Portland Architecture

Kenny Scharf's Columns Come of Age

In yesterday’s Oregonian, columnist Margie Boulé lamented the presence in Portland of many kitschy roadside attractions or lowbrow icons, á la Route 66 plaster dinosaurs or Hollywood’s eponymous hillside sign. But I’d like to nominate a public art project that has become an increasing favorite of mine, albeit not necessarily a lowbrow work: Kenny Scharf’s colorful tiki totems at Jamison Square along Northwest 11th Avenue between Marshall and Lovejoy.

Although I confess to not being a fan of most public art (the chained logs at the base of the ODS Tower particularly come to mind), Scharf’s columns are definitely an exception. But I didn't always feel that way.

Scharf is one of the most internationally known artists whose work appears in Portland’s public realm. He was a contemporary of such 80s icons as Jean-Michelle Basquiat, Keith Haring and Julian Schnabel. Scharf was brought here by Portlander Paige Powell, former Interview magazine associate editor and one of Andy Warhol’s closest friends by the time he died, as the inaugural project from the now defunct Pearl Arts Foundation.

Despite Scharf’s pedigree, however, the totems didn’t go over extraordinarily well at first. When the 30-foot-high "Tikitotmoniki", as they’re officially known, were first unveiled in 2001, the surrounding neighborhood was situated on the very edge of existing Pearl development (perhaps beyond). Standing there all but alone, Scharf’s totems looked silly and yet somehow a little sad as well, like a comedian performing standup before a near-empty room of disinterested patrons. What’s more, some grumbled that we should be supporting local artists instead of a Reagan-era New York has-been.

As art critic D.K. Row pointed out recently in an Oregonian survey of local public art, “the whimsical Popsicle pieces have evolved into visionary works,” and “…symbolize the values of this upscale oasis filled with high-end retail stores, restaurants, condos, fashionable singles and yoga studios.” But I think they go further than that.

Unlike most public art I’ve ever seen, Scharf’s totems have a disarming sense of fun to them, yet at the same time they are conceptually substantive as well. Tikitotmoniki not only takes its obvious cue from Polynesian culture, wildly popular during the midcentury era of Trader Vik’s, but the artwork also is a nod to a local artistic tradition: Native American totems.

Stylistically, the totems and their greater Pop Art context can be likened to the postmodern architectural movement that more or less crested around the same time (give or take a decade), making Tikitotmoniki a cousin of the gaudy Portland Building downtown, with its faux garland-clad, birthday gift-like façade. But this comparison goes to show that such tongue-in-cheek whimsy plays better as public art than as architecture. As one friend put it to me, architecture is the meal and public art is dessert.

And as Boulé reminded us, in a city that eschews fanciful gestures in its buildings, I think artwork like this is all the more important.

Hollywood Station

Recently a reader wrote in wondering what would become of the former Copeland Lumber site at Northeast 42nd and Halsey, which is currently being demolished. Designed by LRS Architects, the project is called Hollywood Station, and will include two mixed-use buildings. Dorn-Platz Company is the developer.

First will be a 71,000 square foot, three-story mixed-use building with 24 Hour Fitness as the ground floor tenant and class-A office space above. It will also include four stories of structured parking. The second building, at five stories and 105,000 square feet, will include more offices.

These are what you’d call fabric buildings. There’s nothing extraordinary about them, but clearly that was not the intention. Like good, unassuming neighbors, these buildings borrow from the material palette of nearby structures. There are some important subtle gestures to break up the mass of what are essentially square blocks.

One side note is that Hollywood Station is poised to become LEED-rated at the ‘Certified’ level. That’s admirable, but one wonders if a few extra and, by the way, completely affordable moves, could have bumped the project up to, say, ‘Silver’ level. Unless I'm mistaken, there don't seem to be any exterior sunshades on either building, for example, which means a lost opportunity to minimize heat gain in summer and reduce cooling loads.

Still, as the Hollywood District transforms into a higher density population center as part of Metro’s 2040 Plan, this seems like a nice little addition to the community.

Anyone else care to render an initial verdict?

Raising Reser...to Autzen's Knees

Granted this is far outside the realm of Portland architecture, but with this week bringing the opening of the college football season, I wanted to weigh in on Oregon State University's newly remodeled and expanded Reser Stadium.

The stadium named for a chip dip company has added an upper deck and sky boxes that will bring Reser's capacity to about 43,000. It's a much needed facelift for the stadium, which I visited on several occassions for the annual Civil War game and found to be little more than large bleachers. Some of the amenities at the new stadium seem nicely done, I must say.

But as a heavily biased Ducks fan, I must point out the differences between the Beavers home and Autzen Stadium. First of all, if we're talking about sheer size, Autzen held about 44,000 before its expansion. It now holds 55,000.

But more than sheer numbers, the architecture of Autzen is much more special. When stadiums (stadia?) expand, they do it in two basic ways. The common method is to simply add an upper deck, as the Beavers did. The rarer and more elegant manner, however, is to grow the seating bowl, if you have a real one, outward. Examples of large bowl-style stadiums include the Rose Bowl and Michigan Stadium, two of the most compelling and hallowed places in college football. When the University of Oregon expanded Autzen in 2002, they smartly chose to expand the stadium's bowl, originally designed by Skidmore Owings Merrill.

