Accessory Dwelling Unit, or ADU for short, can be a great addition to your single-family property. There are two variations: attached (ADU or AADU) and detached (DADU) and both offer many benefits to the owner. To inspire your own DADU, check out this fab 750 SF Guest House / Casita / Cabin being featured in the new SZ Build Series.
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This is Suzanne’s 50th Birthday Month - Woohoo! She plans on celebrating this milestone occasion with her friends & family, near and far. As a passionate supporter of everything math, and as a Founding Board Member of SUMM, Suzanne asks that you please consider contributing a FACTOR OF 50!
SUMM believes in the wonder and beauty of math. Math achievement impacts the trajectory of young lives. SUMM seeks to inspire each and every learner and collaborate with community partners to help drive equity-based, culturally relevant math education opportunities.
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Milky Way I by Nabil El Makhloufi
SZ Gallery’s featured artist, Nabil El Makhloufi, melds his Moroccan background with his experiences living and working in Europe, providing a glimpse into the life of those in permanent states of cultural in-betweeness. El Makhloufi combines planes of colors with airy brushwork, giving his paintings a strikingly dream-like property. He captures deeply meditative moments of seen and lived realities with the use of the figure as a representation of quiet alienation and nostalgia.
El Makhloufi’s works question the place of the individual in society. The characters seem, in fact, often alone, even when they are in the middle of a crowd. They always impose their presence. A quiet, serene presence that does not try to shout that it is here to win.
Read MoreMERCER ISLAND LIVING - December 2021
Written by Elizabeth McCabe (abridged version)
Photos by Jennifer Witz (unless otherwise noted)
“In many ways, I think of myself as a community builder,” said Mercer Island resident Suzanne Zahr, who has lived here for the past decade. “In being so, I find that my personal and professional lives mesh together sometimes.”
Suzanne, an architect and general contractor, has a storefront in the Town Center that has a front-end art gallery that she described as a vein to the local community. The projects that she design-builds also serve to connect others.
“I contribute to Mercer Island as a literal and figurative community builder,” she said. “That’s just who I am personality-wise. I love bringing people together, whether socially or by building teams professionally.” During the pandemic, Suzanne reached out in support of fellow business owners and working moms trying to make it through.
Suzanne credits her warm feelings of building community to her heritage. She explained, “My Lebanese/Palestinian roots and family upbringing instilled in me a sense of hospitality and cultural diversity. I’ve strived to be a warm and welcoming neighbor, friend and colleague, by hosting art receptions, fundraisers or social gatherings in my home and office/gallery. I also actively look for opportunities as a community leader, to ensure all voices are respected and heard. I will continue to promote diversity, equity and inclusion in our community, ensuring a safe, soulful and loving outcome for us all.”
Suzanne’s quest for community also extends to her love for horses, which she found through her daughter.
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