Following Path Architecture

Most who are already familiar with Path Architecture, the firm headed by Corey Martin and Ben Kaiser, may associate it with two projects along Williams Avenue that were planned before the economic downturn and never came to fruition: the Backbridge Lofts and Backbridge Station. The firm is not only still active after those setbacks, but is seeing projects get built.

Two projects I visited are currently under construction (both houses), while the Williams Five condominium project (some of which has gone rental) has recently seen completion. Yesterday I visited the project with Corey Martin, the principal designer. Although a relatively modest project, this five-unit building uses a simple wood, glass and masonry palette to fine effect that both ties in with the residential historic vernacular and stands alone from it.

Martin got his start working for Brad Cloepfil and Allied Works Architecture on projects like the exquisite 2281 Glisan building; although not seeking to wrestle credit away from Cloepfil, he called Allied's Maryhill Overlook sculpture at the Maryhill Museum in Washingon "my baby."

Especially impressive at Williams Five, which includes three condos and two storefront live-work units, is the distribution of light. Martin favors big corner windows that use the adjacent walls to "wash" the space, as he describes it, with illumination.

Also peculiar but successful inside some of the units is a portion of the second floor made of metal grating, which is employed to help distribute light from the large ground floor, floor-to-ceiling sliding doors into the upper portions of the space. The grating wouldn't be very comfy on the toes, but it does indeed help render artificial lights totally unnecessary in daytime. I was there on a very foggy morning and there was plenty of light.

Apparently the clientele buying in at Williams Five speaks to the coolness of the architecture. Although the live-work spaces are unsold, recently arrived tenants in the other units include a successful rock band promoter and two artists.

Only about eight blocks away, Path also has a luxury duplex overlooking Unthank Park in North Portland. One of these homes Martin will occupy himself, and I believe the other is already spoken for by a top professional photographer. This project has a look of protruding glass boxes that resembles Holst Architecture's under-construction Sunrose Condominiums on SE 28th and Burnside. Even as I was briefly perusing the half-built house, somebody stopped to inquire about the project and ask if any units were available. This on a day the Dow-Jones dropped another several hundred points.

In Southeast Portland a few blocks south of Hawthorne Boulevard, Path is in the final stages of construction on a wood-ensconced three story house that gently cantilevers over its ground-floor portion to rise and reveal views of downtown that can be enjoyed on a rooftop deck. Who says you have to build a pitched roof?

You never know which small firms are going to rise from smaller projects into big-time commissions. A few years ago I believed firms like Colab and Emmons Architects would be doing condo towers and office buildings by now because of their talent, but so far despite continued success the big jobs haven't turned out that way. Which is fine, because design quality of course isn't measured by size and scale of projects.

Even so, Path Architecture is a very promising firm with not only impressive talent but the hutzpah to develop their own work much of the time. Before long in addition to the projects mentioned above, they'll also be building a medium-sized new mixed use building in the burgeoning North Mississippi neighborhood, and hopefully more than we even can say now. I'll be continuing to follow their path for awhile.

Comments

[Henry]

With all due respect, the William Five literally looks straight out of 1950s Los Angeles.

[Brian Libby]

Fair enough, but is that a bad thing?

[Brad Cooley]

The massing and orientation of the Williams Five seem to fit well with the site and make a contribution to the neighborhood without showing off.

Hard to say much else from the exterior. The three tone pallette of wood, white and concrete are nice. Will have to wait and see how the wood weathers over time, maybe patina into grey or silver.

[billb]

I gotta chuckle when I see the
trendy new projects covered w/natural wood. Wayyyy back in the 60's a bunch of hippy architects
put wood all over , and it looked like hell in a few years. It needs
proper finish AND re-treatment all
the time. I hope to see these architects out there every few years on maintenance...

[Corey Martin]

Haha...we do like LA and Portland architecture circa 1950 and yes, it does help to re apply finish to cedar to keep it looking brand new. In our experience the penetrating semi-transparent oil finish we use lasts at least 8 years (similar to paint) and cedar, even untreated, lasts for decades with little degradation. The stain will not let the cedar 'grey-out' but even if it did, that could be beautiful too. As not only the architect, but also a developer and owner, we are committed to building lasting, high quality work that is also beautiful. On that note, our siding assembly and windows are of far higher quality than comparably priced projects in town. You would not find a custom home or large condo tower built with better attention to the small things or higher quality components. We are always available for a tour if you want a closer look.

[Charles]

If the house in southeast portland is the one I'm thinking of I'd love to hear the developers talk about how they think about relatedness in that project? I like aspects of the design but cringe at the way the house seems to absolutely ignore every home around it. And I'm all for modern infill, but also with some responsibility to the surroundings. I feel like when modern design ignores context, we set back neighbors welcoming more of these projects into established areas. I also think that it is not that hard to integrate subtle references to existing housing and actually increasing the value and aesthetics of the modern design.

[billb]

Bravo Corey

[Ryan Sullivan]

The interiors look great! The floor-to-ceiling glass is a very smart move - excellent cost/value ratio.

[Corey Martin]

There are as many interpretations and viewpoints of contextual response as their are designers in the world. We have no intention of alienating people from modern design in Portland's neighborhoods. Quite the opposite, we intend to inspire people to explore the possibilities for small sites in the urban fabric. So many projects, even ones that pass required city design review, offer only minimal consideration to the idea of contextual response. They address the type and orientation of the siding, the materials and the scale and massing. These offer only a surface level criteria.

The design is intended to be bold and needs to be experienced from all sides, inside and out, in order to have a more thorough understanding of how it relates to it's context.

[Laive]

Hi, I found your site using http://www.laive.com Laive, does your site support Firefox?