Portland Architecture

PDX Lounge Takes Off

Next Tuesday in Chicago brings the American green building industry's biggest event: the annual Greenbuild conference, held by the US Green Building Council. (You may remember them from such rating systems as LEED.)

Chicago has emerged as one of the nation's real leaders when it comes to sustainable design. Mayor Daley has led a strong charge to transform the city into one full of greenery and leading-edge technology devoted to combating global warming and other eco-catastrophes in the making. But Portland is no slouch either when it comes to green - we're arguably the nation's leader in this field.

To help showcase Portland's leading role not only in sustainable building design but also a host of eco-friendly products and services, the city has created a bold stage to show Chicago and the world what we do. It's called PDX Lounge and is a public-private partnership anchored by the city's Office of Sustainable Development and a host of local industry partners.

PDX Lounge will be housed at the Chicago Illuminating Company, a 20,000 square foot installation and multimedia experience showcasing critical building blocks for a sustainable economy. Usually the idea of a product and service showcase might sound boring: more brochures to pick up, maybe a free drink and some polite conversation to go with the product pitches at various booths.

But the designers of PDX Lounge, from Zimmer Gunsul Frasca, Opsis Architecture, Thomas Hacker Architects and SERA Architects with the help of many others, have made this more like a party. I'm told the brochures will be nicely hidden away, and visitors will hang out in a tricked-out posh green pad. I'm including a basic floorplan layout here, but also plan to take some pictures of the real thing in Chicago next week.

If you can't make it to Chicago but want to check out PDX Lounge, the organizers will be having a send-off party tomorrow from 4-6PM at the Neil Kelly warehouse: 2636 NW 26th Avenue. Mayor Tom "I'm irrelevant" Potter will be there, as will Commissioner Dan Saltzman and reps from PDX Lounge participating partners like Full Sail Brewing, Nau, Keen, and Gerding Edlen Development. To the cheers of well-wishers, a big truck housing the Lounge will take off for Chicago - fueled by biodiesel, of course.

In the future, PDX Lounge organizers would ideally like to find a permanent home here in Portland for this showcase of Portland's sustainable designs, products and services. My first thought for a locale was the John Yeon-designed former Portland Oregon Visitors Center on Waterfront Park by the Hawthorne Bridge, more recently home to McCall's restaurant but currently seeking a new tenant. What better use for this fine building than a showcase of what we do best?

The Coming Alternative Energy Revolution

This week I've had solar and other alternative energies on the mind thanks to a handful of different sources.

A few nights ago on PBS, I came across a Nova documentary about solar power and two different efforts--one public, one private--to encourage and spread the use of solar panels.

In Germany, the government has offered massive incentives to citizens to invest in photovoltaic panels: buy them at a reduced rate, and then sell power back to the grid at a profit. The program is so successful that Germany is now forecasting that as much as one-third of its power could come from alternative energy within a decade or two. And it's not all about what the government is doing. In response to the solar push in the Fatherland, a host of solar energy companies have sprouted there.

That was the public-sector effort. In the United States, which of course is the world's greatest pariah when it comes to avoiding Kyoto and other planet-saving efforts, the documentary visited a Whole Foods store in New Jersey in which a separate private company provides the store with solar panels on its roof for the right to be the store's power provider. The owner of that energy company talked about how we've reached a tipping point for solar being cost-effective, at least for part of the day. As I understand it from watching the show, because power fluctuates in cost depending on what time of day you use it, solar is now often cheaper than standard grid electricity provided at peak hours. It so happens that most peak-time electricity usage is during the day -- precisely when solar power kicks in.

When I really got inspired about solar, though, was talking yesterday with Tom Osdoba, who is a couple months into his new job as head of sustainable economic development for the city. Tom and I got together to talk about PDX Lounge, the showcase of Portland sustainable designs and products slated for next month's Greenbuild conference in Chicago. (I'm planning to write a separate post about PDX Lounge soon.) But we spent most of our lunchtime (scarfing sandwiches not withstanding) talking about how that same model the Whole Foods in New Jersey utilized--third party dollars bankrolling solar panel infrastructure--on a vastly greater scale here in Portland.

