Designed for a painter who wanted a home that could accommodate her as she aged, the Rosen Residence is situated on a postage stamp infill lot in a commercial shoreline zone. The site has lot coverage and height allowances that are more restrictive than those found in typical residential zoning. The project squeezes a single family home, an ADU apartment, and an artist's studio onto four floors, filling out the allowable lot coverage to the last square foot, and reaching to within an inch of the height limit.

Adaptability – Universal Access
The house is designed for universal access. The corridors are much more generous than a typical home. The doors are all 3' wide. Entries on both the lower and main levels are integrated with site contours to provide level access to both sides of the house. An elevator provides access to all levels. Bathrooms are designed to ADA standards, with a roll-in shower, generous clear floor spaces, and blocking in all of the walls to accommodate future grab bars. The ground floor is an apartment to accommodate live-in help or family if home based health care is required.

Solutions – Solving the code.
The development potential of the site was limited primarily by lot coverage. Unlike residential areas, the zoning allows no exemptions for decks, overhangs or other appurtenances. The house is four stories tall. Our challenge was to use decks & overhangs to break down the scale of the building, but to do so in way that didn't squander the limited lot coverage that was available. The design solution provides a view deck off the main floor & a small balcony off the top floor painting studio. The roof overhangs are provided only where they stack up over the decks, so their lot coverage is only counted once. These areas are zoned onto the weather sides of the building (south and west), so that the overhangs appear where they provide the most protection & shading.

Design Features:
In order to capture views of Lake Union, the front of the house is constructed using a steel moment frame to maximize the size of the opening on the front facade. The steel frame is also used to support a dramatic roof overhang and a deck suspended from a rod/clevis assembly.

The house has oversized lift-slide doors to connect the interior spaces to the exterior decks & provide natural ventilation. A double curtain system allows either a gauzy scrim to be drawn to filter the light or a more opaque drape to be drawn for privacy.

While the main floors have large openings & generous views, the loft studio is of a different character. The view to the water is more limited, seen through a ribbon of high windows that look over the roof of the main house. The space is lit by different types of windows on all sides - the view ribbon to the west, a ridge skylight on the north, a
corner window to the east, and a pair of French doors to the south. While the main house is open and outward looking, the loft is a more intimate, contemplative space.

The Rosen Residence is a unique architectural solution, generated from a difficult set of circumstances to provide a home that fits its site, its climate & is adaptable to the owners changing circumstances.