The Bellingham Affordable Net-Positive Home is a new 2 bedroom home with a Built Green certification rating of 5 stars. The building is currently housing its original residents and has reliably provided enough power to allow them to live independent of the public power grid. Energy efficient Structural Insulated Panels (SIPs) construction required a special inspection process to meet code.
Inspire is the first multi-family dwelling in Seattle adhering to the Living Building Pilot Program, Petal Certification for reduced energy and water usage. A code modification was required to permit more efficient HRV usage with lower-than-required ventilation rates. Inspire was granted a FAR (floor area ratio) bonus as incentive for program compliance.
The pilot program allows applicants to request additional departures from the Seattle Land Use Code through Design Review. They provide height and floor area incentives for buildings in exchange for meeting high-performance green building requirements. Developers that are constructing new buildings or building additions that meet the program standards can get up to 25 percent more floor area, up to 30 percent more floor area if saving an unreinforced masonry structure. Also, the program provides height bonuses of 12.5 feet of additional height for residential construction or 15 feet of additional height for non-residential construction in zones with height limits of 85 feet or less; or 25 feet of additional height for residential construction or 30 feet of additional height for non-residential construction in zones with height limits greater than 85. Finally, the program allows additional design departures for the pilot programs as specified in SMC 23.41.012D.
The Pax Futura multifamily passive housing project is designed and built to achieve a near zero energy rating and aims to achieve passivhaus certification. Use of high thermal efficiency construction methods, solar thermal water heaters and a heat recovery ventilation system (HRV) help approach passive house for multi-unit dwelling. HVAC system required an engineering validation to demonstrate ample airflow to satisfy the code requirement.
Inspired by an innovative housing program in Kirkland, WA, in 2009 the City of Bainbridge Island adopted the Housing Design Demonstration Program (HDDP) to encourage affordable housing, a vibrant pedestrian oriented-downtown, and innovative green building design. The program offers a 1.5x density bonus to green-certified affordable housing projects. To-date more than 250 new homes have been green building certified, including the solar-powered Grow Community.
Tacoma Building, Fire and Historic Preservation officials worked with local architect Ben Ferguson to adopt an innovative Live/Work Work/Live code amendment in 2012. Tacoma has a lot of historic buildings with an uncertain future, but the LWWL code makes it easier to adapt existing buildings for modern urban life. By reducing regulatory and financial barriers by not requiring change of use, they have provided a clear path to approval for a new mixed-use building type that caters to today’s market.
In December 2009 the City of Seattle wrote a page in the history of green building leadership, when their City Council adopted Ordinance 123206, establishing the Living Building Pilot Program. The Program’s goal is to promote buildings that meet the Living Building Challenge (full Certification or Petal Recognition) by providing flexibility in development standards in Seattle’s Land use codes. The Bullitt Center building in the Capitol Hill Neighborhood was the first to be built under the Program.
San Juan Community Home Trust (Trust) recycled twelve homes with historic character for the second phase of the Sunrise permanently affordable housing development. The neighborhood features reclaimed homes from Victoria, Canada moved by barge and track vehicle to their current locations in Friday Harbor, Washington. Homes were inspected by engineers for integrity before transport and permitted as renovations to existing structures.