Happy New Year from b9 !

2014 has been very good to us as we have steadily expanded both our office and our breadth of work. (Be on the lookout for posts on our first apartment designs !) With a new spacious office, an exciting set of new projects, a number of projects finishing up, and new additions to the team, 2015 is shaping up to be a great year !

To start off the new year, our whole team visited two projects that are close to completion. The first site we visited were the Fremont Townhomes – a project that exemplifies what b9 is all about. With a focus on community and interior and exterior buffers, the design aimed to create a dynamic internal, open courtyard, surrounded by the 10 townhomes. The modulation in material, decks, balconies, and landscape creates a variety of indoor and outdoor spaces, and the variation of open air levels encourages interaction between each home. When we visited the site, it was almost like a playground, where we all scattered and explored each unit (which are all different from one another) and came back together with a favorite one.

The second site we visited were the Olive Townhomes on Capitol Hill. Thanks to Seattle’s lovely 4:30pm sunsets, we arrived at the townhomes at dusk, which made photo-taking more difficult. Nevertheless, the project is near completion and it was fun to explore the spaces in and out of the units. The design approach to this project was informed by three primary concepts: create a vernacular style architecture that provides a base “mass”, carve out a centralized open courtyard and insert an armature at the center of the courtyard that expresses itself on all façades.

update: First Friday was a great success!! Thanks to all who celebrated with us!

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b9 architects 
invites you
to celebrate as we move into the 
corona building

 
610 2nd avenue
seattle, wa 98104
friday, september 5
5 – 8 pm
 

featuring artwork by
christine auda
_____________________________
pioneer square’s 
first thursday on friday
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Pioneer Square Art Walk Website

Pinterest board

What a summer for b9!

Office Outing 2014 | Boating on Lake Union

b9 has turned into “b-almost-9″ (coined by Caroline) with 3 new additions to our formerly modest 5-person team.

There has been plenty to do here, and we’ve been keeping ourselves busy with exciting new projects and a new office! But more on the latter, later…

We’re excited to present the work of local Seattle artist and architect-in-training Becca Fuhrman this Thursday, June 5th from 5-8pm!

Come join us for an exhibition opening and reception of “Early Bird Special” – a mixed media portrait series that examines the “typical” characteristics of a beauty portrait that go past the ideal and captures the idiosyncrasies, imperfections, and humanity of its subjects.

Becca Fuhrman studies a wide breadth of art, design, and architecture. Her interest in the human condition, its representation, and experience are the driving force behind her work. She continues to explore these themes within visual communication and representation as a project manager at Studio 216.

We’re located on 210 S. Jackson St in Pioneer Square, and this exhibition is a part of Pioneer Square’s celebrated First Thursday Art Walk. So stop by, and enjoy some great art, soothing wine, and fantastic company!

This winter, the B9 team spent a portion of our time to focus on the b9Lab aspect of the practice. The b9 Lab was established to explore our interests in architecture, research new materials and building methods, and allow us opportunities to participate in design competitions. The Folly Competition was an exploration of the intersection between architecture and sculpture and the increasing overlaps in reference and concepts between the two disciplines. As the name of the competition suggests, a folly stands between the two disciplines and it is the task to give our interpretation of a folly for the Socrates Sculpture Park in Queens, New York (Sponsored by The Architectural League of New York).  The winner(s) of the competition will be given a $5000 production grant towards realizing the project.

Our competition entry:

What is the current condition of the architectural folly? In a cultural climate so infatuated with imagery and distraction, we can easily imagine the folly as the most fashionable form of architecture; a glossy image, a recent post, a quickly forgotten snippet. In the constructed object, however, we find a different set of values. We can pause at the folly. We can slow down. We can consider the folly as a landmark in our way that disrupts our frantic pursuits.

Lobby is conceived as a disruptive landmark, a threshold between the park and the city. Positioned at the entrance to the Socrates Sculpture Park in Queens, NY, the proposal pulls visitors through its’ porous edges and separates the experience of the city from the experience of the sculpture park. Inside this folly, space is condensed and the experience is intimated. You can hear the feet of the person just across the aisle. Shadows are cast on flowing walls of fabric. The typical elements of construction are stripped of their solidity and allowed to flap in the wind, open up to the sunlight, and cast unexpected shadows.

Site Plan

View of Lobby from park entry

Sitting on a platform in the Lobby

View at night with light at the heart of the Lobby

Section through Lobby

Lobby is practical and achievable. Standard materials and methods of construction are applied in unusual ways. Our palette is a simple one: dimensional lumber (2×2 and 2×4), steel connectors, plywood, paint and fabric.

Lobby is flexible and adaptable. The construction of our proposal is based on a system of modules that derive from the dimensions of our material. This system can be reordered to accommodate a variety of unexpected challenges and opportunities. This could also mean that elements of the folly begin to spread into other areas of the sculpture park.

Lobby provides a memorable relief valve for the visitor.

View of path into the Lobby

View to the park from the Lobby

There were over 200 entries for the competition and although our entry was not selected, we will be exploring future ways to realize our Folly | Lobby.

Stay tuned for more b9 Lab projects in the future.