On Friday night the Portland chapter of the American Institute of Architects held its annual Design Awards gala as part of Architecture Week 2005. The top prize, the Honor Award, went to two projects: the Niemeyer Arts Center at Clackamas Community College in Oregon City, designed by Opsis Architecture; and the Temporary Arts Complex at MachineWorks, designed by BOORA Architects for the Time-Based Art festival.
It’s hard to argue with the Niemeyer Center. It’s a poetically simple modern building of concrete and glass that’s also admirably sustainable. I can only assume that Opsis will continue to emerge as one of the region's best designers of public buildings.
I can completely understand the jury’s affection for the TBA festival space; it was very compelling and ingenious. But should it be favored over complete lasting buildings? Much as I admire what BOORA did, I’d have found it difficult to choose that project over, say, the Belmont Street Lofts by Holst or the Hillsdale Branch Library by Thomas Hacker, both of which won People Choice Awards but didn’t garner any recognition from the jury. (Hacker did win a Merit Award for another project, the US Port of Entry in Blaine, Washington.)
Another award, the Unbuilt Merit Award, went to a new firm, Works Partnership Architecture, for the Yamhill Insustrial WORKspace Buidling. Works Partnership is comprised in part of two former architects from Opsis (one of whom, Bill Neburka, was project designer for the Niemeyer Center and also co-designed the unbuilt Albina Arts Center, which won a previous AIA award, with the ultra-talented Rick Potestio) and one from DiLoreto Architects. The firm has assisted developer Brad Malsin with the Eastbank Commerce Center, Water Avenue Commerce Center, and a restoration of the B&O Warehouse in the Central Eastside. I would love to see this new building get built.
The South Waterfront Discovery Center, which played host to the ceremony, itself was honored for its architecture, courtesy of GBD Architects and Ziba Design. Watch out for Ziba in the future. Although the company is has been known in the past for its industrial design (everything from an ergonomic keyboard to a new squeegee), Ziba is now orienting itself more toward experiential design, where architecture and marketing meet to, ideally, form something greater than the sum of their parts. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Ziba again partner with GBD on the in-progress Armory project at the Brewery Blocks (although that’s definitely a bizarre drama in and of itself).
Still another award, the Built Citation Award, went to Skylab Architecture for Doug Fir restaurant. I unabashedly adore both the interior architecture and the crispy hash browns at Doug Fir, so the only question left is, who is going to hire Skylab next? Hopefully some developer is reading this. Or, failing that, the owner of the Galaxy restaurant across from Doug Fir, which is crying out for a Jeff Kovel-santioned makeover.
One of the three People’s Choice Awards went to a house on the Oregon Coast designed by architect Nathan Good that achieves “net zero” energy use. (In other words, it generates as much as it uses.) Good’s home follows the Rose House by SERA Architects, which I believe achieves the same goal. Hopefully these projects are just the first of many.
And the first Mayor’s Design Award to be given out by Tom Potter was bestowed upon Richard Brown Architects’ design for a New Seasons grocery store at Arbor Lodge. As a loyal patron of another New Seasons (on Southeast Division), I appreciate how the architecture contributes to a much more favorable shopping experience. But I also think Potter’s selection adds increasing credibility to many people’s fear that the mayor is simply not that interested in architecture. With all due respect to Brown, an excellent architect, or to the mayor himself, do you think Vera Katz would have chosen a grocery store as the best architecture in Portland over the last year?
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