Portland Architecture

Thank you, sponsors!

For the first Portland Architecture post following the Thanksgiving holiday, it is only fitting to thank the sponsors that make this site possible. When the blog began in February 2005, there was just one sponsor. Today there are ten, each a local business or nonprofit with relation to the design and building industry, and each an exemplary presence.

BetterBricks is the longest-serving sponsor on the site and acts as one of two top-level Lead Sponsors. An initiative of the region-wide Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance serving Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana, the nonprofit BetterBricks' goal is to help business professionals understand the power of energy efficiency to make a real difference in their buildings and in their business. It’s about how to make buildings work harder and smarter. That's done through building awareness and demand for energy efficiency in buildings, and providing  pragmatic and comprehensive information about energy efficiency and its benefits. BetterBricks  supports the marketplace’s capability to deliver efficient products and services.

Nominations are also now open for the 2011 BetterBricks Awards, which celebrate the achievements of standout leaders whose work supports the design and operations of high performance buildings throughout the Northwest. If you'd like to nominate a talented and accomplished green building professional, click here.

Portland Architecture's other lead sponsor is Glacier Window & Door, the premiere provider of Loewen windows and doors. Loewen is one of the world's most esteemed manufacturers of this superior product, delivering an unrivaled combination of performance, artisanship and environmental sensibility in an extensive line of Douglas Fir, Mahogany and FSC Douglas Fir windows and doors.

Loewen also offers an entire division, Loewen Architectural Services (LAS), with an Architectural Solution Center to provide technical support, design consultation and problem solving assistance.  Their team of architectural consultants are available by phone or email, providing personalized pre-design, design and technical expertise to the entire architectural community.

The longest-running donor at Portland Architecture's Sponsor level is Portland Modern, featuring the talents of real estate broker Bob Zaikoski. Although Bob has a unique niche selling some of the city's most renowned contemporary and historic midcentury homes by architects like John Yeon and builders like Robert Rummer (including this current property for sale), he doesn't stop there. Bob has also become a very accomplished videographer and documentarian, using impressively serene camera movement and tracking shots to present designers and designs with a visual clarity rarely seen in amateur video. Take this piece he recently directed on Yeon, one of Portland's top 20th Century architects:

It's easy to talk about our next Sponsor, the superlative furniture store Hive Modern. Hive was founded in 2002 with the idea that good design can and should be presented in an inspired, knowledgeable and friendly manner. From humble beginnings fueled primarily on inspiration, Hive has grown to inhabit its own free-standing building in the Pearl District as an authorized retailer for high-end furniture brands like Alessi, Artemide, Artifort, Carl Hansen, Cassina, Flos, Kartell, Knoll & Vitra to name just a few. Hive has been noted in national magazines such as Dwell, Index, In Style, and Western Interiors + Design.

As it happens, Hive is also having a big sale right now: 15 percent off and free delivery on all Herman Miller items, through December 13. Buy a chair and tell them Portland Architecture sent you.

Kudos also go to Alternative Surfaces, one of the Sponsors that joined the blog this year. Alternative Surfaces delivers seamless surfacing with a sophisticated look, creating inspirational space from the ground up.

"Born out of a desire to be a little more than your average surfacing company, we install a wide range of non-traditional finishes or alternative surfaces for residential and commercial clients," their website reads. "We specialize in seamless surfacing solutions – from recycled glass and natural quartz flooring, crystal glass wall systems to full broadcast systems for garage floors and warehouses. Our team is dedicated to providing innovative, practical, proven floor and wall surfacing solutions for your individual design requirements with an emphasis on sustainability and green materials."

Among Alternative Surfaces' recent projects are a custom color combination for a guest bathroom feature wall for internationally renowned glass artist Dale Chihuly, comprised of 100% recycled crystal glass and cobalt blue tinted glass.

Building Arts Workshop also joined Portland Architecture as a Sponsor this year. An award winning, Portland Oregon based design-build firm with complementary disciplines of architect and general contractor, their work is guided by the principals of sustainability and designed for modern life. From natural daylighting to project management, the practices of architecture and construction are woven pursuing one goal – well crafted buildings in the mediums of light and material.