The one problem with Autzen's expansion is that it, initially anyway, was only on one side of the stadium. I'm hoping that eventually the other side will be expanded as well, which would bring capacity to about 67,000 and restore the integrity of the original symmetrical design. The Kansas City firm of Ellerbe Becket was selected for the Autzen expansion in part because they offered, unsolicited, a plan to eventually complete this expansion. Considering that the new 55,000-seat Autzen Stadium is routinely filled to capacity, here's hoping a second expansion is or will soon be under consideration.

Meanwhile, though, congratulations to Oregon State on a much better stadium. I think you can now safely call Reser the second best stadium in Oregon. Which, considering the team playing there, is entirely appropriate.

Purple Pipes and Architecture of the Elements

This morning's Oregonian includes an article by Steve Mayes about how the Sunrise Water Authority serving Damascus, newly within the urban growth boundary, is building the first two-pipe water transmission system to serve a Northwest city. Denver, Olympia and Los Angeles already utilize this approach.

"One pipe is for drinking water," Mayes explains. "The other, colored purple to set it apart, will deliver treated waste water or untreated well water to farmers, industrial firms and others." The system, which is eventually expected to meet 10% of summertime demand, will reduce demand on the Clackamas River, thereby benefiting endangered fish and other wildlife.

In a climate known for ample rainfall (at least for about 7-8 months out of the year), this could be only the beginning. For it's not just about what we draw from the river, of course, but what we put into it. Increasingly Portland is seeing rainwater reclamation systems on buildings, which use water falling onto the roof to flush toilets and provide irrigation. Not only does it reduce water bills, but it prevents the kind of runoff that has made the Willamette so dirty.

And yet the conversation here should ultimately be a much broader one. Water reclamation is just part of a transitional era for buildings and cities. For thousands of years buildings were designed and constructed in order to take advantage of all the elements: sunlight, wind, rainfall. But with the development of air conditioning in the early 20th Century, all that knowledge was suddenly dropped. But now, as the green building movement gains steam, we are beginning to see a return to the traditional ways of building, only this time with much greater sophistication.

Not to sound like a hyperbolic preacher, but when I read about an effort such as the one in Clackamas County to re-use wastewater, I don't just see it as news for Damascus or even the larger region, but of another sign that buildings and communities are, collectively, re-learning the basic relationship between ourselves and our environment. Amen to that.

Star Power

Last year the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance began the Energy Star Homes Northwest program, part of the national Energy Star program sponsored by the US Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency. Through July of this year 485 homes have been certified as Energy Star Northwest homes.

According to Alliance research, about 65,000 new homes were built in the four-state (OR, WA, ID, MT) region in 2003. That number is expected to reach 120,000 new homes per year by 2025. The program’s goal is to have 20 percent of new homes certified as Energy Star within five years. By the end of 2010 that would represent about 1.2 million kilowatt-hours of electricity saved. It’s enough energy to power about 10,000 Northwest homes for a year at a cost of less than one cent per kilowatt-hour. Ten thousand homes!

An overwhelming majority of the attention surrounding green building is devoted to commercial and institutional buildings. But as we know, single-family homes comprise a very large portion of the overall building market.

Energy Star Homes Northwest is far from being the first or the only program that encourages efficiency in the residential sector, but I think this success being reported by the NWEEA speaks to the good being done under a variety of green home-building banners.

The Role of Good Urban Design:Does Tom Potter Get It?

Since taking office earlier this year, Tom Potter has proven in many respects to be an excellent mayor. In particular, he has tirelessly advocated for community involvement in every aspect of civic policy making. But that strength, I fear, could also be a weakness when it comes to urban design.

In a Q&A with Potter in today’s Oregonian, Randy Gragg asked the following: “Urban planner George Crandall, a veteran of the ’72 and ’88 planning efforts who now works in cities throughout the country, laments the decreasing role of design in Portland planning. Planning, he argues, is long on policies and regulations rather than clear initiatives with measurable results. How will design fit into the process?”

Potter’s answer: “To me, policies drive everything in cities…But in terms of specifics for how the built environment emerges or evolves, for me, there has to be a correlation between what we build and the needs of the community – and not just a few in the community.”

This reminded me a lot of an answer the mayor gave in a Willamette Week article I wrote about Potter and design six months ago, just after he took office. “The buildings that will be built during the next four years will define Portland for the next 50," he said. "So their design is critical. But good design must reflect the needs of the community who will live with these buildings every day."

Granted, on some level this is all just rhetoric. The mayor gains politically by staying on message with respect to the populist bent that helped get him elected. But I’d feel better hearing Potter acknowledge the fact that community input and even consensus will not in and of itself make for a well functioning urban environment.

Successful urban planning, like any design field, is about expertise and experience as much as giving the people what they ask for. It’s not to say that the public is ignorant, but it should go without saying that urban planners and architects have a better grasp than the rest of us of certain principles that make spaces functional and pleasant to experience.

