Imagining Katrina's Waterlines In Portland

I wanted to mention a thought-provoking exhibit on view for another couple weeks at the AIA about imagining the Portland area as a Hurricane Katrina victim. “Waterlines” was created and developed by PSU architecture department head Rudy Barton, a New Orleans native, and his son Greg, an architecture student at Tulane University in New Orleans. It helps us imagine a flood in the Portland-Metro region stretching from Sherwood to Camas, or every house in Beaverton replaced with a 28-foot FEMA trailer. Or imagine this: if 1 out of 2 Portlanders were now living elsewhere.

Barton and Barton have included numerous photos in the exhibit, and of course some of them are incredibly sobering. But somehow I feel most affected by simple map showing the flooding in New Orleans spread across our area. I think it's because it's a trigger for contemplating what it might be like if disaster on the level of what New Orleans and the Gulf region happened here. Not only would countless people be killed, hurt or their home and livelihoods taken away, but the physical fabric of the city would be damaged beyond repair. So many of our old trees would be gone, so many buildings.

This may sound unrelated, but as this spirit of contemplating what we have comes up, I'm reminded of my feelings yesterday walking by the Rosefriend Apartments, the beautiful historic building being destroyed by the First Christian Church to make way for the Ladd Tower project - and all in the name of parking. I respect the fact that we've gone through the process, and the owners/developers have every legal right to do what they're doing - namely obliterating terrific Portland architecture. And I respect the efforts of preservationists and co-developer John Carroll to preserve the adjacent Ladd Carriage House, the nice little anachronism sitting next to the very practical and viable Rosefriend. But standing across the street from this ill-fated beauty, I felt like I was going to wretch yesterday. There's even a little used surface parking lot across the street owned by the University Club that's begging for the underground parking the church needs. And still we bring in the *&%^$ wrecking ball? If there are any elected officials reading this (commissioner Leonard?), I implore you to consider some of the behind-the-scenes strong-arming Mayor Katz employed to help make the case for the Ladd Carriage house's rescue. For the rest of you, consider emailing the church here to make your thoughts known.

I bet a lot of architecture lovers in New Orleans wish they had just such a chance to prevent the loss of their historic architecture.

Comments

[Morgan]

That map is fairly specious. It needs to be adjusted for density and elevation.

Portland has the good grace to be located on a hilly terrain above sea level, not in a punch bowl below sea level next to a massive body of water.

I'm sorry about the human loss involved, but living below sea level next to a large body of water is a massive risk that God or whoever is going to call you on once in awhile. They should not rebuild. Or if they rebuild, they should not receive federal assistance for doing so.

[Peter]

I've emailed the Church, and Carroll Investments too, along with Sten and Leonard. One more plea. Thanks again, Brian, for not continuing to poke at this.

I had an idea when I was in Portland over the holidays, and since I don't live there these days, can't organize it.

The Ladd Tower sales office is now open, on Salmon between Broadway and Park. This could be the site of some information sharing / resistance. Portland has recently seen an ugly protest of a fur business. This kind of thing I want no part of. In my protest, I would wear, maybe, a faded red shirt with the word ROSEFRIEND on it, hold a red or pink balloon, and greet people, and hand out cards, describing the project and including email addresses.

If someone is motivated by such an idea, please run with it.

[Valarie]

Portland lives on many fault lines and amidst several volcanoes, which people who live in different terrains may consider quite a risk. If natural disaster ever befalls Portland, I hope no one ever tells us that we essentially deserved it.

[ws]

Visual aids that inspire empathy is a good thing, even if Portland isn't so susceptible to flooding as New Orleans was. Valerie is right about mentioning Oregon and Portland's threat by way of faultlines and earthquakes. Buildings in our town slowly get seismically upgraded. It takes time, money, but just how much anticipation can you reasonably build for?

One of the lessons of the seemingly forsaken Rosefriend Apartment building may be lack of awareness about such buildings that comprise a city's character, and for many different reasons, can slip away from its consciousness into the oblivion of demolition.

One answer as to why this might be happening could be an absence of a sense of empowerment on the part of many of those who should or may recognize the stake they have in the city so as to be able to consciously address the question of what their personal but essential role in directing its evolution should be.

We, the little people of the world all too often leave such concerns exclusively to our elected officials, the few outspoken community leaders, or the sacrosanct domain of the property owner and those with the cash.

So shall the Rosefriend become the latest victim of that tendency? It's not good for the health of our city to keep allowing this to go on.

[Brian]

The Dutch might have a contrarian view to Morgan when it comes to the viability of building below sea level. It can be done safely if the right engineering and budget is devoted to it, unlike what happened in New Orleans.

[Brian Libby]

I doubt any of the powers that be are listening, but here's my latest idea for saving the Rosefriend. The surface parking lot across the intersection from the Rosefriend at Broadway and Jefferson, whether it's owned by the adjacent University Club or someone else (I'm not sure), gets turned into an uderground parking garage like the one next to the Fox Tower, with some kind of public space on top. The First Christian Church people have access to the garage on Sundays, and the church pays a regular fee for that. But meanwhile they renovate the Rosefriend into condos or higher-priced rental apartments, and turn the church annex buildingon the park blocks into a three or four-story new structure with meeting space for the church. The new Rosefriend condos would generate needed revenue for the church, and help them contribute to the cost of the garage across the street. Whoever owns the lot across the street would get more of a revenue stream for their parking.
Problem solved?!

[Peter]

I think a quarter-block development on the site of the church annex could give the church revenue, and could potentially have a beautiful relationship with a preserved Rosefriend. Imagine a building like the Casey there. Church parking could be (a) under that building and (b) by agreement with the University Club, with whatever development takes place in the vacant plot across Columbia St. or, in the HISTORICAL SOCIETY GARAGE! OHS is not open on sunday, and should have an interest in helping to preserve a nice old bldg like the Rosefriend. Hello out there!

[Bill]

Well, OHS is never open anyways, and will probably go under this year, so that's another issue in and of itself... you'd think they would jump at the opportunity to help preserve part of Portland's past and

Good thing we have "strong-arm Potter" in office, I'm sure he knows just who to tell to appoint to a study to determine whether the public may or may not want to preserve part of downtown. /end sarcasm

[Jan]

Wanted you to know that Mercy Corps is funding a deconstruction pilot in New Orleans (i.e., salvaging historic architectural pieces, and recycling usable building materials). Attempting to demonstrate to FEMA that deconstruction is a smarter choice than (and as cheap as) bulldozing. "Sustainable redevelopment" is one area of interest for the recently announced Flight of Friendship--New Orleans (http://www.flightoffriendship.com). We're still in the planning stage, but a hands-on deconstruction project (or other green building project) is likely in the works. If interested, I encourage you to join the Flight of Friendship, or write me at jwoodruff@rebuildingcommunity.org.
Best regards,
Jan

[Jan]

Wanted you to know that Mercy Corps is funding a deconstruction pilot in New Orleans (i.e., salvaging historic architectural pieces, and recycling usable building materials). Attempting to demonstrate to FEMA that deconstruction is a smarter choice than (and as cheap as) bulldozing. "Sustainable redevelopment" is one area of interest for the recently announced Flight of Friendship--New Orleans (http://www.flightoffriendship.com). We're still in the planning stage, but a hands-on deconstruction project (or other green building project) is likely in the works. If interested, I encourage you to join the Flight of Friendship, or write me at jwoodruff@rebuildingcommunity.org.
Best regards,
Jan