In order to really slow or stop global warming, we've got to embrace alternative energy on a much more massive scale than it's ever been done before. We could be talking a solar panel on practically every roof of the approximately 200,000 single family homes in Portland. At the federal or state level, there could soon in the years ahead be a carbon tax on every household to pay for such efforts. But before then, Portland may want to consider its own carbon tax, or some kind of large-scale partnership with emerging green energy companies, in order for our city to really jump far ahead of the curve in the coming years as post George W. Bush America embraces alternative energy with the kind of collective effort that's in the past only been dedicated to world wars. If we don't blow ourselves up in some stupid nuclear war or endless quagmire with Iran, North Korea, Syria and Russia, greening America will be the great crusade of this generation. And that will bring lots and lots of economic and social opportunity. As Amy Goodman writes in an op-ed piece syndicated in today's Oregonian, there could be as much as five million "green jobs" available as the US works to conserve 20 percent of our energy by 2015 as the country's economy transforms from a coal- and oil-burning one to a sustainable one built on new energy sources.

And along the way, Portland and every other city will come to look vastly different than they do today. What size panel will your roof hold?

King Holds Court Tonight

Has everyone in the architecture community gone out yet to purchase their copy of Bart King's second edition of An Architectural Guidebook To Portland? Well, if not, tonight you can become the proud owner of an autographed copy.

King will be reading from the book tonight and discussing local architecture at Powell's City of Books at SW 10th and Burnside at 7:30. Bart tells me he will also be hold a slide show as he talks about his favorites of local design. And seriously: If you follow design and architecture in Portland at all, get yourself a copy.

I've heard countless good things over the years about one of the only other books focused on local architecture, Bill Hawkins' Classic Houses of Portland: 1850-1950, and indeed it's a wonderful text. But Bart's book is the one I pick up every few days as a combination reference manual and local architectural travelogue.

Shoebox Lofts Developer, Architect Frustrated By Review Process

Developer Jon Gustafson and designer DiLoreto Architects are the latest team to grapple with the ambiguities of urban infill, zoning and the approval process.

Their proposed project, the Shoebox Lofts at 3952 N Williams Avenue, was approved by the local neighborhood association. Because it’s located in one of the Portland Development Commission’s urban renewal areas near mass transit with workforce-level units (all priced under $200,000), Gustafson has also received support from the city.

According to Gustafson, though, the Shoebox Lofts is on the verge of being rejected by the city. “Is it the modern design?  Is it the two people that did complain?  Is there a problem with the code?  All of the above?  I don't know,” he told Portland Architecture by email. “I'm just a guy who grew up in Portland, used to live in the neighborhood, and wanted to build an antidote to all the ‘yuppie-pads’ being built in the area.  I don't have the financial resources of most developers, hence the PDC grant.  So appeals and redesigns are unlikely for me.”

The bone of contention seems to be that the city wanted a more traditional styled building facing the rear, which has an ‘R-2’ zoning for housing, as well as the top floor removed off the back building. The height limit here is 65 feet, but Gustafson says the city is telling him it must be 45 feet on the back half of the lot. And you know the developer’s answer to that. “Unfortunately, losing two back units makes the building economically unfeasible," Gustafson says, as if on cue. "We altered the design, lowered the building height by 10 feet, and offered to step back the top floor. In total, we revised the plan four times and could not reach a compromise.”

“I'm frustrated, and starting to believe all of the horror stories I've heard about working with the city,” Gustafson adds.  It was an awful experience for me. I now have a new understanding of why most developers do what they do. Sad.…but true.”

Admittedly, the building has somewhat of an atypical look. With its stairways outside and boxy form, one can understand how it might be somewhat challenging of an addition to the neighborhood on its rear side.

But people are constantly clamoring for more affordable high-density housing in Portland, and the Shoebox project does just that. All units are to be sold for under $200,000. Hell, maybe even a poor blogger could afford one!

Perhaps more importantly, this ambiguity about what is or isn’t allowed by the codes seems to be a very difficult pill for developers and their architects to swallow. People in charge of the codes and approval process should certainly have some wiggle room to interpret things prudently, but how long can people go on designing projects to the allowed code and then get rejected? Or have the whole process drag on for so long that they’re forced to pull the plug before arriving at approval?

I'm not one to argue against design review - far from it. Portland benefits overall from such strictures, without question. But there's something about the articulation of this process that seems strained amidst a new generation of higher density urban infill. We've simply got to figure this out.