Building Arts Workshop's LEED Platinum-rated Orchid Cityhomes

Tracy and Jeffrey Prose founded Building Arts Workshop with the deliberate approach that every project – new or remodel, residential or commercial – reflect purpose, place and client. By combining the roles of architect and builder, each project advances under guidance of the shared goals of design, constructability, and budget. For many clients, the design-build method replaces the time and cost intensive aspects of design-bid-build with a streamlined project process.

Earlier this year, Building Arts Workshop was also invited to submit their work for the up-coming book Building Green, by international publisher Sandu.

We also can't forget Hammer & Hand, the Portland construction company and design-build expert that also became a Sponsor this year. Hammer & Hand distinguishes itself in a number of ways, but especially through craftsmanship and a devotion to sustainability. One case in point: owner Sam Hagerman has been elected as the first president of the new Passive House Alliance. Hammer & Hand also has been active in lobbying the City of Portland to relax its regulation of accessory dwelling units, a move that could free up a great deal of new small-scale residential development in the city. They also offer handyman service, home energy use analysis and more. Best of all, though, I like visiting Hammer & Hand's offices, where one can find not only a group of craftspersons and building experts, but also an array of custom furniture the company crafts from discarded materials.

As it happens, a few weeks ago I hosted a panel discussion at Hammer & Hand devoted to accessory dwelling units in Portland, featuring Hagerman as well as Lee Hiltenbrand, a building inspector from the city Development Bureau, Dan Lajoie of Departure Design, Valerie Garrett of the city's Office of Planning & Sustainability, and realtor David Todd of Meadows Group.

Karl Lind and his company, In the Can LLC, also comprise a much-appreciated Portland Architecture sponsor. Karl is a film and video jack of all trades: an award winning filmmaker who also acts as a videographer, editor, DVD author, curator and publisher. Karl helped me produce my latest short-film DVD collection, Along the Way, and has also worked with a bevy of acclaimed local filmmakers and advertising agencies. Most of all, he's exceptionally good natured and easy to work with.

If you don't believe me, check out this story about Karl published a few days ago on the film blog Oregon Movies A to Z: "Portland turned Karl Lind into a filmmaker," writes Anne Richardson, "and he has returned the favor by contributing on every conceivable front to Portland’s burgeoning film scene."

Here is a video Karl produced for the nonprofit Dill Pickle Club, about local muralists:

Finally, Portland Architecture's newest sponsor is real estate broker Marisa Swenson of Modern Homes Portland and M Realty. Marisa has a particular passion for modern architecture, design, mid-century modern, contemporary modern, and vintage style.

"I keep my fingers to the pulse of the modern real estate market in Portland," Marisa says. "I search new listings daily for mid century modern, contemporary modern, and architecturally interesting homes." She provides market analysis, sales histories, inspection report analysis, referrals to the best designers, mortgage brokers, and home inspectors, and more. "Being a native Portlander, I have a vast knowledge of the local economy, activities, restaurants, and neighborhoods," she adds.

Among the properties Marisa has for sale are a vintage 1955 Portland home designed by the celebrated midcentury architect John Storrs.

Meanwhile, thanks again to all of the generous companies, nonprofits and individuals who have sponsored Portland Architecture this year and in years past. Looking ahead, the goal is to make this blog ultimately more of a multi-contributor online magazine with content added daily. And sponsors are essential partners in making that happen. So thanks, gang!

Getting to know YU, Portland's new contemporary art center

Future YU Contemporary (rendering courtesy YU/Accelerated Development)

For the last several years the Yale Union Laundry building at 800 SE 10th Avenue, a striking brick Italian Renaissance space built in 1908 and listed on the National Registry of Historic Places, has sat empty. But now, it is poised to become the major contemporary art center Portland has more or less lacked since the closing of the Portland Center for the Visual Arts closed in 1987.

A few days ago organizers of the new YU Contemporary art center unveiled their vision: to transform the 40,000 square foot building between Belmont and Morrison Sreets into a dedicated contemporary art center.

Yale Union Laundry Building (photo by Brian Libby)

“The thinking is that while generalist institutions such as the Portland Art Museum serve the widest possible audience,” explains The Oregonian’s DK Row, “a dedicated center focused only on the most challenging level of contemporary art serves the art community specifically. Unlike smaller art institutions like Disjecta or the now-defunct Portland Art Center focused on local artists’, it would feature a mix of national, international and local artists. Unlike the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art’s Time-Based Art Festival, it would have a year round presence.

