OCAC unveils new Charles Rose-designed campus buildings

Recently the Oregon College of Art and Craft broke ground on its first of numerous new buildings by Charles Rose Architects of the Boston area (with COLAB Architecture + Urban Design of Portland - our city's biggest design presence in Dubai), the Drawing/Painting and Photography studio building.

The two-story DPP provides just under 15,000 square feet and is designed to meet LEED Silver specifications. There about 6,200 square feet for drawing and painting upstairs in the spaces with most of the natural light, while the lower floor adds another 5,600 square feet of studio space for darkrooms, photography studios, a digital photo lab, and expandable classroom spaces.

Slated to open in summer 2009, the DPP will also be linked to existing and future buildings by a central spine of stairways and ramps around a series of lush courtyards designed in collaboration with Murase Associates landscape architecture. BOORA Architects of Portland created the master plan from which the whole affair operates.

The LEED Silver target will be centered around five key areas: site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor air quality. I'd be curious to know: why not Platinum or Gold? Presumably cost, of course. But boldly reinventing yourself, as OCAC seeks, might have come out bolder with Platinum. Even so, one ought not to be dismissive of LEED Silver. Or has it really come to this in Portland?

The original 9.5-acre OCAC campus, about two-thirds of the way to Beaverton out on Barnes Road, was designed by seminal local architect John Storrs (known also for Salishan on the Oregon coast) and landscape architect Barbara Fealy.

It must have presented an interesting challenge for Rose, COLAB and company, because to me the original campus is both architecturally significant and a bit of a dump. Well, dump is too strong of a word. But it's surprisingly rustic feeling for an urban art school, although admittedly by design. In fact, the seclusion of OCAC is ultimately part of its charm. I can't wait to see how the feel of the campus changes with the new buildings, of which there will be more in the years ahead.

Comments

[sodapop]

that picture is a joke right? that's not the same charles rose...

[Brian Libby]

Yes, a joke - sorry. It's TV talk show host Charlie Rose.

[kathleen]

That is gorgeous! I can't wait to see it, and how OCAC integrates more tightly with the arts education community downtown through its MFA program with PNCA. The future looks exciting for this school.

[digital]

more trendy horizontal wood exteriors!!!

[Peter S.]

It's kind of funny Rose only made LEED Silver, given his comments in the Oregonian last year. If memory serves Rose's words amounted to dismissing the volume of LEED-rated buildings in Portland as a minor achievement given the climate here. Maybe it's not so easy after all?

[ws]

The top picture of the building's slanting roofs that allow for light to enter clerestory windows...I wonder if that's a N-S orientation...that would make sense...the design of the building looks pretty good there...second pic too with the breezeway, pretty good too. Not so good in the bottom picture, but overall, a good looking building.

[convolooted]

"more trendy horizontal wood exteriors!!!"

in a context that makes more sense than most.

[Aneeda]

Here's the quote:

"We always chuckle about Portland, Oregon. Everyone is so proud of all the LEED-certified (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) buildings they've created. But the fact is, because the temperature differential is so mild, it's really not that hard compared to, say, Vermont, New Hampshire or even down South, where people want air conditioning."

Not that hard, eh?

[ben]

well played Aneeda. do a google search for those of you that don't connect the hyperbole.

raise the bar to get the job.

lower the bar to get the job done.

rinse.

repeat.

[kitty]

Bland-o-rama

I think it will fit in nicely with the dump, i mean campus, in a few years. it is already a mess.

[jon w.]

With a result like this, I'm not sure why local architects weren't thrown in the mix.

[pdx2m2]

local architects were interviewed for the first two buildings. rose was selected for the library building and the studio building.

as fundraising progresses there should be a selection process for the next buildings...there are about 3 new building additions/renovations and several new public buildings for a new gallery, gift shop, auditorium, and cafe.

[ka]

i am surprised more people have not called foul on this project. For a project these days to be LEED Silver is a no-brainer. A school on a campus with such a beautiful garden seems to have missed a huge opportunity to not only reach a higher standard, but maybe even do so with such gusto as net-zero. too bad to have such a celebrated architect come here and not deliver what a local architect should be able to "school" them on.