Are Tram Foes Eating Crow Yet?

Recently the Portland Aerial Tram celebrated its one millionth visitor. As reported by a few different media outlets last week, a ceremony was held recently as an OHSU employee was selected for the honor while descending down Pill Hill to the school's new Center For Health & Healing on the South Waterfront campus for a doctor's appointment. The millionth passenger was also significantly ahead of schedule, for tram ridership numbers have been even higher than expected.

Then there are the awards. Earlier this month, the tram received an award at the National Council of Structural Engineers 2007 Awards in Philadelphia. Previously the project has also won an award from the Structural Engineers of Southern California (engineer Arup, a partner in the design/construction, is based in Los Angeles, as is architect AGPS Architecture) and the Presidential Award of Excellence in Engineering. Oh, and the New York Times published a glowing article about the tram as well.

Somehow all that controversy about budget over-runs, boondoggles, and peeping Toms spying over neighbors living beneath the tram's path, seems to have fallen away like someone doing a half-pike from the tram car. The triumph of misinformation, based on the ludicrously small initial estimate for what such an endeavor would realistically cost, is fading into memory while thousands of doctors, patients, and other riders head up and down the hill, saving gasoline and pollution on every trip. And the design itself? Sarah Graham's vision for the tram had to change over time from her firm's original vision to the reality. But she and the other design/construction partners clung valiantly to a quality work of engineering.

There's only one thing left: Reduce the ridiculously high $4 tram ticket price. Revenues and ridership are both higher than expected. The tram should in my mind be part of Tri-Met's overall transit system for the city and cost the same as a bus, streetcar or MAX ride. Any time a particular mass-transit node is separate from the rest of the system in any financial or ticket-holding sense, I just shake my head. Why do anything that inhibits more people from getting out of their cars? The $4 ticket price tells me this is a novelty ride to milk tourists with, not an everyday thing. I know it's free for OHSU employees, but that just makes other riders having to pay double a bus ride all the more of an exclusive piece of mass transit.

Measure 49 Needs Our Help!

The election is coming up next month, and it's going to be tight. The effort to pass Measure 49 (the fix for the land-use catastrophe known as Measure 37) is a very close race. This one seems like it could go either way, and in these last few weeks leading up to the election, the Yes on 49 campaign has put out an urgent call for volunteers to call registered voters, with a goal of reaching 150,000 people.  If you, your colleagues or friends would like to help, please contact Sean at the Yes on 49 Campaign, (503) 888-5738.  Phone bank volunteers are needed from October 16 to October 24.  For more information regarding the Campaign for Measure 49 and to sign up to help please visit: http://www.yeson49.com.

Maya Lin and Confluence Envy

Seven years ago a group of Native American tribes and local civic leaders approached Maya Lin, designer of the superb Vietnam War memorial in Washington, DC, to participate in a project commemorating the bicentennial of Lewis and Clark's journey with the Corps of Discovery in 1804-6. The idea was to rethink what the commemoration of the bicentennial could be.

Out of this collaboration came the Confluence Project, a series of seven art installations along the Columbia River designed to evoke the history of the Lewis and Clark Expedition and the tremendous changes it brought to the Pacific Northwest: not just political or historic, but also natural ones.

Now, many of the seven sites are taking shape, each where the Columbia river meets another key body of water: the Pacific ocean, the Willamette River, the Sandy River, the Snake River, and so on.

By its very definition, the Confluence Project is site specific and meant to exist at key geographical spots. But looking at the map of sites, as an Oregonian I can't help but feel a little bit jealous. The state of Washington has snatched up almost all of the nearest sites. Sure, Oregon has the monument out in Troutdale marking where the Sandy River meets the Willamette Columbia (pictured). But the monument marking the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia Rivers? That's in Ridgefield Washington, 10 miles away from where the actual rivers meet - in Portland.

Another site, one of the only ones not associated with another water source meeting the Columbia, marks where the river meets the Klickitat Trail at Fort Vancouver. There will be a new land bridge connecting Fort Vancouver with the riverfront, a nice public works project for the city to enjoy. And the monument marking the confluence of the Columbia with the Pacific? It's not in Astoria, where a revitalized city and economy would have been very excited by the monument, and where you can literally look out and see the river meet the ocean, but in Ilwaco, Washington at Cape Disappointment. Indeed.