For most arts institutions, the biggest financial challenge is architectural: building and paying for a physical home. Disjecta tried to renovate the prominent Templeton Building at the east Burnside bridge head, but instead wound up relocating to a warehouse in North Portland. (Not that there's anything wrong with that.) PICA started with donated exhibit space in the Wieden + Kennedy building, but gave it up several years ago to focus its resources on the TBA Fest each September.

Percival, Knapp and Jamison (photo by Lincoln Barbour, Portland Monthly)

YU was founded by Curtis Knapp, a 37-year-old musician and indie record producer, and his longtime friend Aaron Flint Jamison, a 31-year-old artist and publisher. Knapp’s record label, Marriage Records, has helped launch successful indie bands like Dirty Projectors, while a book of poetry he created with Tom Blood won a 2008 Oregon Book Award. Jamison founded and published the art journal Veneer and has held residencies across Europe and the US. 

If you’re thinking these guys sound a little inexperienced to be founding a major contemporary arts center, they knew it too. But Knapp and Jamison had something very important going for them. In donor-poor Portland, they found a patron willing to buy the Yale Union Laundry Building and lease it back to them rent-free and put of hundreds of thousands more in capital to help them get started. Next, the pair hired Sandra Percival, an arts veteran with the experience they lacked. Percival, a Portland native, is former executive director of New Langton Arts in San Francisco and was also director of Public Art Development Trust in London as part of a 30-year career. 

According to a report by Randy Gragg in Portland Monthly, the trio engaged local BOORA Architects to create a feasibility study for former home of Perfect Fit-McDonald upholstery company, and hope to build “a $7.2 million historical renovation with galleries, a bookstore/café, and a 100-seat flex space, all of it aiming for a LEED Platinum designation courtesy of features like a geothermal heating system tapped from an aquifer running beneath the building.” Row’s story also says there will be a recording studio, retail and office spaces, and a recording studio.

Yale Union Building (photos by Brian Libby)

YU has already introduced a rendering of a glass courtyard occupying the Morrison Street side of the old building, enabling YU to offer a more inviting, transparent counterbalance to the solidity of the original brick building.

That said, even just the Italian Renaissance former laundry and upholstery building is ideal for displaying art with its bounty of natural light and vast, wide-open spaces—particularly upstairs. Gragg writes that “…everyone who strolls the rhythmically windowed length of the Yale Union Laundry Building’s second-floor room seems to leave with the same infectious hope.”

The YU principals seem to understand the need to proceed gradually, thoughtfully and methodically. After all, most successful nonprofit arts organizations, for all the importance of a physical space to call home, start with a mission that predates and prefigures the migration there. YU can’t just fall into having a building and expect the art institution that follows to fall into place in terms of funding, public interest or quality.

"Overall, it's obvious that the 14,000 sqare feet of exhibition space is its strongest card in YU's deck so far, also meaning that the actual programming, institutional organization and general institutional vision seem under developed and hazy at best (they are seeking input)," writes Jeff Jahn of PORT. "The column-free upper gallery is reminiscent of both a larger version of the PCVA and the even vaster Mass MoCA great hall. It's a space that artists will hunger for. Only the Geffen Contemporary offers a similar theater for ambition on the West Coast, though only very adept artists could hope to handle such a space."

YU lower (top) and upper floors (photos by Lincoln Barbour, Portland Monthly)

It’s easy to get excited about the possibility of Portland having the serious, internationally renowned contemporary art center it has lacked since the days when PCVA was bringing here the likes of Donald Judd. And the success of YU could help to invigorate a the lower sections of Belmont and Morrison between the building and the bridge, which has already shown signs of flourishing with arts organizations like Oregon Ballet Theater and Zoomtopia as well as eateries like the beloved Bunk Sandwiches.

“We already have a great foundation in the building,” Percival told Gragg. “When people walk in, they stop worrying about the problems and start talking about the possibilities.”

Sex pads, split-levels and renovations: design awards jurors share their observations

Skylab Architecture's Flavor Paper, a "total sex pad" (photo by Boone Speed)

Each year during the Portland Architecture + Design Festival in October, the night before the Design Awards ceremony features an evening with the jury in which they discuss not only their own work, but the trio's collective observations about Portland and the design being generated here.