Later this month the mayor is launching a "city visioning" process that he hopes will involve as many as 100,000 people. Potter told Randy Gragg he believes this kind of "social planning" is more important than physical planning for growth.

In my view, Potter often seems to imply that design expertise is somehow inherently elitist, and that the public always knows better. I really hope I’m wrong about this, but so far I’m yet to see the mayor express his faith in the designers that have and hopefully will continue to imagine and create our best urban spaces.

Suburban Stance in the Central City: Lloyd Businesses Fight Housing

Recently I wrote about Block 45 in the Lloyd District at Grand and Holladay, which was originally supposed to be the site of The Cascadian condo tower but now is being sold by the Portland Development Commission. The RFQ being issued soon by PDC is set to require the site being devoted to housing.

But according to Chris Lonigro of Myhre Group Architects, who lives in the adjacent Cascadian Court condo building and sits on several Lloyd District steering committees (including one devoted to Block 45 in particular), the businesses in the neighborhood are overwhelmingly opposed to housing coming to the Lloyd District. The thinking, apparently, is that the land is needed for office space, and housing could drive up the cost of land in the entire neighborhood.

It would be a shame for this kind of not-in-my-backyard stance to win out, at Block 45 or in the greater Lloyd District, because it is ideally situated for high-density housing. It’s just across the river from downtown, adjacent to two freeways as well as the city’s man thoroughfare (MLK/Grand), and is additionally served by MAX light rail with an MLK/Grand streetcar line in the works. Housing at Block 45 and the greater Lloyd District would comprise precisely the kind of smart growth the city and greater metro area have made a priority.

And as it stands now, the Lloyd District feels shamefully suburban with its surface parking lots, lack of pedestrians and (Lloyd Center mall and cinemas not withstanding) its deadness during non-business hours. Housing would revive the neighborhood and make it more vital.

Nobody wants to see an exodus of businesses from the established offices in the Lloyd District. What’s more, we need to make sure there is room for further expansion of office space. But there is plenty of room for that with housing in the mix too.

Shame on Lloyd District business leaders for subscribing to the antiquated and incorrect notion that portions of the city should be set aside for one purpose and not another. Go to any major urban area in the world and you’ll find a spectrum of housing, offices, parks, retail and public institutions—all existing together. They even have a name for it: a city.

It’s great that PDC is going out of its way to communicate with stakeholders in the Lloyd District about their plans for Block 45. But for all the rhetoric that’s come since the Burnside Bridgehead about PDC needing to listen to the community, I hope in this case the Commission will understand that many of the Lloyd District stakeholders are simply wrong.

Frank Lloyd Wright's Gordon House: Threatened Again?

About five years ago, the only structure in Oregon designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, a single-family home in suburban Charbonneau called the Gordon House, was threatened with demolition. A couple had bought the home not even knowing who Wright was, and had planned to raze the home so they could build a McMansion there.

Ultimately the Gordon House was moved to the Oregon Garden near Silverton. It was a compromise at best, considering that Wright's design had been very site-specific, with views of Mt. Hood and the adjacent Willamette. But the Frank Lloyd Wright Conservancy and AIA/Portland (where I worked at the time) worked very hard to preserve this Oregon architectural treasure.

Now, however, the Gordon House's future seems tenuous again. No ignoramus is threatening to tear it down this time. But the Oregon Garden, its host, is in trouble. An editorial in today's Oregonian says, "It's a reality as plain as dirt: The Oregon Garden is a bust...Swamped with $8 million in debt and unable to make payroll, the horticultural showcase is being forced into receivership."

Certainly the Oregon Garden will say all the right things about how they will right the ship and that we needn't worry about the Gordon House. But considering the importance of the building, our only building from America's most renowned architect, it's not being alarmist to exhibit concern over what would happen to the Gordon House should the Oregon Garden close.

Although I don't question for one second the decision to move the Gordon House to the Oregon Garden in early 2001--it would have been demolished otherwise, and the OG seemed like a very nice location at the time--it's too bad the Wright-designed house is located far outside the Portland area. Because this house is not just a relic that happened to be designed by a big name: It could and should provide a lesson in home design to countless home designers (notice I'm not saying "architects" - less than 10% of single family homes come from real ones) and home buyers. There is no garish foyer, no paper-thin walls. The Gordon House leads you through its entryway into a double-height living area like a theatrical experience. And its simple but gorgeous materials, particularly the autumn-hued woods that Wright so loved, are absolutely timeless.

As the Oregon Garden rallies to resuscitate itself, keep an eye on the Gordon House. We don't want to let this gem be tarnished again.

Rick Potestio's Big Move

Rick Potestio has long been regarded as one of the most talented local architects of his generation. Like Brad Cloepfil, he studied at the University of Oregon under Thomas Hacker and also worked at Hacker’s Portland firm. But he unequivocally is his own man, with a portfolio that has lead to numerous design awards for his work as a near-sole practioner. But heading his own small firm has meant the jobs are overwhelmingly single-family homes and restaurants. Rick’s been missing out on the larger commissions, and that’s a shame.

