Mike Eliason
Mike is the founder of Larch Lab, an architecture and urbanism think and do tank focusing on prefabricated, decarbonized, climate-adaptive, low-energy urban buildings; sustainable mobility; livable ecodistricts. He is also a dad, writer, and researcher with a passion for passivhaus buildings, baugruppen, social housing, livable cities, and car-free streets. After living in Freiburg, Mike spent 15 years raising his family - nearly car-free, in Fremont. After a brief sojourn to study mass timber buildings in Bayern, he has returned to jumpstart a baugruppe movement and help build a more sustainable, equitable, and livable Seattle. Ohne autos.
Last week, amid much histrionics, The Seattle Times leaked a draft report of the Housing Affordability and Livability Agenda (HALA) Committee. Owen chimed in on the absurd Time article in the week while I shared my take on the recommendations and Scott added some in depth context and analysis.Today, the final HALA...
I think it's a good thing that within hours of Danny Westneat leaking the Housing Affordability and Livability Agenda (HALA) Committee draft recommendations, it was essentially plastered all over city media. But, I also agree with Owen that the title of Westneat's column was incredibly inflammatory, especially as the HALA...
The Seattle City Clerk's website keeps an expansive online repository of historic zoning maps. I seem to always find myself perusing the 1923 maps in particular. The 1923 zoning ordinance was essentially a snapshot of how Seattle had been developed up to that point. There seems to have been little,...
Multi-generational housing has seen steadily increasing demand throughout Northern Europe, and stateside as well. The concept even hit the NYT late in 2012. While I don’t have a Grandpa Joe or live with my in-laws in a one room apartment (thankfully), the topic has come up more than a few times, and...
Aufstockung is a German term for a vertical addition. That is, an increase in height by the addition of one or more floors to an existing structure. Aufstockungen are quite common in Europe, and have been for generations. Unfortunately, they’ve been rather underutilized in Seattle--at least outside of single-family...
Editor’s Note: This is Part 7 of a series on Baugruppen, private owners collaboratively building affordable multifamily projects. Read Part 1 or check out the series.
With this series, I initially set out to highlight some of the aspects of baugruppen I found intriguing, and the reasoning for this was mostly selfish: I’m an...
Editor’s Note: This is Part 6 of a series on Baugruppen, private owners collaboratively building affordable multifamily projects. Read Part 1 or check out the series.
So, how is it that baugruppen seemingly excel on the community cohesiveness and livability front over turn-key projects? I think there a few moving parts to this. As noted,...
Editor’s Note: This is Part 5 of a series on Baugruppen, private owners collaboratively building affordable multifamily projects. Read Part 1 or check out the series.
While I may have a slight affinity for homogenous, Soviet-bloc housing (panelák!)--it’s only because they’re ripe for Passivhaus retrofits! However, diversity in the built environment is a positive thing....