So was the case two weeks ago with the jury for the 2010 AIA Portland Design Awards: Reed Kroloff of the Cranbrook Academy of Art and Museum in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan (and previously the editor of Architecture magazine), John Peterson of Peterson Architects and Public Architecture in San Francisco, and Joan Soranno of HGA Architects and Engineers in Minneapolis.

"How pleased we were with the work we saw," said Kroloff, who also headed the Portland Aerial Tram design competition here in 2003. "We saw almost 80 projects. Usually as a jury you put a whole mess on the table and 90 percent of them fall on the floor on Day One and then you get together on Day Two and argue a lot about five or six projects. That wasn’t how it worked here at all. We looked at those 80 projects and we came back on Day Two and there were still 30 or 35 of them on the table. Which says a lot about the quality of the work. We weren’t keeping them on the table because we’re sympathetic to people in Portland, because of all the rain. It really wasn’t that at all. I live in Detroit. So screw your rain!"

Juror Reed Kroloff (photo courtesy Cranbrook Academy of Art)

"But not all of the conversation was happy talk," Peterson added. "There were a number of projects that we spent a lot of time really arguing over whether they should be moved forward."

The jury also commended the budget conscious economy in the collective submittals. "There were quite a few projects that were of the magnitude of $40 a square foot, or $80 a square foot," Soranno said. "It is really really tough to do a project of good design.I think with this economy, where clients don’t have a lot of money to spend sometimes, it was hopeful for us to see these examples and realized you don't need $500 or $600 a square foot to do something really wonderful."

A particular trend in this year's award submittals was the high number of houses. Usually architects design only the smallest minority of single-family homes in America, said to be less than 10 percent. And one would expect during recession the amount of house commissions to go down. But perhaps during tough economic times, more architecture firms are motivated to reduce fees and make residential design more attainable.

After and before at Atelier Waechter's Cape Cod residence (photo by Sally Schoolmaster)

Each year during this event the jury faces the challenge of talking about particular projects without divulging any information about which ones actually were going to win awards the following night. But architect Ben Waechter must have felt good about his chances when both of the projects he submitted, the Cape Cod residence and the Z-Haus, became discussion topics. Both wound up winning awards the following night.

"This is just fantastic in our world," Soranno said of Waechter's Cape Cod residence in Portland. "Again, with very very limited budget the design totally transformed this house. Yet one of the things we noted was that the fact that the stoop was left entact so there was this kind of remnant of this lost house. The composition is really nice."

"Often what we’re paying attention to in these houses is how they dealt with modest budgets but still did something that was strikingly architectural," Peterson said. "In this case, where they scraped the pitched roof off and built the box on top of it, you had such a dramatic shift in the character that it became a conversation about architecture for anybody that walked by. And whether it’s a positive conversation or a negative one, it’s still a conversation. For all of us, that’s a critical factor."

BodyVox Dance Center (photo courtesy BOORA Architects)

Adaptive re-use was another theme the jury noted. "Over the last 60 years it’s moved from zero percent of the building industry just after World War II to close to a third of architectural practice today," Peterson said. But in this case, the jury was complimentary about two projects that did not win awards the next night: Hennebery Eddy's conversion of a former Tri-Met bus shelter into a coffee bar, and BOORA's renovation of an old Pearl District warehouse into studios and performance space for BodyVox dance company.

"This project to readapt them as yet another place to ingest coffee was met by the jury with a very positive response," Kroloff said of the shelter conversion. "Not everything about it. There was a significant part of the detailing we thought could have been better considered, but there were parts of it that we all liked."

Of BodyVox, Peterson said, "We appreciated the reserve here. This is a nationally registered building, but the delicate hand…Sometimes cleaning up the interior is one of the most important things you can do as a designer, so we were glad to see this building was handled so gracefully."

The trio also had fun talking about Skylab Architecture's renovation of a Brooklyn building into the headquarters for the Flavor Paper wallpaper company. "This is quite a complex mixed use project. We’ve got a manufacturer who is also a retailer who is also a residential tenant. But have you guys seen pictures of this? Total sex pad. This is an Austin Powers experience."

Kroloff also had some practical advice about awards submittals. "There were moments where we really wished the submitters had provided us with more information," he said. "It’s important in any kind of competition process that…maybe you read the submission requirements really well, which I think everybody did in this case, but then you think beyond them, not to subvert the requirements, but to make sure within the limited frame of expression that you’re given within any submission package that you’re still able to convey the message of your work the way you want the jury to see it."