But all that may soon change. Potestio has just signed on as a principal with Mahlum Architects, a mid-sized firm with offices in both Seattle and Portland. Talking with Mahlum’s Bill Strong, I was told the idea is for Rick to lead the charge with urban infill mixed-use housing and student housing.

Some of you may ask: Mahlum? While certainly a respectable firm, with a variety of projects in education, health care, technology and housing to their name, Mahlum doesn’t have quite the name recognition of other local firms. But that’s just the kind of company that could offer Potestio a bounty of project opportunities yet would also benefit from his refined sensibilities. It’s like a .500 team suddenly entering the race for a conference crown after adding an all-star free agent.

Meanwhile, check out Potestio’s final project done on his own. It’s called The Lair, and is tucked onto a small hillside site in the Lair Hill neighborhood in southwest Portland. It’s just a tiny little housing project, about 13 units I’m told. But it’s a little jewel, with forms intersecting as if in a carefully choreographed ballet. Wouldn’t you like to see an architect like this get his hands on, say, a South Waterfront tower? Or even a mid-rise condo in Southeast? Hell, even a dorm I’d pay to walk through.

It’s inherently sad for an architect to give up his own firm and essentially go corporate. But I think virtually any design enthusiast will be happy to see Rick Potestio working on a bigger stage.

Burnside Rocket: DIY Architecture Soars

Last year I wrote an article about architects nationwide who are developing their own projects. Kevin Cavenaugh was not only one of those I profiled, but he also was an inspiration for the article.

For the last several years, Kevin has worked at Fletcher Farr Ayotte. The first two projects that he developed are attributed to the firm, although he was the designer as well as the guy who put the finances together (he has no partners) and made the whole thing happen, from CAD drawings and permits to even hauling construction waste to the dump.

First, a few years ago, came the Box + One Lofts, which consist of two small buildings on Southeast 28th and Ankeny. The ground floor is home to Noble Rot, the acclaimed wine bar/eatery, with housing above. Its cement floors and roll-up glass garage doors have become the template for a new generation of sophisticated yet stripped down restaurants.  Then came a second mixed-use project, Ode to Rose’s, on Northeast Fremont. Again an excellent is the anchor tenant: Fife, chef Marco Shaw’s upscale comfort food destination. Ode to Rose’s shared the top award at the AIA/Portland design awards in 2003.

For several months now (perhaps longer) Kevin has been at work designing and developing a mixed-use building at East Burnside and 11th, which he’s calling the Burnside Rocket. It is an exceptionally sustainable design plan and Kevin is shooting for a ‘Gold’ LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) rating. The building includes a ground-source heat pump, radiant heating/cooling, and operable windows.

In a nod to the unique architectural style of a few existing lower Burnside buildings, Burnside Rocket includes an arcade, with an awning stretched over the entire sidewalk width. Not only is it visually bold, but very functional in our rainy climate. The building’s form also has a lightness achieved with a top floor of glass seeming to rise out of a two-story stucco base.

Take a look at the attached renderings. The building design, as I understand it, is not completely finalized. Kevin says he would like some feedback on whether the arcade really works from a form/massing standpoint. I say it absolutely does. Anybody else have some thoughts on the Burnside Rocket?

The Alexan

A lot of attention has been devoted lately to the first rental apartment building in South Waterfront: The Alexan, developed by the national firm Trammell Crow Residential. But virtually all the talk has been devoted to the question of whether the project deserves tax breaks. Some argue that tax abatement need not go to such an affluent neighborhood. Others, like myself, believe it's proper considering that this neighborhood was very recently an industrial wasteland.

But enough about the tax issue. Let's talk about the architecture. And while renderings never give a complete sense of a building, I must say I am pleasantly surprised with what I see.

For starters, I was initially skeptical upon learning that "The Alexan" is not really a building but a brand name that Trammell Crow Residential uses for all its higher-end projects. Sounds like "Big Mac" thinking to me.

Second, the building is designed by Ankrom Moisan, a firm most people in town will tell you, I think, that a developer hires for their experience, service and size more than their design acumen.

That said, the renderings included here seem to indicate one of the best buildings Ankrom Moisan has ever done. I see the makings of a simple, elegant apartment building here.

This is not to say, of course, that South Waterfront developers should fall into the same old pattern of hiring the same firms that delivered a host of disappointing architecture in the Pearl District. Remember when developers and OHSU were selling the concept of South Waterfront? Allied Works, Felt Hat and Emmons Architects where their design partners, collectively a more innovative bunch than those who have actually received the building commissions.

Meanwhile, what's the initial verdict from the rest of you on The Alexan?

Transforming 82nd Avenue

An article by Ben Jacklet in today's Portland Tribune highlights a new effort to transform what has long been the armpit of Portland: 82nd Avenue.

A group of business leaders want to rename 82nd the "Avenue of Roses", planting thousands of the city's trademark flower along the road and encourage more respectable businesses than the by-the-hour motels, used car lots and check-cashing stores that currently call the avenue home.

