A big condo designer changing course: Ankrom wins Vestas HQ commission

During the condo building boom of the last several years, no other Portland firm has capitalized more than Ankrom Moisan. Particularly in the Pearl District as well as in South Waterfront and in several other west coast cities, Ankrom has designed and seen built a host of multifamily housing projects.

But now, in what may be indicative of the changing climate - not just economic ups and downs but where the focus lies in architectural commissions - the firm has secured the commission to design a new American headquarters for Danish wind-turbine manufacturer Vestas. (This story was, I believe, first reported in the Daily Journal of Commerce.) This couldn't come at a better time. An article in The Economist today noted that the United States has just inched ahead of Germany to become the world's top wind-energy producer.

Provided everything goes according to plan with design review and other factors, the building is scheduled to break ground at the end of this year and open in 2011 and will house between 850 and 1,000 employees. Phase one will include 400,000 square feet of space, with an additional 200,000 square feet to come in a second phase. That kind of size means we're talking about a fairly substantial office building, or two. A site has not yet been chosen, but according to Kip Richardson of Ankrom Moisan, it's likely to be somewhere in the central city. That could mean downtown, South Waterfront, the Lloyd District, or the Pearl District.

Along with Ankrom Moisan, Vestas reportedly also interviewed Zimmer Gunsul Frasca and GBD Architects. As you'd expect from a Danish wind turbine manufacturer, Vestas expects to build a LEED Platinum-rated headquarters. GBD and ZGF might have slightly stronger green credentials, but Ankrom has also quietly beefed up its sustainability in recent years. These are all what you might call 'service firms' if using the old service firm/design firm stereotype, but all three have strong designers on board, whether it's Michael Great at Ankrom, Gene Sandoval and Braulio Baptista at ZGF, or Kyle Anderson at GBD.

I spoke briefly with Kip Richardson of Ankrom about how the Vestas commission is not only good for Ankrom, but may represent a changing climate. Ankrom has laid off numerous employees recently, like its peers.

"It’s not a secret that all the firms in town have been hit," Richardson said. "We’re down to a couple hundred from a high of 300.  A lot of our work was in housing, and a lot of that’s what drove our growth over the last 3-4 years. But it’s not just the firms doing housing that have been hit. Firms doing retail are hit hard too. Even firms doing public projects are affected. But once the government starts pumping money into the system, I think things will improve."

Asked about what the future holds for condos and higher-end multifamily housing, Richardson said he sees affordable housing as a growth area for the future. Ankrom is known for its more luxurious condos, but they've also done nearly 30 affordable housing jobs.

Vestas recently moved into a new R&D center in Denmark designed by Danish firm Arkitema, pictured at left and above. Might that project provide clues to the direction an Ankrom-designed headquarters in Portland might take?

Meanwhile, hopefully this won't be the last green-industry corporate headquarters to be built in Portland in the years ahead.