"And there’s a couple of things to remember on that," Kroloff added. "One, the jury sees it for about that long [snapping his finger], so there’s got to be a way for the jury to ingest the critical issues of that project quickly, and in a way that is intriguing. The second thing is that, although a jury will try and read the commentary, you don’t want it to be some Dostoyevsky experience. At the same time, you’ve got to be succinct and compelling. Try and think of this as a short story. And be careful what you choose. Certain pictures don’t really tell you anything." He then showed onscreen a picture of the corner of a building from one submittal. What does it tell me about the building? Yeah, it’s CORE-TEN [weathered steel], but what do you see there? If you’ve only got eight pictures to show, why that?

"We’re all familiar as architects with putting together awards submittals," Soranno continued. "Especially as you get older and you’re on more juries, you start to get wise to how you put together an awards package. You see some submittals that are all details and you don’t see the overall. Or when you see the overall it’s a twilight shot and it’s so dark that you can’t see all of the exterior. As a juror, you start to say, 'What does the whole look like? Is there something the designers don’t like that they’re nt showing?' It’s making sure that the package at some level is addressing the whole."

Kroloff was especially prickly about night and dusk photography, which may tick off some photographers. But his point was a practical one, not an an artistic one. "A lot of submittals rely on twilight shots or night shots. At the magazine we called those 'cheaters' because you’re relying on an optical effect of light to try and convey a certain type of message of warmth and receptability, not the character of the building. Because generally if a building is in twlight or the dark, you’re not seeing the building. And if the building is being professionally photographed anyway, they’re lighting the building artificially anyway to hype up the lit effect. You never actually see it that way in reality. When I was at Architecture magazine, we never published a single night shot ever. Because they just don’t tell the truth. And so when you choose pictures for a jury, you want to make sure that you’re telling the truth about the building in some fashion. If it’s critical for it to be seen at sunset or at night, it better be because there’s an important lighting experiment or endeavor going on in that project. So be careful about how you choose your limited number of pictures."

Handicapping high-speed rail in the Pacific Northwest

Spanish RENFE  trains (photo courtesy GreenChips) 

If a Portland businessperson traveled to Seattle today by Amtrak train, the average speed would be just 42 miles an hour. Sure, you could fly there much faster, but with the pre-flight check in and the drive from Sea-Tac airport, it wouldn't be so efficient either. Then there's driving, an inefficient single-use car trip that clogs up the highways and takes over three hours too.

It's no wonder many would love to see high-speed rail in the Pacific Northwest receive funding. From economic benefits to cultural ones, having improved infrastructure and the chance to move between cities quickly and easily can only help. It's not an inexpensive endeavor, but high speed rail will more than pay for itself over time.

The recent elections that gave Republicans a majority in the US House of Representatives could hurt chances for fast trains. The party, tight-fisted about non-military spending outlays, would be unlikely to approve big funds for rail on its own if it had a bicameral majority. But the GOP does not have the Senate or occupy 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, so this is not 1994-96 or 2000-2008 redux.

Besides, not all Republicans are against high speed rail. For example, Representative John Mica of Florida, the senior Republican in line to take the reins of the House Transportation Committee in January, is a proponent. "But it has to be where it makes sense,” Mica told The Associated Press in a post-election interview. “The administration squandered the money, giving it to dozens and dozens of projects that were marginal at best."

Mica would rather see the money focused on a few key high-density areas like the Northeast, where the Amtrak Acela already acts as the nation's only high-speed rail line, between Boston and Washington via New York. But there are other officially 11 designated "mega regions" where clusters of close cities make the cost of high speed rail justifiable.

And Mica's GOP colleagues may be making it easier to single out which mega-regions in the United States first get fast trains. Newly elected right-wing governors in Wisconsin and Ohio have pledged to reject their portions of an upper midwest line linking with Chicago, and the same may be happening to a Florida line between Tampa and Orlando. That resistance could make other states and regions planning high speed rail lines, such as California, Texas and the Pacific Northwest, better able to compete for those federal rail-building dollars. That's particularly the case given that Oregon saw Democrat John Kitzhaber defeat Republican Chris Dudley; Kitz is surely more likely to support the rail investment, just as Jerry Brown will be in California now that he's defeated Meg Whitman.

