Mike Eliason
@holz-bau.bsky.social
17K followers 880 following 12K posts
architect @ Larchlab.com (Seattle) activist for: car-light climate adaptive cities w/ low carbon + passivhaus buildings, social housing Author, 'Building for People' (Island Press, 12/2024: https://islandpress.org/books/building-people)
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holz-bau.bsky.social
If anyone knows of a firm that might be amenable to talking about collaborating, please drop me a DM. If you're an architecture firm in Germany and you're interested in talking - please don't hesitate to reach out.

Larch Lab has afforded some great opportunities. Looking forward to next adventure
Reposted by Mike Eliason
judithnurmann.bsky.social
This petition doesn't have enough supporters yet. The central idea: Tax incentives for renovation and transformation. Avoid demolition. We urgently need this!
www.houseeurope.eu/de/
HouseEurope!
Die Europäische Bürgerinitiative für Renovierung.
www.houseeurope.eu
holz-bau.bsky.social
wow it's a rehab to a texas donut
auguststreet.ca
5-over-1 in allentown, pa, with 3 storeys of parking plopped on top.

never seen such a thing
red, white, and black midrise with a concrete parkade on its roof. taken from a small residential, urban, tree-lined street in a city centre 3d satellite imagery of the aforementioned building, within downtown allentown
Reposted by Mike Eliason
mateosfo.bsky.social
“The e-bike lets me keep riding bikes and spend time outside, even though I have this health condition,” she said. “I don’t think that a lot of people realize that e-bikes make things accessible to people with disabilities.” www.berkeleyside.org/2025/10/07/e...
Why electric bikes are everywhere in Berkeley
Residents of all ages and abilities are taking to electric bikes — used for commutes, school drop-offs, grocery trips and joy rides.
www.berkeleyside.org
Reposted by Mike Eliason
gbdonart.bsky.social
My e-bike has turned my hilly suburban East Richmond area into a 15-minute neighborhood. Post office, hardware store, 3+ groceries, Kaiser, gym, waterfront all in easy reach for this creaky 74 yo.
holz-bau.bsky.social
committed to the bit.
brianmfloyd.bsky.social
the guy who caught cal raleigh’s homer was wearing a shirt that said dump 61 here and he immediately took it off and had a shirt that said dump 62 here
Reposted by Mike Eliason
artbutmakeitsports.bsky.social
Duchamp Flies, by Carmen Cicero, 2009, 📸 by Frank Franklin II
Reposted by Mike Eliason
warrenjwells.bsky.social
Absolutely molten-hot language here from Professor Fraser Shilling, Director of the Road Ecology Center at UC Davis, on the decision to spend *half a billion* to widen Highway 37, which is sinking into the bay.
Reposted by Mike Eliason
gspeng.bsky.social
Dude vetoed the Idaho stop twice! But supports widening a doomed freeway that sea level rise will claim.
warrenjwells.bsky.social
Regrettably, Governor Newsom just signed this bill, paving the way to widen a rapidly sinking highway.
mtcbata.bsky.social
Today’s passage of AB 697 marks a major advance for long-running efforts to start work on a suite of projects to enhance North Bay marshlands and wildlife habitats, reduce flooding, improve traffic flow along Highway 37, and introduce transit service between Vallejo and Novato.
Reposted by Mike Eliason
stephenjacobsmith.com
I can't stop thinking about this. We're pursuing zero fire risk in multifam, while tolerating much more in single-fam. People respond by building and living in single-fam, where they're exposed to not only one of the highest fire death risks in the developed world, but also TONS more car crash risk
ebwhamilton.bsky.social
Love this new report on buildings' relative fire safety from @alexhrwtz.bsky.social and Pew colleagues.

www.pew.org/en/research-...
holz-bau.bsky.social
i'm sure it's fine
fintwitter.bsky.social
ECONOMIC GLOOM GRIPS AMERICA — NEARLY 70% OF AMERICANS NOW BELIEVE THE ECONOMY IS HEADED IN THE WRONG DIRECTION, FANNIE MAE SURVEY REVEALS
Reposted by Mike Eliason
brada.bsky.social
If the concern about cars on the street interfering with apparatus is valid, we need to ban street parking, not demand that developers build parking that nobody wants to pay for.
holz-bau.bsky.social
it's crazy someone designing an ADU has a higher duty to life safety than literal road engineers
holz-bau.bsky.social
love to pay nearly three times as much and get dinged w/ a higher annual out of pocket
vanhollen.senate.gov
If Republicans don’t pass our bill to reopen the government and extend ACA tax credits, millions of families will see their health care costs soar.