As I write this, I realize it's petty of me to be keeping score about whether Washington or Oregon gets more of Maya Lin's Confluence works. When the Corps of Discovery actually traversed this land, of course, these artificial state boundaries didn't exist. And of course the terrain and geography and history should be the determining factor in where these sites go. The last thing I'd want to do is politicize the site selection process.

At the same time, though, the Ridgefield site bothers me. The project was originally set to be at Frenchman's Bar, another Vancouver Park. But it was moved to Ridgefield in order to be paired with an environmental research center at Washington State University's satellite campus there. So what was more important here, development or history?

This move, in my mind, opens the door for Confluence sites to be selected by means other than history and geography. So using that logic, we have license to ask why in the world the Willamette/Columbia Confluence site isn't somewhere in Portland. After all, if Ridgefield is ten miles away from the actual confluence, why not move a few miles down the Willamette and put Maya Lin's work in a prominent urban site along the river, such as Waterfront Park?

No offense to Washingtonians, but if you ask most people which American city sits at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, they wouldn't respond with "The Couve", let alone Ridgefield. Now, for reasons I don't think are good enough, Clark County on the Washington side of the Columbia gets two monuments overseen by Maya Lin, the most acclaimed monument designer of our time, while Portland, the vastly bigger and more relevant urban big brother, gets more or less zero. To me, that's like naming the Lewis & Clark expedition the 'Lewis & Jones' expedition after Lewis and a subordinate of Clark's.

Then again, having expressed my petty Confluence envy, I am very glad that at least some of these Lin monuments will be within a day's drive. Maybe I'll even stop at that enormous factory outlet mall in Troutdale after communing with nature and history in Lin's bird-blind installation by the Sandy River.

ZGF, McKean Lead Design Award Winners

On Friday night, the AIA/Portland chapter (a sponsor of this site) held its annual design awards gala. Ten awards were given out, seven for built projects and three for unbuilt ones.

The top award you can win from this ceremony is the 'Honor Award', which went to two projects: Zimmer Gunsul Frasca's design for the University of Oregon's Athletic Medicine Center in Eugene and Paul McKean's Neal Creek House near Hood River. The two projects couldn't be more different. One is a palace for premiere Oregon Duck athletes, bankrolled in large part by Nike co-founder Phil Knight and other affluent donors. The other is one architect's little house for himself and his family. One's by the biggest firm in town, the other by a sole practitioner.

Of the Neal Creek House, the jury commented that they were "taken by the way this building sits on the landscape and found it to be an example of elegant and innovative use of space on a very restrictive budget." The project is "humble in its concept, very tight in plan and beautifully executed with a vertical circulation for the meadow up into the house."

The UO project, said the jury, was "extremely well executed with an interesting program. It is spatially rich and complex, which is difficult to do within a purely interior space." Jurors also "appreciated the transparency within the space and how it embraced the athletic history through colors, graphics and unique branding. This clearly was an expensive project, but the money was spent very, very well." And the green-and-yellow color scheme naturally looks better than black and orange. (By the way, would somebody tell Nike that black isn't an Oregon Ducks color? And that football players don't need faux diamond plating to look tough?)

I'm also happy to see ZGF winning a top award because it's another validation of the improved caliber of design that has come out of one of the city's top firms. ZGF has been responsible for many key buildings in Portland as well as the MAX train. Head principal Bob Frasca is at the very least a minor legend. But while these designs are a collaborative affair, the UO project and other recent designs such as the Eliot Tower confirm the talents of a younger generation at ZGF headed by architects like Eugene Sandoval.

Recently a vitriol-spewing curmudgeon named John commented on this site that there is no beautiful contemporary architecture made today. Each of these projects, as well as past AIA award winners such as Rick Potestio's Lair Condominiums, Holst's Belmont Lofts, or Brad Cloepfil's 2281 Glisan building provide more than enough retort.

Aside from the two Honor Award winners, local firm Works Partnership picked up both of the Merit Awards, which are the second-tier of honors (followed by the Citation Awards). Their renovation of the Olympic Mills warehouse in the Central Eastside (pictured) dazzled the jury for its creation of several interior courtyards to introduce natural light as well as its seven-story interior stairwells clad in wood screens. Works Partnership's unbuilt Encased Houses project also won a Merit Award, and its unbuilt mixed-use housing project on NW Upshur won a Citation Award.

