Seattle Modern Homes - Coleman Play Field Cottages

1806 & 1808 24th Avenue South Seattle, WA - Designed by Julian Weber Architecture & Design and constructed by Benjamin Custom Home, LLC offers two stand alone homes with signature high end modern design and finish. Each structure incorporates new building technologies offering energy efficient and eco-friendly homes. The homes share a 5000sf lot with 3 off-street parking spaces to the rear. Each home offers 3 bedrooms, 3.5 bath and approximately 1650sf of thoughtfully designed modern spaces. The exterior is wrapped in a rain-screen system covered with horizontally fastened cedar board and hardi-board. Both homes offer fully fenced private outdoor patio space equipped with gas.


The lower level offers an efficiently designed living, dining and kitchen area with exposed concrete floors, gas fire place clad with Anne Sacks tile, and access to a low maintenance green-space through dual pane high efficiency floor to ceiling sliders. All three living levels are equipped with in-floor hydronic radiant heating fed by a Navien gas-fired tank-less hot water system. The kitchen and bathrooms are equipped with flat paneled oak cabinet with chroma-quarts slab counter tops, and Anne Sack tile.

The mid level is constructed with 2 bedrooms suites each with private bathroom. The master bedroom suite features a large walk in closet, spa bathroom with Anne sack tile, multi-head shower, dual under-mount sink, and dual-flush toilet. The second bedroom on the mid-level offers plenty of space for a large bed and dresser with a private full bath.

The upper level offers a large bonus suite/flex space with vaulted ceilings, a full bathroom, and storage/closet along with access to large deck with great territorial views. This space works sell as a master suite or an entertaining/media room.

Each unit lot utilizes a storm drain bio-retention system reducing load on the public sewer and storm water infrastructure. The bio-retention system consists of a large holding tank filled with bio-material to aid in the retention of the storm drain run-off on site. The site offers 3 off street parking spaces to the rear of the property lined with grass-crete assisting with on-site retention of the storm drain run-off.

These homes are located close to downtown Seattle with easy access to public transportation and all areas in the city. The location provides easy access to I-5, I-90 and SR-520. The site offers a walkscore of 71.

Seattle Modern Homes - Northwest Modern Home in the Heart of Ballard

Benjamin Custom Homes, LLC and Julian Weber Architecture & Design, LLC has joined forces to produce this pitched metal roof northwest contemporary home. Located near the heart of Ballard's historical commercial district this home offers a walkability score of 94 out 100.

The home is a true urban in-fill project. It is located on a short plat subdivision towards the back of an existing house. The exterior of the home is wrapped in 4" cedar planks and hardi-board lined with rain screen system. The exterior skins give the home a unique look trademark look of Benjamin Custom Homes, LLC. The design incorporated energy-efficient features and water conserving features. The exterior of the home is designed with grasscrete and rain barrels to assist in reducing the storm drain run off. The captured grey water can can be re-used to water plants on dryer days.

Other conserving features include the Navien commercial grade tankless gas-fired hot water on demand system, water conserving dual flush toilets, in floor hydronic radiant heating through out and installation of Anne Sacks tile in the kitchen and bathrooms. The interior offers a thoughtfully designed open floor plan layout.
The ground floor level offers a large bedroom/den with full bathroom and the attached 1 car garage with frosted pane roll up doors. The mid level offers well designed open spaces perfect for entertaining. The kitchen is equipped with a large island capped with chroma slab countertops, black flat paneled cabinets with chrome bar pulls. This level also offers a half baths and a large storage closet. The top floor offers 2 bedrooms with 2 full baths its own south-facing deck with great territorial views. This home was listed at the price of $534,950.00 and sold in 3 days.

