SZ: On the Boards | SUMMER 2022

Episode 2: Set in Stone

As a Design | Build team, SZ Build offers the unique advantage of leading projects from inception to completion. We thought it would be fun to share in this gratifying process, as we launch our SZ Build Video Series. Through these construction vignettes, we’ll give you a sneak peak into the sequencing and technical prowess of our rockstar subcontractors, as our designs come to life!

Our second episode features the forming & pouring of concrete footings and foundation walls of a new Detached Accessory Dwelling Unit (DADU) on Mercer Island. You’ll see our team pump concrete through an overhead boom directly into the forms, setting the footprint for the framework to come. We build for the beauty, durability and longevity of our homes.

In case you missed it, here’s Episode 1: Excavation & Groundwork

DESIGN

by Sarah Anne Lloyd, My Mercer Island

Dreaming of how to fix your house is easy, whether you want to build a functional home office, update your kitchen to match your culinary ambitions, or simply to breathe new life into an old Mercer Island house. The hard part comes in figuring out what it will actually cost, how long it will take, and how to even get started.

“It’s a process,” says Suzanne Zahr, who has been working on spaces on Mercer Island for her eponymous firm, Suzanne Zahr, Inc., for seven years. “It’s one that can be very enjoyable, very exciting, because you’re transforming an aspect of your world,” she says, but she also notes it can be stressful.

Preparation, planning, and a good team can help make the remodeling process easier, and Mercer Island has a number of experts on every aspect of remodeling, which leads to Zahr’s biggest piece of advice for people considering a remodel on their home: “Find a team you can trust, the rest will fall into place.”

COMMUNITY

Pioneer Park Youth Club (PPYC) - Grand Reopening of the Lakeview Teacher’s Cottage!

We made history! Out of fire and smoke came inspiration, determination and generosity. Thank you, Mercer Island community, for making it happen.

Please join us for a Mayoral Ribbon-Cutting celebration in the front yard of the restored historic Teacher’s Cottage at 8635 SE 68th Street, Mercer Island on Wednesday, July 20, 2022, 4:30pm - 6pm. Our celebration will include VIP addresses, the unveiling of historical markings, and an opportunity to tour the renovated cottage.

Refreshments will be provided. We will also be offering tours of the Mercer Island Saddle Club stables and the newly placed donor recognition plaques.

Not to late to contribute to this historic cause! Carrots for Cottage ($100+up) level donors are invited to feed treats and visit select horses. Lakeview Schoolhouse donors ($500+up) are invited on a rare group tour of the historic schoolhouse building after the ceremonies. 

Your generous donations will go towards paying down the $40,000 loan taken to finish restoring this piece of local history. Thank you!

Pioneer Park Youth Club | Land Trust
Suzanne Zahr, Inc. | Architect
Redman Construction | Builder

A little history: Mercer Island Historic Teacher's Cottage

ART

Seattle Art Fair: July 21 - 24, 2022

Summer in Seattle is in full swing (finally!). This can only mean one thing - GREAT ART! Take a break from the glorious sunshine and enjoy these two exceptional exhibits.

The Seattle Art Fair is a one-of-a-kind destination for the best in modern and contemporary art and a showcase for the vibrant arts community of the Pacific Northwest.

Based in Seattle, a city as renowned for its natural beauty as its cultural landscape, the fair brings together the region’s strong collector base; local, national, and international galleries; area museums and institutions; and an array of innovative public programming. Founded in 2015 by the late Paul G. Allen, the Seattle Art Fair is produced by Art Market Productions.

Alberto Giacometti: Toward the Ultimate Figure
July 14 - October 9, 2022

Enter the mind of modernist sculptor Alberto Giacometti in his search for a new vision of the human form. Featuring more than 100 bronze portrait busts, towering statuettes, paintings, sketches, and prints, Alberto Giacometti: Toward the Ultimate Figure documents the iconic explorations and visionary achievements of this internationally celebrated artist of the postwar era. Visit Giacometti in his famed Paris studio in scenes captured by noted photographers including Richard Avedon, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Doisneau, Gordon Parks, and Irving Penn, offering glimpses into his life and tireless pursuit to reveal our fragile yet resilient humanness. Co-organized by the Fondation Giacometti in Paris, this special exhibition marks Giacometti’s first showcase in the Pacific Northwest and the only West Coast stop on its North American tour.

Alberto Giacometti: Toward the Ultimate Figure is co-organized by the Seattle Art Museum and the Fondation Giacometti.

CIVIL RIGHTS

SZ unequivocally supports the right to safe & legal abortions.

On June 24th, 2022, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the landmark case that had guaranteed the right to an abortion since 1973. This is an unprecedented attack on women’s rights and reproductive freedom. Every person who can become pregnant deserves reproductive autonomy. Our firm unequivocally supports the right to safe and legal abortions.