Here's just one example of a MD couple who would see their costs nearly TRIPLE — a health catastrophe and another Trump betrayal:
Reposted by Mike Eliason
stateofchange.bsky.social
EDIT: The companies that profit off those most vulnerable to the hard-to-breathe air that comes with climate change may inadvertently be adding to the problem, new research finds.
cnn.com
CNN @cnn.com · 1d
The people who are most vulnerable to the hard-to-breathe air that comes with climate change may inadvertently be adding to the problem, new research finds. https://cnn.it/4pWQMoh
holz-bau.bsky.social
and it's not like seattle's streets are any safer.

we funnel 90% of dense affordable housing onto 4-7 lane stroads like this, often that bisect our 'urban villages'

most other countries do NOT do this sh*t!

bsky.app/profile/holz...
holz-bau.bsky.social
in seattle, we have overlay districts where buildings are designed to accommodate pedestrians and have storefronts.

most of these streets are massive stroads bisecting neighborhoods. some are actual highways.

this is one in crown hill.

folks.

those are 7 lanes for cars.
apartment in a 'pedestrian overlay' in seattle
holz-bau.bsky.social
this is the thing that worries me as a parent

rampant lawbreaking by motorists everywhere - enabled by feckless politicians who don't want to change a dangerous status quo, on roads engineered *explicitly to facilitate lawbreaking* (looking at you, SDOT) and leaving zero room for error.
Reposted by Mike Eliason
typewriteralley.bsky.social
What the records show:
-Major elements of the LWB redesign, like the changes at Orcas Street, nearly went out for construction before being killed by the Mayor's Office
-Parks staff were continuing to negotiate over individual elements of the project as late as early June.
Drawing showing the changes planned for S Orcas Street and LWB
holz-bau.bsky.social
seattle's most famous son was a college dropout who is worth over $100 billion dollars *after* his divorce
typewriteralley.bsky.social
Bruce Harrell's campaign has decided to start calling Katie Wilson a quitter because she dropped out of Oxford six weeks before graduating.
I was the first person in my family to graduate from college. My parents, hard-working city employees, overcame racial bias and financial hardship to create a better life for my brother and me, just as Joanne and I have done for our children. 

For my family, like most Americans, a college education isn’t just a piece of paper; it’s a gateway to financial stability, opportunity, and family pride. 

So I was shocked — but hardly surprised — to read in The Seattle Times that my opponent dropped out of Oxford just weeks before graduation because she was turned off by “careerism.” 

As the Times notes, her story reflects “no small amount of privilege.”

In Seattle, we celebrate educational advancement and career opportunities. This program is rooted in an initiative I started while on our City Council for South Seattle youth from disadvantaged communities–the kind of kids whose families work hard to send their children to local college, let alone Oxford–and these kids don’t quit to make a political statement because they value the opportunity.

When things get tough in our city, or when forced to compromise, will Katie quit and walk away?

At a time when Trump is threatening violence in our cities, and our economy is fragile, we need a Mayor who understands and prioritizes the challenges facing our families, and who will fight for our future. 

I’ve never taken access to education or opportunity for granted, and I’ll never quit on Seattle.
Reposted by Mike Eliason
ericacbarnett.bsky.social
Harrell, in contrast, said it was irresponsible for the media to ask about allegations that he brandished a gun at a pregnant woman who took "his" parking spot at a casino when he was a 38-year-old lawyer, because it forced him to relive his trauma from supposed racial profiling by the casino
Woman says she was 8 months pregnant when Seattle Mayor Harrell pulled gun on her, leading to his 1996 arrest
Rose Sanchez may not remember every detail of the encounter between her family and Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell from that late night in 1996. But there are details she told KUOW she’ll never forget, li...
www.kuow.org
holz-bau.bsky.social
career politicians with sh*t ideas and zero vision who have sucked up spqce for decades - like bruce here - are a large part of why democrats are struggling
qagggy.bsky.social
Our mayor—who pulled a gun on a pregnant woman in an altercation over a parking spot—is outraged that Katie Wilson dropped out of Oxford University.
When quitting is n...
So I was shocked — but hardly surprised
- to read in The Seattle Times that my opponent dropped out of Oxford just weeks before graduation because she was turned off by "careerism."