Irvington for Africa: Visiting the Tanzamook Townhomes

You've got to love a project willing to call itself Tanzamook. What kind of name is that? It sounds like some sort of antiquated term of insult, like, "If I had a half-penny for every time that tanzamook tried to snatch my tam-o-shanter, I could buy myself a malt at the drugstore."

As it happens, there's a good reason for the name. It's a hybrid between Tillamook, the northeast Portland street in Irvington where this new development was built, and Tanzania, the area that will directly benefit from people buying these units.

For each unit sold in the Tanzamook Townhomes, the idea is to raise enough funds to build one dormitory room for the Ruaha Secondary School in Iringa, Tanzania. Design Department, the Portland firm headed by architect Ben Hufford that designed the Tanzamook, has also drawn up a master plan for the school. A nonprofit organization is administering funds from the Tanzamook's sales to build a dormitory.

 

As we all know given the Great Recession and how it's been fueled by a collapsed housing market, this is not a good time for a developer or architect to be introducing ten new for-sale residences. But the Tanzamook may also represent the kind of development that could make a fair go of it. If you were shopping for a condo or town house, chances are that square footage, location and other practical factors would be the guiding force for what place to purchase. But if you were deciding between the Tanzamook and a roughly equal architectural option, wouldn't the chance to do something extra helpful with your money seem attractive?

Naturally some might also suggest that if they weren't using funds to build a school in Tanzania, the designers/developers could reduce the price of their units. But if the bottom line is all that you care about, maybe you're not the right candidate for the Tanzamook anyway.

 

The design itself endeavors to fit a 10-townhouse complex into the existing neighborhood without seeming out of scale compared to adjacent single-family homes or without adding a lot of private-driveway curb cuts to the neighborhood (which amounts to bad urban design). There are five townhouses on each side, with the middle portion of the development holding a series of garages that double as an open space.

In this way, the Tanzamook's basic form resembles one of my very favorite architectural projects from the last decade, Rick Potestio's Lair Condominiums. The detailing and materials for the Tanzamook aren't quite at that level, for it's a more affordable price point the building targets, and a smaller budget. Even so, I found the Tanzamook compelling and, perhaps more importantly, a well designed place to live.

Although the project has not pursued LEED certification from the US Green Building Council, the Tanzamook has numerous sustainable design and material characteristics, enough to easily earn an Earth Advantage designation. In fact, using that entity's scorecard, a project must earn 200 points cumulatively in a variety of categories (having to do with air quality, energy efficiency, lighting, transit access, and materials) to become Earth Advantage-certified, but the Tanzamook actually earned a whopping 482 points. What's more, these units exceed Oregon energy code stipulations by 15 percent.

 

By virtue of its location at NE 11th and Tillamook, the project also earns a very high "Walk Score" (the ease with which someone can walk to various amenities) of 89 out of a possible 100, putting it in the top 14th percentile of walkable Portland residential addresses. This, of course, makes living in the Tanzamook more sustainable as well.

Design Department was founded in 2008 by Eric Black and Ben Hufford. Hufford came from the architecture firm Yost Grube Hall, which has long been active in Africa and helped the architect make the Tanzania connection. Hufford and Black also believe that design can encompass all kinds of projects, from master plans and buildings to graphic design and even hot-rod building, the latter of which is a passion of Black's. Hufford (pictured below) is also a talented painter.

The Tanzamook, while still under construction, was part of the 11 x Design tour earlier this spring, which was meant to represent a group of architecture firms in Portland that are developing their own projects. So even though Design Department is a little unlucky about the economic timing of their project opening, they are smart to take their firm's future into their own hands by not just pursuing design jobs, but building opportunities.

Comments

[Aneeda]

These look nice.

[anon]

I went to the open house last weekend. They are nice! But it seems like lots and lots of stairs...

[Mrs LEED Certification]

Great designs. Good to hear the wonderful efforts made to ensure a more energy and healthier way of living for the environment. We should also push to build more LEED certified buildings as well. Having Silver or better LEED certified buildings will ensure a better way of living.Hopefully the project will presume LEED certification. Good luck on future projects.