiar to the affordable housing funders.

Friday afternoon I gave a ½ day workshop on Designing the Cohousing Common House, sharing best practices and design principles.

That evening was a fabulous opening keynote address by John Robbins – son of ice cream mogul (Baskin & Robbins).  He shared personal story about giving up his father’s legacy and fortune to live and more authentic life – his heartfelt stories were filled with love and its transformative power.

Saturday was the first official day of the conference.  It started off with an address by Katie McCamant – conference chair, but also matriarch of American Cohousing – she and her husband Chuck Durrett are the architects who introduced the idea of cohousing to the United States in the late 1980’s.

The first session I attended was the one I was moderating on Partnerships with Community Land Trusts.  It was a packed room of people from across the country who wanted to learn how CLTs might help bring affordable units to their forming communities.  Presenters were Dev Goetschius (Founding Board member of the CLT Network and Executive Director of the Housing Land Trust of Sonoma County), Hank Obermayer (Board Member of Northern California Land Trust and founding member of Mariposa Grove Cohousing), and Crystal Fisher (Sales Manager  for Community Home Trust that has 7 homes at Pacifica Cohousing).

session on Community Land Trusts

In the afternoon, I attended another packed room session on affordable cohousing – a report from the task force that I helped to establish 2 years ago.  While some progress has been made on the front of the Association, an exciting development was the formation of a new non-profit organization called Partnerships for Affordable Cohousing.

The day concluded with the Dinner and Live Auction – a major fundraiser for the Cohousing Association of the US, who puts on the national conference.  It was a successful evening.  And a Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Katie and Chuck – so deserving!

Much later, after the after-party, about a dozen people convened in the hotel lobby bar to listen to a wonderful pianist amongst our ranks…in the usual cohousing fashion it turned into a memorable late night of songs, skits, dancing, spoken word and community.  This impromptu gathering was probably the highlight of the conference.

Sunday was a fabulous session with Laird Schaub on delegating work to committees and developing clear mandates for them to enable proposals to quickly be adopted by communities in their plenary sessions.  And I wasn’t able to attend, but heard that Janelle Orsi and Cynthia Hawley presented some great materials about legal aspects of cohousing.  They provided free copies of a Legal Toolkit – which was exactly what my community needed at this moment.

Sadly, it was announced earlier in the day that there would be no conference next year and the next one will take place in 2014.  While my report might sound like all work – there were many opportunities to catch up with friends from across the country and make new friends across the continents.  I was also proud to have Kimberly Scaia from my community – Capitol Hill Urban Cohousing attending the conference with me.  She represented us well and helped out as a volunteer to the Association.  We had the chance to share meals and late night talks. All of these conversations and memories will fuel my community fire until the conference convenes again in 2014.