Map of high-speed rail corridors (courtesy US Department of Transportion)

As reported by the Daily Journal of Commerce, on October 28 the Oregon and Washington departments of transportation received an additional $26.5 million in grants for development of a high-speed rail line between Eugene and Vancouver, British Columbia. The U.S. Department of Transportation announced the award as part of $2.4 billion for high-speed rail development projects around the country. Planning and environmental studies on the potential Eugene-to-Portland rail corridor will be performed with $4.2 million of the award, including an overhaul of the state’s overall passenger rail plan. Another $4 million will go toward a preliminary engineering and environmental study on potential renovations and track improvements at Portland’s historic Union Station to prepare the structure for future high-speed rail. This award adds to grant funds Oregon and Washington DOTs received in 2009 from the US Department of Transportation for high-speed rail projects.

The state estimates the cost of the Northwest rail project at about $2 billion on either one of two likely routes skirting Interstate 5. As much as $1.6 billion of that could be secured through federal funds, according to the transportation department, leaving at least $400 million in state money needed to make it happen.

Obviously in a time of unemployment and budget deficits, spending billions on anything must be justified by the improvements to the economy and culture they bring. But unlike the backlash we've had against highway funding, which arguably only contributes to sprawl and global warming, high speed rail is in keeping with the more sustainable, low-carbon future toward which the world is heading. Just ask the Chinese, who have nearly seven thousand kilometers of high speed rail lines under construction.

By no means is high-speed rail between Eugene and Vancouver, BC a done deal. But in an increasingly borderless global economy, we can not afford for travel between Portland and its closest big-city neighbors be restricted by slow, expensive, inefficient options. That only becomes truer in light of the fact that the nation's demographics are shifting. More Americans living in cities where they do not have family means more trips home, which require more transportation options than just planes and automobiles.

It's ironic that the Portland area has long been embroiled in a debate about huge federally funded transportation project, the Columbia River Crossing bridge, but one that has virtually nothing to do with high speed rail. Instead of worrying about 12 lanes or 10 for the bridge, why not forget the whole thing and embrace the fast train instead? Usually we can't take federal dollars intended for one transit mode and exchange them for another, but it's not unheard of in Portland. We once rejected the Mount Hood Freeway and were able to use the funds for the first MAX light rail line. Why not make the Columbia River Crossing a Pacific Northwest Crossing? High speed rail has the opportunity to help vastly more people cover much more terrain for less per-capita cost. It's just the kind of pioneering move we've been known for in the past and could be again.

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Bright Lights offers CRC alternative ideas, designs

Interstate Bridge, Columbia River (photo by Jet Lowe, Historic American Engineering Record)

The Columbia River Crossing bridge project has been in the works for more than seven years (apparently right after somebody broke a mirror) and seen over $100 million spent to get us to a bridge concept drawing consensus only in its negative reviews. Even big-bridge advocates have conceded the CRC is flawed.

But the situation is also reminiscent of the old joke in Woody Allen’s Annie Hall, where in one diner says “The food is really terrible,” and her companion answers, “Yes, and such small portions.” We have a bridge plan nobody but the Washington and Oregon transportation departments pushing it likes, yet politicos worry even more about the problem that in turn creates: that the project will never be completed. That failure of will, the thinking goes, could negatively impact economics and quality of life in the I-5 corridor in Portland and Vancouver for decade.

The Bright Lights discussion series, which resumes Monday night, seeks a proactive response to the bridge dilemma. Portland Monthly editor Randy Gragg, the host, will be joined in conversation with three of the region’s top experts in urban design and economic development for a detailed critique of the current scheme and a presentation of a potentially more viable and cheaper alternative.

Bill Scott, general manager of Zipcar’s Portland office and former director of Oregon’s Department of Economic and Comminuty Development, will offer an overview of the current bridge project within Portland’s longer arc of transportation innovation. Economist Joe Cortright will present his recent study, which demonstrates that the faulty traffic projections and tenuous financing plan underlying the current proposed bridge design could lead to a doubling of the predicted budget of $3.9 billion. And award-winning urban designer George Crandall will present an innovative alternative scheme that would be cheaper, would have far more positive and far-reaching impacts on downtown Vancouver and Hayden Island, and could be built in more manageable phases.