What I immediately noticed about the effort, at least as Jacklet's article describes it, is that it has no teeth. The group understandably wants to import a new kind of business environment to 82nd, one with fewer prostitutes and chain stores, and more family-owned businesses like those arriving as Chinatown relocates from Old Town. But despite the seedy persona of 82nd, its biggest problem is arguably an urbanistic one. The avenue is a sea of suburban-style surface parking lots and there is woefully insufficient allowances for pedestrians. Even the street-walkers are imperiled if they actually set out on foot.

The article points to a busy new Walmart as an example of 82nd's potential reversal of fortune. Huh? I doubt this is the way to seed local businesses and foster a healthier urban environment.

If there is a good example to follow on 82nd, it's the new Portland Community College campus near Southeast Division street (designed by Yost Grube Hall). Notice how the school has transformed the site with landscaping and simple, handsome architecture to create a pleasant and tranquil sense of place in spite of the rapid rush of automobiles.

We should all wish the business leaders of 82nd Avenue well as they embark on a Herculean task of beautifying their downtrodden district. But getting rid of the prostitutes isn't an end. It's only a beginning.

River Campus One: Greenest Building in the Northwest?

For all the buzz that the new South Waterfront district has generated, I don’t feel like I’ve heard much talk of River Campus Building One, the first OHSU building that’s currently under construction. Perhaps it’s because if you’re only looking at an exterior rendering, the building, while handsome enough, doesn’t have a great deal of pizzazz. But River Campus One is extraordinarily impressive considering its plethora of sustainable features. It very will may become the greenest building in the Pacific Northwest.

Upon completion, River Campus One is poised to earn a ‘Platinum’ LEED rating, which would be the first for an Oregon building and especially impressive given its large scale (16 stories and 40,000 square feet). The building will be 60% more efficient than Oregon code requires. Sixty percent! It will also include photovoltaic solar panels incorporated into exterior sun shades, natural ventilation in stairwells and lobbies, radiant thermo-active slabs (for passive heating and cooling), rainwater retention for use in irrigation and toilets, 100% on-site sewage treatment (keeping more than 15,000 gallons per day out of the sewer), and a micro-turbine for generating its own electricity.

In addition to the building itself, its process is noteworthy as well. River Campus One embodies architecture’s growing emphasis on integrated design: getting the architect, general contractor and engineer (particularly the mechanical engineer) working together on the design long before construction begins. So while GBD Architects is the designer of this building, having Hoffman Construction and Interface Engineering on board early has led to the kind of synergies that have made a ‘Platinum’ rating possible.

Hats off to the owner (OHSU) and particularly the developer (Gerding/Edlen) for promoting integrated design from the beginning. While sustainability is not the only criteria by which we assess architecture, this building’s greatest strength unquestionably seems to be its ultra-efficient performance. River Campus One is a reminder that a building is a kind of man-made organism—a “machine for living” as Le Corbusier famously said.

Forever Unbuilt: The Cascadian and Lloyd District Housing

A few years ago Enterprise Development planned a two-building condo project in the Lloyd District. The first, Cascadian Court, was completed in 2001. Designed by Sienna Architecture, the nine-story metal and glass building on Northeast Holladay (a half-block east of Martin Luther King Boulevard) was a pioneering effort that succeeded architecturally (it’s well scaled and proportioned) but may have been a little too far ahead of its time when it came to housing in the Lloyd District. I don’t think it’s ever been fully occupied.

The second phase of the project, called simply The Cascadian, was to be a much larger tower sitting right on MLK at Holladay on a three-quarter block. I was told it originally was to be 27 stories, but I later read it was planned at 17. Either way, Enterprise could never quite make it happen.

The Portland Development Commission ultimately purchased the site, which lies within the Convention Center urban renewal area, from Enterprise, with the intention of selling it back after Enterprise secured financing (this presumably would free up the developer’s capital and keep the project from falling through). But recently, after waiting a few years on Enterprise, PDC essentially gave up and now has decided to sell the site.

Because of the upcoming headquarters hotel and Vanport Square projects, PDC doesn’t have the resources to hold on to the Cascadian site any longer, project manager Heather Hansen told me. So PDC is abot to issue a request for proposals from private developers, which they hope will invigorate the slow residential marked there in addition to saving the agency some money.

The RFQ will require that the project be a mixed-use condo. But many other sought-after features—such as a mix of income ranges for the units or sustainable design and construction practices—will only be listed as “desirable” by PDC and not explicitly required. That’s largely because the agency is not going to offer any tax-increment subsidies.

For all the condo building that’s been going on, it’s a real shame The Cascadian as we know it will presumably never be. The height was perhaps overly ambitious, but Sienna’s design work (at the hand, I believe, of the ultra talented Jeff Lamb, who has long since left the firm and is now working with BOORA) was excellent. And this project, because of its greater scale and presence on MLK, indeed might have jump-started housing in the Lloyd.

Hansen told me one of the developers being considered for the property’s sale has expressed some degree of openness to reworking the original Cascade design, but it’s all just talk at this point.

There will presumably still be a condo on this site in the relatively near future, and that’s good for the Lloyd District. But will a different building by a different developer fare better? I’m wondering whether The Cascadian’s stagnation was due more to the neighborhood, the downturned economy of 2001 (and beyond), or the building.

