Seattle’s Rainwise program found that large buildings capture and treat stormwater more efficiently than single family homes. The city’s innovative rebate program awarded 100% of the cost for a cistern and irrigation system at a South Seattle church, covering both design and installation, to capture 142,000 gallons of stormwater per year and effectively reduce the force of peak storm flows.
To improve thermal performance of her townhome development “City Cabins” while keeping material and labor costs to a minimum, builder Martha Rose devised a “plywood-over-foam” wall assembly designed to provide greater insulation, air sealing and thermal break. With her engineer’s stamp, City of Seattle and Shoreline have accepted her innovative design numerous times through prescriptive code compliance.
The Bullitt Center, arguably the “greenest office building in the world” was the first mass timber commercial building constructed in Seattle in over 80 years. It has a structural frame of glulam columns and beams, floor decks of 2×6” lumber set on edge and “nail-laminated” together, and plywood used for structural diaphragm and shear wall panels – all conforming to prescriptive code requirements. 100% of the wood used in the project was FSC certified from local sources to meet the rigorous standards of the “Living Building Challenge.”