Works Partnership, headed by Bill Neburka and Carrie Schilling, is a young firm but has won AIA design awards before. They've also really put their stamp on the Central Eastside more than any other Portland firm with their renovations for Beam Development of the East Bank Commerce Center and its adjacent River Avenue Commerce Center, joined now by the Olympic Mills project, which dwarfs those buildings.

Rising-star architect Jeff Kovel and his firm Skylab walked away with top honors last year for their mixed-use building on 12th Avenue downtown. This year Skylab won both a Citation Award and Sustainability Award for its design of the new Nau apparel store in Bellevue. Look for Skylab to be a major player at next year's awards, either for the cool lounge they're designing atop the renovated Meier & Frank building, or the bold condo tower planned for near the Crystal Ballroom.

The Nau store actually seems somewhat tame for Skylab, but the award is an indication of the largely untapped potential of retail design in the US. If you ever go to Japan, it won't take long to notice that their retail outlets are light years ahead in terms of the theatricality of design. Then again, considering Nau's brand identity is one of woodsy integrity and high performance, the simple palette of wood and concrete is probably appropriate. After all, it works very well for design icon Apple in their retail outlets.

Other award winners: the always solid Hennebery Eddy won the latest of its numerous awards over the years for its Historic Barn at the City of Wilsonville Memorial Park. And Colab, whose portfolio includes an incredible Dubai skyscraper and, locally, the very impressive Brandon House just south of the North Mississippi area, won for its design of Split wine bar in Tualatin (pictured). Also, the Mayor's Award for Design Excellence went to the Community Campus at New Columbia by Dull Olsen Weekes, and the People's Choice Award went to another Dubai project: the massive Al Bateen Wharf Hotel + Residences by Otak.

Congrats to all the winners.

Katz Back on the Prowl

Friday's Portland Tribune had an encouraging feature by Jennifer Anderson on former mayor Vera Katz. For three years since leaving office, she's kept a relatively low profile while battling cancer. But now, after finally receiving a clean bill of health, Katz is starting to become a little more active.

Currently Katz is chairing a committee of property owners to decide the placement of a new Willamette River bridge for bikes and pedestrians from the South Waterfront area to near OMSI. (Hopefully it will be as far north as possible to benefit downtowners and not just SoWa.)  The ex-mayor is also a member of the "creative capacity" group that her former chief of staff, commissioner Sam Adams, has created to find permanent funding for the arts. (How about some of that money for design?)

Katz also said this: “I’m thinking of asking Sam, when he’s mayor, if I can serve on the planning or design commission. I’d love that.”

During her tenure as mayor, Vera Katz was more of a friend to the design community than her successor has been. She started the Mayor's Design Initiative and used her office to help shepherd through projects like the Brewery Blocks, the restored Meier & Frank building, the aerial tram, and the East Bank Esplanade that now is named for her.

The best thing about Katz's re-emergence is the fact that there is one -- that she's in good health. But as it happens, the architecture community could also benefit from a reinvigorated ex mayor. If Sam Adams does indeed become mayor, it's not difficult to imagine Katz in some kind of emeritus role like she suggested. What could she do as head of the design commission, or the historic landmarks commission? The latter group could certainly use some help.  Maybe she could even talk Adams out of the ill-advised Burnside couplet. I'd like to see her head a new Mayor's Design Initiative under Adams that not only hands out awards, but seeks to reform various bureaus and commissions to make design excellence, and not just planning and development and sustainability, a top city priority.

Portland Skinny Houses As National Model, and Local Green Honorees

Thanks to its planning and sustainability efforts, Portland has never been thin on accolades. And now the city’s Living Smart program, which began with a design competition for better skinny-lot houses (prompted by how hideous most of the current ones are) and has now as of earlier this year seen completion of its first built house (streamlined permitting is a built-in incentive for using these plans), received validation recently as a nationally-respected model for high-density housing.

Living Smart will be featured next month at the National League of Cities’ annual Congress of Cities and Exposition in New Orleans. Held November 13-17, event celebrates innovative city programs and offers officials from across the country an opportunity to discuss innovative ideas with more than 5,000 participants expected to attend this year’s conference.

