Neiman Taber Architects

06/23/2026

Neiman Taber is excited to announce that two of our designs were selected as winning designs for the Washington Starter Home Plan Townhouse Design Competition. The WSHP selected seven winning townhouse designs that will help bring more affordable homeownership opportunities to communities across the state. Designed for off-site construction, these homes can be built faster, more efficiently, and at a lower cost than traditional housing. The plans will be refined into permit-ready designs that can be used statewide, reducing development timelines and making it easier to deliver much-needed housing. Together, these innovative designs represent an exciting step toward expanding the supply of attainable starter homes for Washington families.

Seven floor plans have been selected as winners in the Washington Starter Home Plan’s Townhouse Design Competition. These winning designs are part of the Starter Home Plan’s effort to increase production of affordable starter homes in Washington state by generating standardized plans that can be...

02/27/2025

Neiman Taber Architects is hiring, looking for a project architects w/ Multi-Family experience. Come help us build more housing for Seattle!

Come join the Neiman Taber Architects team! Our unique office offers perks such as: Ongoing in-office/remote work options Dog-friendly office Casual, fun office culture with Friday cocktails and seasonal parties Strong mentorship work culture We are currently seeking a candidate…Read more ›

07/04/2024

Jerrid Anderson invited me into his studio a few weeks ago to talk about our work in housing development. We enjoyed a wide ranging discussion, nerding out on various aspects of design, regulation, land values, property management, and the state of the industry in general. Enjoy!

Explore the Future of Urban Housing: Exclusive Interview with Architect and Developer David NeimanJoin us for an in-depth conversation with David Neiman of N...

05/30/2024

https://neimanarchitects.blogspot.com/2024/05/introducing-urban-rooming-house.html

Our latest idea on how to develop small affordable co-living in today's regulatory environment.

Ten years ago, Neiman Taber embarked on a series of projects that pioneered a new approach to micro-housing. We combined the inherent afford...

04/04/2024

This Comprehensive Plan cycle is going to be a big fight. Mayor Harrell has published a first draft, the reviews are in, and it seems the consensus among housing nerds is that they are deeply underwhelmed. If you’re not a ride-or-die YIMBY activist and you’re not sure what to think about all of this, Patrick Taylor from our office has an excellent piece in The Urbanist that explains where the draft plan has failed to meet the moment, and what a more considered comprehensive growth plan would look like.

Suggestions to improve the One Seattle plan include allow bigger buildings, embrace transit-oriented development, and jettison parking requirements. We can create a Seattle that pulls the working class in rather than pushing them out.

11/07/2023

For years now I’ve been designing and developing and writing about micro-housing. It’s been a tough slog on the policy side of things, but I believe the momentum may finally be moving in the right direction. Neiman Taber is helping with proposed legislation that would change the Washington State Building Code to allow for smaller studio apartments statewide. To aid in this effort, we put together this article with the wizards at Sightline to help politicians and policy makers as they wrestle with the questions of “how small is too small”, where to look for guidance, and how to develop appropriate regulations for micro-housing. Read it here:

And the National Healthy Housing Standard agrees.

06/07/2023

Frustration with the program’s effectiveness, cost, and dampening effect on housing development has led a broad coalition of housing advocates to call for the curtailment or outright elimination of…

06/07/2023

The newly enacted House Bill 1293 mandates that design review processes be limited to a single public meeting, be based only on clear and objective standards, and that the review timeline must be concurrent or logically integrated with the overall building permit review. At first glance, this might appear to be a tweak of the program, trimming its scope and timeline. In practice, it is likely to require a total transformation, if not outright elimination of Seattle’s Design Review program. See here for a long-form discussion of the potential implications of this new law:

Frustration with the program’s effectiveness, cost, and dampening effect on housing development has led a broad coalition of housing advocates to call for the curtailment or outright elimination of…

04/24/2023

04/19/2023

Last week Erica Barnett wrote a thought provoking article in Publicola looking at Seattle’s proposed new tree legislation. Among its criticisms, the article noted that the additional staff needed to enforce the new rules would cost the city more money than the legislation is expected to raise to fund tree planting in underserved neighborhoods.

This got me thinking: If you look at how much cost this legislation adds to a building permit application and multiply that by the number of projects each year that will go through that process, the true problem is probably a lot worse. So I sat down to review the permit records and do the math.

The annual estimated cost came to $20 million spent by applicants on surveys, reports, design fees, and city reviews vs. 67 trees planted. This works out to a total of $300,000 per tree.
http://neimanarchitects.blogspot.com/2023/04/does-money-grows-on-trees.html