For more photographs and information visit http://www.ballardmodernhomes.com/

Seattle Modern Homes - 15th Avenue S. Townhomes

15th Avenue S. Townhomes is a 10 unit townhome project located on the northeast side of Beacon Hill. These handsome homes was redesigned by Seattle's Dwell Development & Design . Six homes perched at the top of the hill with views towards the Cascades and four homes on the west side featuring welcoming courtyard with low maintenance drought tolerant vegetation.
Exterior material include horizontally fastened cedar boards and hardi-board lined with rain shield. Each home offers private green space.



Interior features Ann Sack tiles containing 30% recycled material, gas-fired hot water on demand, high efficiency dual flush Violet's, bamboo hardwood floors.




Kitchens, offer carrrera marble slab/chroma quarts slab counter tops with flat paneled oak cabinets and stainless steel appliances.

The floor plan of each home in simple open and functional. Stout fir stairs and and exposed beams incorporate the elements of nature is the design. Each home is well positioned on the site to take maximum advantage of the natural light while providing privacy.

Seattle Modern Homes - Remington Court - Siding

The progress of Remington Court Urban Dwellings is boldly being expressed as we move closer to completing the exterior siding installation. Unit #4 has been wrapped with black rain shield and finished with black trim board, fastened horizontally. The image to the right is a view of unit# 4 looking to the southeast from the alley. The large sections of glass is unique to a structure this size. The upper windows allow massive amounts of natural light into the living, dining and kitchen area. The windows to located in the lower level sleeping area are raised off the floor. Below unit #4 are the covered off street parking spaces for unit #4 and #1.

The image above to the left is a view of unit# 4 viewed from the alley looking to the southwest. Parking for unit# 2 is located where the white truck is. The image above to the right is a view of units 1, 2, and 3 looking from the southwest. The natural color of the cedar siding is an elegant design feature. The cedar siding softens the edging progressive design of the project while bringing a bold and sophisticated appeal.

Seattle Modern Homes - Remington Court - Glazing & Weather Sheild

While the plumbers are on site working to install the plumbing, Hybrid Architects is working diligently to iron out the finishing details for the unit. Robert has decided to go with the Geberit wall hung toilets. The choice to go with the wall hung design will compliment the overall contemporary design of the units while allowing for efficient water use. Most of the plumbing is in. Because of code Unit #4 while be required to be outfitted with a fire sprinkler system. The pex tubing for the in-floor hydronic radiant heating have been installed and tested and some interior framing has also been completed.

Milgard has delivered most of the glazing and for the project. The glazing is one of the main features and is an important detail for the project down to the hand crafted window and door flashing. The windows designed for the project are huge allowing massive amounts of natural light into the spaces. Hybrid Architects refuse to compromise the design by chopping the windows into smaller sections. Milgard will manufacture huge sections of dual paned, aluminum framed glazing designed for energy saving and thermal efficiency. All of the windows for unit #4 are installed.


Once the windows are installed, in conjunction with the activity going on quietly inside the units, the siding installers are also on site preparing the exterior of the building for the finish siding. The buildings will be wrapped with a rain shield to protect the sheathing and the other major components of the structures. The exterior of unit #4 is going to be finished off with wood trim boards fastened horizontally. The trim boards are primed and painted black.

The 3 units located in the front structure will be sided with tongue and grove cedar siding fastened vertically. The contrast of the cedar will give a great natural appearance and provide contrast to the more aggressive design of unit #4. Hardy board will also be used to side parts of the front 3 units provide a nice clean contemporary finish. The image below is weather shield on the backside of unit# 2 and 3.

Seattle Modern Homes - Remington Court - Roof Top Deck

The framers are on-site completing the construction of the monitors providing the access to the rooftop deck. The images below on the left shows the access cut-outs for the stair well. The image shows the back side of unit #1's roof top access. This image shows a semi-framed version that was re-worked to the satisfaction of Hybrid Architects and increasing the overall height of the monitors. The image below on the right is the west side of the monitor for unit #3. The monitor for unit #3 is designed to have large triangular windows on both sides. A feature not incorporated in the other 2 monitors.