Through Living Smart, Portland is the first city in the country to such plans along with a building permit as an incentive to build more attractive, energy efficient infill homes. And as it happens, at that same League of Cities gathering, another topic will be Portland’s new regulations requiring a minimum 5% blend of biodiesel for all vehicle diesel fuel sold in the city limits and require that gasoline contain at least 10% ethanol.

Meanwhile, earlier this morning about 300 early birds attended a breakfast ceremony for the fifth annual BetterBricks Awards, which, recognizing people behind green buildings in Oregon.

BetterBricks, an initiative of the nonprofit Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance, is also a sponsor of Portland Architecture. I’m posting this information, though, because I think it’s relevant to readers. It’s a little tricky sometimes in this area as a blogger, acting as both the editorial and the advertising wing of the operation. But it’d be as wrong to not write about BetterBricks or the AIA when something noteworthy when it comes up than it would be to let sponsors influence editorial. Or something.

Winners and finalists were recognized in the following categories:

In the “Advocate” category, the winner was Bill Nesmith, Assistant Director of Conservation for the Oregon Department of Energy. “You like me! You really like me!” he tearfully exclaimed afterward. (Just kidding.) Finalists included Amy Cortese, Sustainability Coordinator for Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Architects Ralph DiNola, Principal at Green Building Services, Inc. They’re all winners in my book. (Sniff, sniff.)

In the “Building Operator/Service Provider” category, Terry Taylor, Director of Facilities for Gresham-Barlow School District, walked away with the prize. Terry the Terror’s fellow finalist was Todd Murphy, Facility Manager for Emcor Facilities Services. Keep your chin up, Todd.

In the “Designer” category, triumphing was Clark Brockman, an associate principal and something called “Studio Leader” for SERA Architects. Hail, Studio Leader! The other finalist was Jeff Reaves, President of Group Mackenzie, whose firm co-developed and designed the River East Center, that cool renovated warehouse at the east Hawthorne Bridge head.

In the “Emerging Leader” category, which I suppose is a little bit like the Grammy for Best New Artist (but hopefully not the same career-jinx), the winner was Scott Steele, president and founder of Steele Associates Architects. Awaiting the drumroll just as eagerly, cameras awaiting their reaction, were Brandon Smith, Chief Operating Officer of Cascadia and Renee Worme, Sustainability Manager at Gerding Edlen Development.

A designer actually invaded the “Owner/Decision Maker” category. Kevin Cavenaugh, who developed and created the design for The Rocket on lower East Burnside, was the man in the winner’s circle. He edged out Jon Carder & Byron Courts of Melvin Mark. Along with Jeff Reaves of Group Mackenzie, what a great sign this is that more architects are taking development into their own hands.

Because of green building and energy efficiency, the architects' profession is really changing. Integrated design is the subject of BetterBricks' latest marketing push, and it's true that it is the way of the future on anything beyond a tiny project. That means architects will be working more collaboratively during the entire design process with engineers, contractors, and other colleagues to figure out how climate, mechanical systems, alternative energy sources and other factors will come together in a way that maximizes efficiency. At the same time, even as they succumb to more democracy in design, it's a chance for architects to take the reigns and lead this army of specialists. But then again, people like Clark and Kevin could tell you more about it than me. So guys, where you gonna party tonight, man?

A Condo Slowdown, But Only That

Yesterday Ryan Frank and Jeff Manning's front-page Oregonian feature made a strong case that things have changed significantly in Portland with respect to condo demand. Reservations made at even the most popular condos, from the John Ross in South Waterfront to The Civic between downtown and Northwest, have seen many a cancellation of pre-completion renovations. Other projects have switched to luxury apartments, which I think is a limited market. Projects under construction have far less certain futures in terms of occupancy, and ones in the planning stages are on hold.

At the same time, we all know that such data is relative, and that economics (of which real estate is a part) also always have their ebbs and flows. I see Portland's condo slow-down as just that: a period in which the unprecedented growth and spread of condos perhaps ends its most manic period, but because of numerous factors ultimately continues to go forward. I'm pretty-much convinced that within a year or so, the cranes will be moving more quickly again.

