We’re reaching new areas! We’ve started our first north Seattle project, in the Ballard neighborhood. With this exciting new project, we’ve been able to connect with new schools and new youth. For our design program we had youth coming from Shoreline, Sammamish, Bellevue and Seattle. We’re spreading the seeds of craft and leadership far and wide!

We partnered with the folks at Ballard P-Patch, for whom we designed a beautiful new patio space. Our design team conducted a site analysis and many client interviews to fully capture the scope of this project. Our partner wanted a patio with lots of counter space and storage, a washing station for fruits and vegetables, seating for at least 30 people as well as creating a cohesive flow with their pizza oven. All the while keeping in mind the overall feel and whimsicality of the garden.

While the design program for this project was condensed to 6 weeks, our typical design programs run between 10-12 weeks, and both youth and mentors rose to the challenge. We worked diligently sketching, building models, consolidating and repeating this process until we came to the final design.

A huge thank you to Hewitt especially Jake, Myles, Heather and Leah who worked with our youth to create a beautiful design. Hewitt hosted two design workshops in their downtown office; youth were able to envision themselves as architects while diving into the specifics of their collaborative design.

Fast forward to spring build season–our record-breaking project is a 740 sq. ft deck that features a pergola, counters with storage and a washing station, and a bench that can fit 30 people hugging the curved edge of the patio. We worked with Ballard P-Patch along with youth from Nathan Hale HS, Ballard HS, Ingraham HS, Nova HS, Shorecrest HS (in Shoreline), and Seattle Academy.

Of the 13 students participating in this spring build, 10 were returning design students – we were honored and impressed to see these youth so committed to the project! Many of our youth shared that being a part of both design and build processes has changed the way they look at their surroundings and how much deeper they think about design and build as they go through the city. Although our students hit the end of the school year (and their twelve-week Sawhorse program), the project is set to be completed late July, and the youth who participated in this build are eager to come back once it’s all finished.

Many challenges came up as we attempted to execute our design in real life, such as figuring out how to create curved edges on our deck, bench and counters. We tried a variety of different ways to help plot out the curved edges. While each curved area had a slightly different approach to get to its solution, students practiced collaborative problem solving by hearing mentors’ suggestions and contributing their own. Many students in our exit interviews later talked about how important it is to think about the build while one is designing.

Youth learned a variety of skills and worked with many tools. We had a dedicated group of students who became our “decking crew” and installed much of the deck. They learned how to lay out decking boards and install them. Youth also learned how to use a skill saw, chop saw and how to use a concrete mixer! Not only did students learn how to safely use a variety of tools and got to practice their newly learned skills, students also formed friendships and connections with mentors and amongst themselves.

A million thanks to our P-Patch partners, and to our stellar build season mentors: Christopher Copeland, Sarah Narrow, David Graham, Dani Hopple, Forest Wenokur, our wonderful UW ECO intern Luke, and Matt Cary of HQ Modern. We are so grateful for the donation of materials from Dovetail, Greenhome Solutions, Richlite, and Stoller Lighting and Controls.