tiny towers

Tacoma, WA

WC STUDIO architects has been busy working on a design for nearly identical twin triplexes on a thin strip of land located in Tacoma’s Downtown Regional Growth Mixed Use Center. Merely 25 feet in width and 130 feet long, with a surface parking lot on the south and a mid-century office building to the north, the sloping site presented both challenges and opportunities for development. Our pre-design Feasibility Study indicated the site had development potential from a fourplex to a nine-unit apartment building, but found a six-unit development split into two buildings most practical.

Right-sizing the project involved a cost-benefit analysis of the increased requirements as the number of units went up. The Tacoma architect and owner team considered code and utility service thresholds, as well as the limited construction access on the narrow 3,250 square foot parcel. The tandem triplex scheme appeared to have the optimal balance of construction cost and rental income revenue, the epicenter of the Missing Middle housing sweet spot.

Configuring the project as two triplexes made space for a courtyard between the buildings. Using the existing contours of the site to guide the building placement will also minimize costs related to excavation and soil export. The resulting terraced landscape creates semi-private zones in the shared outdoor space and multiple entry points as the buildings step up from the street to the alley. 

The lowest level of each building holds a studio unit with a private entrance patio and a built-in bed nook. The elevated sleeping platform provides some sneaky storage below. The units above the studios feature a more conventional bedroom, but an unconventional double-height loggia. Next above are the two-story units’ living levels followed by their sleeping levels and roof room. These top floor decks are open to the sky, but enclosed by walls with large view-capturing punched openings.

Perched atop a concrete base, the main residential volume of each building is wrapped in corrugated metal siding. Stairs are enclosed in the black volumes at the rear of each building. Warm wood siding accents window groupings and ground floor unit entrances.