Last week I happened to have lunch with Ryan and Jeff, my Oregonian colleagues, when their story was in the finishing stages. We happened to run into a prominent condo developer and talked with him for quite a while as we polished off the last of our cheeseburgers (or salad in Ryan's case). The developer said he thinks the real estate picture for condo projects will become much more positive by next summer. Do the rest of you think this is a temporary slow-down, or something more? The headline of the article was, "Shadow falls on condo market". It makes me think of shadows cast by the regular cycles of the sun, which will always return after darkness temporarily falls.

One other thing I do wonder about the condo slowdown, though. Nobody wants to see architects or builders (and subs) get fewer commissions. But in some way, might a bit of a slowdown in the condo boom be good for Portland? After all, cities traditionally develop at paces much slower than what we've seen in the Pearl District and South Waterfront. In the northern Pearl, for example, developer Hoyt Street Properties has for years struggled to get the city to re-zone to allow taller, skinnier buildings. But planning isn't a gangbuster-pace activity, nor should it be. Is it possible that slowing the condo pace just a bit gives the city more time to do it better?

Besides, if condos are slowing down, the office market finally seems to becoming out of slumber. The Pearl and SoWa could both use more offices to integrate in those neighborhoods with the residential buildings, bringing in a weekday presence and vitality that complements the mostly evening/weekend presence of people in condos and apartments.

Our Version of Charlottesville

This post is coming to you from Charlottesville, Virginia, where yours truly attended the wedding of a college roommate last night. This morning I toured the famed University of Virginia campus designed by Thomas Jefferson, including the circular rotunda building that occupies many a postcard, and the surrounding quad in its palette of red brick and white columns. Very impressive stuff, although it's so hot here (90 degrees in October) I could barely make it out from all the sweat pouring down my face.

Seeing such a classic campus like UVA got me thinking about Portland's major college campuses: Reed, Lewis & Clark, Portland State and Portland. I know none of them could match the grandness and history of the Cavaliers. But do any of you have any feelings, opinions, or impressions about the architecture and campus plan of our schools?

The first thought I had was Pietro Belluschi's church on the quad at the University of Portland. That's a wonderful building. But it's just one building. Reed has a nice fabric of old brick buildings, combined with some neo-historic stuff done by Zimmer Gunsul Frasca more recently. And PSU's campus is more like my alma mater, New York University, in that the city itself is the campus - although PSU has perhaps more of a campus feel than my school did because of the South Park Blocks.

Does anyone else care to add any favorites with respect to local campus architecture?

Sellwood Bridge: Less Intrusive,Less of a Future?

For anyone who crosses it, the Sellwood Bridge south of downtown is in desperate need of replacement. Only one lane goes in each direction, and the whole thing feels like it's ready to crumble. It rates only 2 out of 100 on a federal bridge-sufficiency scale. Buses and big trucks are banned, although I think SUVs are still allowed. (Or as I call them, SSUVs for their barge-like qualities.)

Multnomah County has spent nearly two years studying bridge options, including an entirely new span and a refurbishment of the old bridge. They've involved hundreds of neighbors and business to be involved in the process.

But in a very short time at a Monday night meeting with neighborhood residents, organizers agreed to drop one of the options endorsed by a task force that had spent 16 months studying. Policy makers agreed at the behest of neighborhood residents to only consider routes along the current span or between Spokane Street and Sellwood Riverfront Park. Fewer residences and businesses will be condemned that way.

"I'm not interested in taking homes," said Multnomah County Commissioner Maria Rojo de Steffey, an advocate for the new bridge but apparently one willing to play to the crowd.

Such narrowing of the options also hinders the chance to build the right bridge, one that has room for bike lanes and wide sidewalks for pedestrians, as well as multiple lanes for cars. We should also consider the possibility of light rail or a streetcar eventually crossing here, even if it's not in the current plans.

As Arthur Sulzberger wrote in his Tuesday Oregonian report, though, "Community support has built around narrower, less intrusive options that don't funnel too much traffic onto Southeast Tacoma street, the arterial heart of the neighborhood."

The Sellwood Bridge is important to far more Portlanders, however, than those living in Sellwood. Heading south, It's the first chance people have to cross the river for miles after the Ross Island Bridge. Many people in Portland use the bridge to get to jobs in Clackamas County, such as my aunt, who lives in Hillsdale but works at a senior services center in Clackamas. With the city adding many thousands of residents per year, it seems preposterous to rebuild the same old small bridge with one lane in each direction.