And with the ambitious Lloyd Crossing plan gaining considerable acclaim and media attention for its attempt to green the entire multi-block area, how might the momentum be affected by a big building at the former Cascadian site that isn’t sustainable?

It just goes to show that even today you can’t assume every housing project in or near the central city will be successful, even the attractively designed ones. Keep your fingers crossed that PDC both receives and chooses a good candidate who recognizes the marketability of an efficient, well-designed and constructed piece of architecture.

The Eric Parsons Project

The Portland Development Commission announced today that Eric Parsons has been elected as chair, replacing Matt Hennessee, whose term has expired.

Parsons is president and CEO of Standard Insurance and also spent several years in the real estate industry. In other words, his experience weighs heavily toward the money side of building, not the design side. I'm not necessarily complaining that the PDC chair is not an architect, because insurance and real estate figure heavily in the economic development the Commission is part of. But now that a chair has been selected, I would love to see members of the design community reach out to Parsons for a meaningful dialogue.

What if the local American Institute of Architects chapter (a sponsor of this site), for example, convened a series of informal meetings between PFC commissioners and some of the city's top architects? Or what if, along with their more official meetings, the commission were to hold brainstorming sessions with the public to assess how more unquantifiable goals like good design can be achieved or at least supported? What if Parsons or other members of the commission attended meetings of the Design Exchange?

A few months ago, when some of the commission seats were opening up, I advocated that an architect or other member of the design community be selected. That opportunity no longer exists. Judging by the selections made for the vacant commission seats, PDC's overwhelming priority and focus is still economic development, not design. But it certainly doesn't have to be a one-or-the-other scenario. If Portland is to become a city known internationally for high-quality design, we have to get the money people to buy into the concept. I'm sure Parsons and his fellow commissioners understand the role of good design, both as it relates to economic develoment and as well as overall quality of life.

So when do we get together, and who's bringing the beer? I say it's on the new guy.

The Portland-Tokyo Connection

About five months ago the Pacific Northwest College of Art hosted a lecture by John Jay, Executive Creative Director at Wieden + Kennedy and founder of the ad agency's Tokyo office, and Teruo Kurosaki, founder of the wildly poplular Japanese furniture chains Idee and Sputnik. During the lecture, Jay and Kurosaki challenged Portlanders to make our city an international design capitol, a place as familiar to people making fashion, graphics, buildings, and websites as New York or Berlin or Rotterdam.

Yesterday Kurosaki was back in town to discuss with PNCA president Tom Manley and others a new student exchange that will bring young design students from Tokyo and Portland to study in each other's cities. The exchange is still in the conceptual stage, but over dinner last night with Manley, Kurosaki, Jay, and several others, I saw evidence of the first seeds being sown. Tokyo isn't much further from Portland than the East Coast of the United States, and it would be wonderful for the influence of talents like Kurosaki-san to be felt here. The process of making both human and institutional connections won't happen overnight, but this is a great step forward for design in Portland.

The Andria Condominiums

Last month I wrote about a new high-density condominium project in Beaverton designed by Myhre Group Architects. But the firm also has another housing project in the central city, and this one is about to complete construction.

The Andria Condominiums are a 40,000 square foot, four-story mixed-use project at the corner of Southeast 42nd and Belmont (right near Movie Madness video). Originally, construction had been scheduled to wrap up this summer, but now it's set for early fall.

Considering how well the nearby Belmont Lofts sold last year, it will be interesting to see how quickly the Andria sells out, or if it does. (The Andria isn't quite as visually compelling as Holst Architecture's Belmont Lofts, but few projects are.) Beyond that, though, it seems like a pretty solid looking configuration of brick, glass and concrete. What's the opinion out there about the look of this project?

Design on the Menu

This weekend I had an early dinner at clarklewis, the restaurant owned by Ripe impresarios Michael and Naomi Hebberoy. Although I’d eaten there before, it was always later in the evening, where darkness prevailed. This time, with the floor-to-ceiling garage-like doors open to let in the air, the light, and the city itself, I was amazed at what a great urban setting it was.

As many know, the restaurant occupies the ground floor of the East Bank Commerce Center. Inside the blend of cement floors and simple, stylish décor give clarklewis a kind of industrial chic ambience that is now common in many Portland restaurants. Outside delivery trucks and trains would occasionally steal one’s attention from the tagliatelle pasta or endive-walnut-gorgonzola salad (but only for a moment). And the color of the light, with the setting sun blocked to the west by the downtown skyline and a diffuse illumination filling the space, was gorgeous.

It struck me that much of Portland’s new generation of restaurants, places like Noble Rot and Fife and the Gotham Tavern (another Hebberoy establishment) are inextricably tied to their architecture. It’s hard to imagine these places without the cement floors and exposed beams. Yet most of these establishments are more than just industrial in their setting. They infuse the raw palette with hints of luxury and refinement—and not just on the plate. At clarklewis, for example, the bar and restaurant are divided by a heavy metal wall with stained glass, rough and smooth in perfect harmony. And the kitchen is completely open, adding to the theater that is inherent in the dining experience.