In other words, as the discussion will show, it is debatable whether we need a new bridge at all. And if we do build a bridge, it needs to be design that leads the way and solves problems, be they of scale, budget or aesthetics. We have to get this right not just for practical reasons, but because the Columbia River is a special natural setting. Take the words of the Woodie Guthrie song, "Roll On Columbia" as example:

Green Douglas firs where the waters cut through.
Down her wild mountains and canyons she flew.
Canadian Northwest to the ocean so blue,
Roll on, Columbia, roll On!

Other great rivers add power to you,
Yakima, Snake, and the Klickitat, too,
Sandy, Willamette, and Hood River, too;
Roll on Columbia, roll On!

Tom Jefferson's vision would not let him rest
An empire he saw in the Pacific Northwest.
Sent Lewis and Clark and they did the rest
Roll on, Columbia, Roll On!

The Bright Lights discussion happens at 6pm Monday evening at Jimmy Mak’s, 221 NW 10th Avenue in the Pearl District.

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Works Partnership Architecture's tract home redux in Ridgefield

Prototype A, Ridgefield, Washington (photo by Chris Hodney)

A tract-home subdivision 25 miles from downtown Portland in Ridgefield, Washington is not usually the place to find award winning architects plying their trade. But that's precisely why Works Partnership Architecture accepted an offer from Ryan Zygar and Tamarack Homes to try and build a contemporary home within the strictures of affordability and speed necessary to the client and the home building industry.

As profiled in Residential Architect magazine by  Meghan Drueding, the completed spec home, totaling 1,904 square feet and now for sale for $327,000, took 70 days from start to finish, including design time. Known as Prototype A, it features an upside-down floor plan with the primary living spaces and a master suite placed above a ground floor garage and two additional bedrooms. Designers and principals Bill Neburka and Carrie Schilling also chose to pull apart the two halves second floor to create a private courtyard. This gives rooms extra opportunities for natural light and cross-ventilation.

Looking at the house from the street front, it doesn't provide a lot of glass and transparency to integrate the private sphere with the neighborhood outside. The garage is front and center, which is never the best choice from an urbanistic perspective. But this is arguably a reflection not of Works' design decisions so much as the environment in which the house is being built, and what the market expects in terms of two-car garages over front porches. I'm not saying this house should be some new-urbanist cliche in which smiling families wave across their porch swings to one another, but it is unfortunate that subdivisions always seem to favor car storage so prominently at the expense of porches or other integrations with the public realm.

At the same time, the design also does something clever. It combines the traditional form of a pitched roof with the above-the-ground outdoor space delivered by flat-roofed designs. This way the house, while modern, fits in well with the McMansions or more modest traditional looking tract homes in this realm even as it stands out from them.

Still, the fact that Works and the builder made this striking design happen within market confines is impressive. "Zygar wanted to challenge himself and his staff to build a different kind of house for the same cost, in the same amount of time, and using the same materials and techniques as a standard production home," Drueding writes.

Of the architects, she adds, "Used to creating custom homes, they found they had to adjust their drawings to dovetail with typical production building methods. 'It was a great education for us, understanding how these houses get built,' Neburka says. Adds Schilling, 'It’s fast, inexpensive, and efficient.'"

Prototype A, Ridgefield, Washington (photo by Shawn St. Peter)

If the home sells in an acceptable amount of time and for an amount close to the asking price, perhaps it may convince other builders to construct houses using Prototype A's blueprint. After all, most home builders don't necessarily have anything against modern design so much as they believe the market wants traditionally styled homes. However, every trend is cyclical, and history has shown there are times when contemporary design can register on a broad scale.

In early and especially mid-20th century, ranch houses became popular for their blend of old and new forms, and many contemporary subdivisions by builders such as Joseph Eichler in California and Robert Rummer here in Portland saw dozens of contemporary houses snatched up by middle class families. What's more, the functional quality of modern homes became a way of life, eschewing the warren of small rooms common to Victorian houses in favor of greater openness. Today even if a suburban house has a traditional looking exterior, its great room is decidedly of today.

Prototype A, Ridgefield, Washington (photos by Chris Hodney)

Creating a popular contemporary home plan that is replicated by other builders doesn't require just a good design, but a business partner willing to make it happen and the interest of the public. As has been the case with the trend of prefab homes as celebrated in Dwell magazine and elsewhere, the good design and the first prototype are just the first of several steps necessary to achieve the large scale of home after home being built.