I don't know the right answer for the Sellwood Bridge. Nobody wants to see people driven from their homes or businesses. But I wonder if process-heavy Portland could in a situation like this use just a little more of the Robert Moses style: Build the best bridge for the city's future. Move the buildings you have to, and compensate the displaced properly.

In other words, let's not make the Sellwood Bridge a local sellout.

Portland's Stimson Lumber Fights Measure 49, Says "Tim-ber!" To Their Integrity

Oregonians In Action, the Tigard-based organization that sponsored Measure 37 (a.k.a. Oregon's land-use holocaust), can now count a Portland-based company tied to the building industry as its largest contributor in the fight against Measure 49, the initiative on next month's ballot that would restore a few of the key land use provisions.

Portland's Stimson Lumber has donated $200,000 to the campaign against 49. They are eyeing subdivisions and strip malls to be built on Oregon's precious farmland and forests. Stimson also has Measure 37 claims involving about 57,000 acres.

Waiting in my email in-box this morning after reading the article was a letter to the editor that architect Stuart Emmons has sent to the paper, which I wanted to pass on:

I call on 2000 people who love Oregon to get out your checkbook right now and write a $100 check to ‘Yes on 49’ to negate this self-serving, Oregon-damaging contribution. I am in Oregon because it is a place that cherishes its unparalleled natural beauty and tries to develop responsibly. Talented, creative people and sustainable, forward-thinking businesses locate here because of our quality of life, brought on by a tradition of respect for our natural heritage. Unfortunately, there are, and will always be, short sighted people who are comfortable trashing our beautiful state with sprawl, asphalt and billboards. We just need to respectfully continue to say no to those who support a decline in our quality of life.

If any of you feel the same about Oregon's land use laws, the sheer unadulterated horror of Measure 37 and the worthiness of even a weak Measure 49 fix, and most of all want to give Stimson Lumber an earful, their telephone number is 503-222-1676.

The Green Skyline

On Wednesday the Cascadia region chapter of the US Green Building Council will be hosting a tour of five buildings in Portland with exemplary sustainable credentials. Three are new projects and two are green re-habs.

The first rehab project, the 200 Market Street building (near Keller Auditorium), was the first multi-tenant building in the United States to earn LEED-EB ("Existing Buildings) certification. I've never written about this building before, but it's in its way a distinctive downtown piece of architecture. According to the Green Skyline tour's website, it's been dubbed "black beauty", for its dark skin of exterior metal and shaded glass. Like it or not, the GBD Architects designed building is a real monolith. I'm not so crazy about it just because of the proportions - it's a Portland stump. But the utter blackness of the building does indeed have a certain appeal.

The other re-hab project on the tour, the Lovejoy-Opsis building at NW 17th and Lovejoy, is a more than 80-year-old structure. I visited Opsis Architecture's offices there a couple years ago and they looked fabulous: lots of wood everywhere, but natural light everywhere. This project received a 'Gold' LEED rating, and I like the fact that they have that kind of sustainability factor but also can create very handsome modern buildings (the early 20th Century place they occupy not withstanding).

In addition to the Glumac offices by Emmons Architects, mentioned in a recent post, there is the LEED 'Platinum' rated OHSU Center for Health And Healing (designed by GBD Architects) and Stephen Epler Hall at Portland State University, designed by Mithun of Seattle, which received a 'Silver' rating. As I've said many times, when it was on the drawing board, I was less excited about the OHSU building than the nearby South Waterfront towers by Peter Busby going in about the same time. Now that they're built I definitely prefer the OHSU building. It's also arguably the greenest piece of architecture, at least on this scale, ever built in Oregon.

'Green Skyline' is a nice, catchy name for this tour, but ironically, this one of the only movements in the history of architecture that isn't rooted in primarily in aesthetics. What does it mean to have a green skyline? When I think of the word skyline, I think of the view we have of a city's major downtown tall buildings from a distance. That's an act of aesthetic observation. Unfortunately, the building on the tour I would actually consider part of a green skyline is the OHSU Center.

But really the purpose of this tour is to go check out projects and meet the people who made them happen, in large part from a practical perspective. That's just as important as the look of the skyline - even more so, arguably. But I'd still like to know what a green skyline in Portland, or elsewhere, might look like.