Mike Eliason Profile picture
Nov 4, 2021 10 tweets 4 min read Read on X
NIMBYs fought this 4 story development on the right for years, and you can barely tell it even exists when biking by it.

hell, the entire street (and several blocks on either side) should be at least this tall

the stroad needs to go tho
btw - this is why we can't meet our climate goals

sprawl. single family zoning. car-centric streets.

the 4 story building?

that's the antidote.
if we really prioritized climate action, walkability, livability, good urban street walls...

the 60' ROW here would have continuous, 60' tall, 6-story buildings lining greenwood (and adjacent blocks) from fremont to shoreline.

just like berlin. seattle pre-zoning did this!
oh dang - greenwood stroad's ROW is actually 80'.

those should be 80' tall bldgs lining either side

but what to do about the stroad...

generous sidewalks... bike lanes... FAT (freight and transit) lanes to accommodate deliveries and buses...

i'd live on this street
you can't even build a duplex a half block off of greenwood ave.

the greenwood urban village is an anemic strip a halfblock deep for most of the length of street.

it's some of the sh*ttiest urban planning i've seen in the US.
just. gonna. leave. this. here.
seattle 5 miles from city center v. berlin 5 miles from the city center

huh. i wonder why greenwood isn't a '15 minute neighborhood'
anyway the NIMBYs who whined about this incredibly benign development are a 'who's who' of homeowners who opposed affordable housing rezones, ADU liberalization, parking reform...

one of them is also now on council
everything about this development irked the NIMBYs.

no parking (!!!)
abutted single family zoning (by design, homeowners forced that in the 90s comp plan)
roof deck overlooking adjacent lots
they wanted a 30' height limit on this massive road
but seriously, all that whining - and for what?

to waste other people's time and money?
to slow needed housing?
to raise rents on people who can't afford million dollar homes?

the building is fine. it's a good background building. we should have thousands more of these

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More from @holz_bau

May 20
will never understand why SDOT is so bad at planning and future-proofing for sustainable mobility

the dexter & thomas protected intersection is an expensive case study in how to prioritize cars instead of sustainable mobility, through poor planning
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and nearly every other intersection on dexter is an absolute sh*tshow

having one poorly planned protected intersection doesn't change that.

the poor network is the problem, and directly related to why seattle's bicycle mode share has remained a flat 3% for over 30 years.
if we actually made cars do what SDOT is making bicycles do at this intersection in more of the city - we might actually meet our vision zero goals

unfortunately, this design fails to prioritize sustainable mobility. the bike lane is too narrow, and not adaptable to higher usage
Read 4 tweets
Mar 24
thinking about how wildly different quality of new 1-BR units are in US v. germany...

seattle (l): double loaded corridor. 800 sf. 36' deep. windowless BR. 1 window (!)

munich (r): point access block. 650 s.f. windows for BR/bath, k/d/l. ~16' deep. + 110 sf balcony.
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that character carries through to the interior. radically different quality of living, of daylight, of privacy in many cases as well.

again, seattle (l), v munich (r)


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can you imagine a 1 bedroom apartment with light on 3 sides?!?

twinned point access block w/ units from 1-3BRs.
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Read 10 tweets
Mar 14
what is the cost of FAR wasted in townhomes?

30% of calc'd FAR of this back to back townhouse project is just... stairs

codes & regs & financing & poor construction quality make flats impossible at this scale

it's not insignificant. it's 1,300 s.f. Image
the opportunity cost of 4 separate townhomes over flats is basically an additional 3-BR unit.

imagine paying $850k for something like this - and knowing a third of your mortgage is just paying for stairs.

literally the dumbest sh*t i've seen in a minute.
this is exactly what harrell's comp plan is designed to induce.

it's not going to be affordable. it's not going to be accessible. it's going to continue to decimate biodiversity. it's going to reduce climate adaptation.

we're going backwards

Read 4 tweets
Mar 3
i've given a number of talks about how poor quality of life is in US multifamily housing, and it's a central theme of my book...

a >1,400 sf 2BR with only 2 windows and none in the common area and one bedroom home is a first.

this is where building codes are headed in the US. Image
double loaded corridors. no limitations on building depth. absurdly high FAR. 50' dead end corridors.

this is where the IBC is headed. multifamily housing in other countries doesn't look anything like this.

and mass timber doesn't fix this problem.
quality of life in multifamily homes should not be substantially lower than that of detached houses

yet that is *exactly* what US building codes induce.

it isn't like this in other countries.

without substantial change (legalizing taller point access blocks) it'll get worse
Read 12 tweets
Feb 23
car free streets. hundreds of businesses. how do they even survive?

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the answer?

early morning or late night deliveries

deliveries by bike, scooter or hand cart

density isn't limited to a block or two off the street but continues forever

no single family zoning

pedestrian priority

mixed use zoning

point access blocks w/ small footprints
we've eaten at several incredible places that have at most 10 seats

the abundance of buildings with minuscule footprints allow for a ridiculous amount of commercial diversity on ground floor (and above/below)
Read 11 tweets
Jan 4
i should do a thread on elevator to unit ratios in other countries...

i'll start with this one, just because it's pretty low:

basel (CH)
(8) elevators in (2) 3-story buildings, serving just 48 units.

elev to unit ratio: 1:6

baudokumentation.ch/projekt/wohnen…
the stunning swiss coop in this thread

basel (CH)
(12) elevators in (12) connected 5-story buildings, serving 125 units.

elev to unit ratio: 1:10.4

luca selva's wohnueberbauung densa park

basel (CH)

(8) elevators in (2) 5-story+ DG buildings, serving 99 units.

elev to unit ratio: 1:12.4

baudokumentation.ch/projekt/wohnue…
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Read 14 tweets

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