This Rainier Valley backyard cottage takes advantage of solar access and territorial views. The design of this cottage was intentionally simple to keep construction costs down and to make it easier for the owner who operated as the general contractor for this project.

At the beginning of the design phase we staged a design charette with the cottage owner's whole family, our design team and the contractor. Around the kitchen table with scones and coffee, we had an opportunity to establish the parameters and budget and get a jump start on the design process. We knew from the beginning that the available footprint was going to be small and we worked to make the cottage feel as open as possible.