We’ve talked before on this site about restaurant design, but I’d like to hear your thoughts on the changing nature of what constitutes a great sense of place while dining, and which restaurants do it the best.

An (Overruled) Objection to Portland's Emission Reduction Announcement

Yesterday a comment was left on this site that I want to address and expand upon. Rich Page of the Cascade Policy Institute, a local conservative think tank, responded to my July 5 post, "New York Times Columnist Says Portland 'Crucial' to Greenhouse Debate". The post had been about Nicholas Kristof's column, which applauded Portland for having reduced carbon dioxide emissions down to 1990 levels.

Page wrote, "It turns out that Portland's CO2 report was false. The NYT may now have to retract this article." He included a Cascade Policy Institute press release saying a math error had caused Portland's Office of Sustainable Development to "quietly recant" its announcement.

"Moreover," the release goes on to say, in a statement from CPI president John A. Charles, Jr., "the Cascade Policy Institute asserts that the methodology used in these calculations was seriously flawed, and may have considerably understated the transportation-related emissions...The OSD relied primarily on gasoline sales in Multnomah County to estimate local travel levels, even though there are more than 100,000 commuters who work or live outside the county. Since gasoline is frequently cheaper in suburban locations, it’s likely that many motorists have been purchasing their fuel outside the county."

Curious, I spoke with Michael Armstrong of the Office of Sustainable Development. He told me that there was indeed a math error. "It was an error not in our favor from an emissions perspective," he said. "But the impact of the error is less than one percent. It turns out we are above 1990 levels, but only by seven-tenths of one percent." The CPI listed the amount Multnomah County was over 1990 levels as "more than 68,000 tons", but did not give the perspective of what percentage that was.

As it happens, the official statistics now show that Portland has reduced its emission levels to below 1991, and just slightly above 1990. That's still an impressive accomplishment. And at the rate we're going, within a short amount of time we should be below 1990 levels. The CPI had every right to point out the error, but they twisted and abused its enduring meaning.

"I’m happy to have the correction out there," Armstrong said. "But it doesn’t change the underlying fact that emissions are going down and it’s helpful to try and understand why."

Regarding Charles' other claim that the numbers are misleading because they were only based on gas sales in Multnomah County, the OSD's Armstrong had this to say:  "If we had a way to capture exactly the gas figures [for emission reduction calculations], that would be terrific. We want to be as transparent as possible. But the other counties aren’t tracking this. I would love it if they were. Maybe the Cascade Policy Institute can convince them to do so."

Charles concluded by saying, "...any regulatory program imposed by the government to lower emissions to pre-1990 levels is going to be costly to consumers, something elected officials apparently don’t understand."

I don't argue that the numbers are not perfect and that there are indeed costs involved in reducing emissions, for streetcars and MAX trains and modest green building subsidies. But whether it's 1990 or 1991 emissions levels that Portland has achieved, and regardless of whether that calculation is perfect, I think any reasonable person can see that emissions have been reduced, and that any costs to the city and county have been greatly been outweighed by other, more positive factors: better air quality, more sustainable urban growth patterns and reduced traffic.

What's more, people around the country increasingly recognize Portland as one of America's greenest cities, and as a result we are attracting them to come here and spend their money. Any self-respecting conservative ought to like that.

The Sleeping Green Giant: Lloyd Crossing

An article in the new issue of Metropolis by Clair Enlow features the Lloyd Crossing plan, which also was honored by the AIA’s Committee on the Environment earlier this year as part of its list of Top Ten green projects for the year.

Because there are not yet any cranes erected or big holes in the ground, it’s easy to underestimate what a potentially huge, if not revolutionary, plan Lloyd Crossing could become if fully realized. “If we can successfully implement [Lloyd Crossing],” Portland Development Commission project manager Sloan Schang told the magazine, “then we have in effect created a new model for the development of urban areas.”

Designed by Mithun Architects of Seattle (a firm in our rival city I think we should all root for to do more work in Portland) in cooperation with a multidisciplinary team, the plan is a public-private partnership that will add numerous innovative green elements to the area: bioswales on the shoulder of streets to collect rainwater, a local sewage treatment facility for the neighborhood, widespread use of photovoltaic solar panels, wind turbines mounted on poles, and perhaps most interestingly of all, an underground thermal loop shared by the neighborhood that stores and distributes heat captured from office exhaust airstreams and other sources.

It’s ironic that such innovation could come to a neighborhood that has been largely left behind in Portland’s continuing push toward high-density, pedestrian friendly development. The MAX train is already there, and the location across from downtown with two adjacent freeways couldn’t be better. We just need some housing, and pronto. Sienna Architecture’s Cascade Condominiums was built years ago but has not done especially well attracting tenants, despite being an attractive building right on the MAX line with a station a few feet away. It takes more than housing, of course; grocery stores and other amenities are needed to make this area dominated by the Lloyd Center shopping mall and unattractive office-building monoliths. But if a neighborhood like South Waterfront can grow exponentially from scratch, why can’t the Lloyd District do just as well or better?