The monitors provide separation and privacy on the rooftop deck. Because the surface area of the roof on the monitors are south facing, home owners at some point can take advantage of the orientation of roof surface by installing solar panels to help offset electrical consumption.

The monitors contribute greatly to the unique design of Remington Court. Hybrid Architects designed three large windows running vertically from the second floor up to the roof top yard for each of the front three unit. These windows provide transparent views from the back side through the front side and vice verse.

The roof top deck is an awesome feature. I mean WOW! The roof top deck/yard has a feature that has not been incorporated effectively in other urban project. Remington Court high density urban dwelling units, offers a vegetated roof top deck. A portion of the roof top space will have about 8" of soil covering about half of the surface area, allowing home owners the opportunity to entertain and enjoy urban roof top gardening and barbeques.

The roof top deck offers views to the south of north end of Beacon Hill and Mount Rainier and view of the downtown skyline to the west. To the north is the Seattle Univesity athletic track and feild. Seeing the people jog the track may give home owners motivation to strap on running shoes and hit the track.

The plumbers and electricians are the next group of contractors to be be on-site. Framers will need to revisit some of their work to correspond to some changes made by Hybrid in maintianing the integrity of the overall design of the project.

In the background out of site, Hybrid Architects is working to locate windows for the the project. Keeping budget in mind and sticking to the quality of the design and the integrity of the project, Hybrid has chosen Milgard windows for about 80% of the project. The large south facing window are more challenging to get with a short turn around time.

Hybrid Architects is working to finalize the specifications for the project including: appliances, cabinets, stair finish, and other finish details. Remington Court is making its presence known in the Squire Park neighborhood.

Seattle Modern Homes - Remington Court - 3rd Floor Framing

Once the concrete pillar/column issue was addressed the framers moved rapidly through the second floor, framing it up in about a week. The image to the left shows the heavy duty support beams and the trusses for the third floor. The second and third floor space will feel big with the 9' ceiling height.

July 11 2008, the third floor is framed and the support beams for the rooftop deck are going in place. Walking the the floors of the three front unit I start to see the usability of the space. The floor plan is open and offers a lot of functional space. The stair wells are laid out nicely giving good flow and circulation of the spaces. As the pieces start coming together the drawings on paper starts taking shape.













Robert and Hybrid Seattle scrutinizes the functional design layout making modifications where necessary to meet the intended use of the space. These homes are designed to be simple and sophisticated with thoughtful space planning for sustainable urban dwellers.

Once the frames are in and support beams are in place, the third level floor joists get installed. The roof top sheathing gets fastened. Look at the size of all of those windows. These town homes are going have plenty of light. Also seen in this photo are the cut outs for the roof top access and skylights. The sky light are located on the roof top deck and looks down into the bathroom. Hybrid Seattle took into consideration the privacy aspect of the sky light and its potential downsides. As you see in later images the sky light will be removed from the design. This will provide for more functional and usable roof space . The next part of the framing process will be to construct the monitors providing covered stair access to roof top deck. This is a cool feature. More to come on the monitors.

Unit #4 is progressing rapidly. To the left is a photo of unit#4 viewed from the northwest corner. The first living level of unit#4 is designed to be an adaptable space, adjustable to the needs of the home owner. The first level offers an adjustable floor plan in the case additional defined space is required. The first floor presents an open studio floor plan with 3/4 bath, large bedroom with large windows facing to the northwest presenting views surrounding neighborhood and the city.

The second floor of Unit#4 features the kitchen, living area, eating area and half bath. This level also offers great views to the the northwest toward First Hill and Downtown Seattle as well as Seattle University's sports field to the north.

Unit#4 is a great condo alternative. It is a smaller unit than the other three so Hybrid Seattle designed some features for the unit to provide it with additional progressive urban appeal. I think once this unit is completed it is going to contribute heavily to high density urban design. Unit#4 also features a rooftop deck as well as an assigned green space and off street parking.