More West End Development: Madison Office Condominiums

After partnering together on Museum Place, the St. Francis and Belmont Dairy, Developer Shiels Obletz Johnsen and GBD Architects have another new building about to break ground: the Madison Office Condominiums.

This is a small little office building that will be situated on 11th Avenue next to the massive Eliot condo tower. The two buildings will share a plaza between 11th and 10th Avenue. SOJ will occupy the top floor, with a restaurant tentatively planned for the ground floor and for-sale office space on the floors in between.

“This is a very small building,” Craig Davis of GBD told me this morning. “We’ve always felt like it had to be sort of a jewel box.”

And indeed, what’s immediately noticeable in the renderings is that the Madison will be colorful. And I’m happy about that, because there are not many colorful buildings here. Also, despite an upper portion of the building that extends outward to break up the mass, the form is fairly simple. I think the color is one of the building’s best assets.

According to conversations I had with Davis as well as Francesca Gambetti of SOJ, the exterior will be comprised of an aluminum composite panel in two colors: blue and silver. The building also includes exposed exterior bracing that will be painted yellow. (I like this trend from GBD of exposing a building’s structural bracing, as they did with two of the Brewery Blocks.) Davis says a glassier building was originally considered, but sustainability concerns ruled that out because of too much potential heat gain.

Although this is a smaller job, I think it has to be said that GBD Architects has secured an astonishing amount of work for themselves in one fairly small area. There are five GBD-designed Brewery Blocks just a few blocks away, and a sixth project building for Gerding/Edlen Development planned there as well. Additionally, near the Portland Art Museum we’ll have Museum Place, the St. Francis and the Madison, all designed by the firm. Without even including all their South Waterfront work, that’s nine buildings!

Gambetti says SOJ and GBD have learned a great deal working together and that relationship makes it easy to trust each other—and therefore for SOJ to depend on GBD for project after project. (Much like Gerding/Edlen). I respect that. I really do. But with all due respect to a very capable architecture firm, at what point should SOJ be held accountable for not giving other firms a chance? Perhaps in the future, SOJ could follow Gerding/Edlen’s lead and incorporate other firms as partners with GBD.

Meanwhile, as always, feedback is welcome on the Madison Office Condominiums and SOJ’s work as developer and architectural benefactor.

Updated: Building a Bridge (Literally and Symbolically)

Today OHSU issued a press release announcing new federal funding for a pedestrian bridge over Interstate 5 between the Lair Hill neighborhood and the South Waterfront. The bridge will cross at Gibbs Street, over which the aerial tram will also pass.

This is a reward for residents of Lair Hill and Corbett/Terwilliger who never wanted the tram and have had to live with it coming anyway. And hopefully it is the first of many improvements to the area. What is especially needed is a redesign of the Ross Island Bridge access point from I-5, one that doesn’t twist and turn ridiculously through this historic residential neighborhood.

What hasn’t been announced or presumably planned yet is the design for the bridge itself. As much as the tram, this bridge could be an icon for the South Waterfront. Who will design it?

One name that immediately comes to mind is Guy Nordenson, one of the nation’s top structural engineers and a finalist in the international design competition held for the aerial tram. Nordenson has worked with a number of the world’s top architects, including several times with Stephen Holl, and his work is an impressive fusion of science and art.

And speaking of competitions, why not hold one for the pedestrian bridge?

If the tram is any indication, the pedestrian bridge is likely to have, or at least start out with, an insufficient budget. Hopefully the federal funding being announced formally tomorrow by Senator Gordon Smith, Representative Darlene Hooley and OHSU representatives will be used to design and build something great, not merely something adequate.

UPDATE, August 5: I spoke to Matt Brown at the Portland Office of Transportation. He told me that Angelil/Graham created the basic design for the bridge, but due to federal rules, they can not be selected for the bridge because the original design competition for the tram did not operate according to the usual federal hiring process. What will most likely happen is that a structural engineering firm will be hired as the official designer and builder of the bridge, but they will work collaboratively with Angelil/Graham. So while Brown didn't exactly put it this way, to me Angelil/Graham is the designer in all but name and I expect Sarah Graham to call the shots on key design issues for the bridge. Which would make sense because she and her firm designed the tram.

Is The Office Market Finally Improving?

An article in today's Daily Journal of Commerce by Kennedy Smith reports that vacancy rates for Class A office space in the metro area have finally begun to fall, to an average 8.8 percent this year versus 12.6 percent this time last year.

This is great news. For a good three years, if not more, the office market has been dismal. Now that it's finally picking up, it begs the question: How long will it be until there is a demand not just for existing office space, but for new Class A offices to be constructed?

There are a handful of office projects that were planned a few years ago, only to be shelved during the recession and kept on the shelf during the modest recovery of recent times. The most notable example is One Waterfront Place, developed by Jim Winkler and designed by BOORA Architects. It was planned to be the first LEED 'Gold' rated office building in the United States. Might it finally be built in the next year or two? Winkler has told me on several occasions he only really needs one large tenant for the building to break ground.

It's too soon to get ahead of ourselves imagining big new office towers here, but I wonder just how much of a sign these improved fortunes in the office real estate market really are.