Hopefully Prototype A, if its design is as compelling as it looks in these photos, will prove its success over time by being more than a prototype.

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Memorializing Maurice Lucas at the Coliseum, and considering ecclesiastical design

Jack Ramsay at Maurice Lucas memorial service (photo by Brian Libby)

Thirty three years ago, my mom boycotted Philadelphia brand cream cheese. It was June of 1977, and the Trail Blazers were playing the Philadelphia 76ers for the NBA championship. I thought of my mom yesterday at the memorial service for Maurice Lucas at Memorial Coliseum, not because she was a big basketball fan, but because she wasn't. See, that's the impact the Blazers' championship team had back then on Portland. Winning the title wasn't just a sports achievement, but a watershed cultural moment for the city.

Admittedly, this is a post about a man first and architecture a distant second. But the experience of saying goodbye to Maurice Lucas in the building where the Blazers won that championship seemed abundantly fitting, not only because of the history made there in 1977 but because, in its expansive volumes of glass and light, Memorial Coliseum has a powerful spiritual quality. After all, it was designed as a memorial to veterans, a place where 360 degrees of glass view symbolized the overcoming of loss by opening yourself up to the sky.

Lucas was more than just a player on the Blazers' championship team. He was more than just the leading scorer in that historic six-game series against the 76ers. Lucas was, as current Blazers' coach Nate McMillan said in his remarks at yesterday's memorial, "a mighty man." He had a reputation in the 1970s as one of the toughest players in the league, but Lucas was no bully. "He bullied bullies," McMillan added. 

Memorial Coliseum concourse (photo by Brian Libby)

When Lucas came to Portland, the Blazers had Bill Walton, perhaps the greatest passing center in the history of the game. But Walton was fragile and the team, in coach Jack Ramsay's words (also at yesterday's memorial), "was soft." Lucas transformed the Trail Blazers, not just in the win-loss column (the team had never made the playoffs before he arrived), but in in their sense of what was possible. The '77 Blazers squad became known not just as that year's champion, but the kind of selfless squad of role players and passers that made old-school basketball purists like Bob Knight swoon. At the same time, the big power forward was known to most who knew him as exceptionally gentle, not just for a basketball player but compared to anyone.

As it happens, the '77 Blazers were a special squad in a way that still resonates today: they were great collaborators. In Portland we don't have the financial capital of neighboring cities like Seattle and San Francisco. We don't have the rich diversity or media attention of places like New York or Los Angeles. But there is a culture of collaboration in Portland that is distinctive, and that enables our other key trait: innovation. Trail blazing.

Inspiring, moving and enriching as the Lucas memorial services was, one disappointment I experienced was seeing the Coliseum's curtain closed. After all, many of the most celebrated houses of worship designed and built in our time, such as Philip Johnson's Crystal Cathedral in California, Tadao Ando Church of the Light in Osaka or even some of Pietro Belluschi's churches here in Portland, make natural light a central ingredient of the experience. But a Trail Blazers executive explained to me shortly before the Lucas memorial that they'd chosen to close the Coliseum curtain because of the extensive video and photographs planned for the service. Had the curtain been open, it would have been harder to see the screen.

The incorporation of multimedia is actually one of the other major trends in ecclesiastical design. Increasingly it's not the sculptural quality of the interior or exterior architecture that acts as a transformative, spiritual experience, but instead the use of video, pictures and other imagery. I think of a modest church in my hometown of McMinnville that a few years ago renovated the former tri-cinema complex. They made a house of worship out of a concrete box that was a movie theater. The only exterior change was a faux-historic awning added out front. I've always wondered if they retained the projection booths.

Jack Ramsay at Maurice Lucas memorial service (photo by Brian Libby)

So in a certain respect, the Lucas funeral demonstrates a prime dilemma of designing contemporary worship spaces: what part of the experience, the brick and mortar or the virtual, is meant to help lift your soul?

Meanwhile, despite the sad reality that the great Maurice Lucas left us way too soon, we can all give thanks for the fact that he, like so many, embraced Portland when given the opportunity. And while attending the Lucas memorial in Memorial Coliseum helped give the moment a special resonance, Lucas himself was the man of the hour, reminding us to bully the bullies. And if I ate bagels, I'd have mine today without the cream cheese in Big Luke's honor.

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Anticipating an office-building thaw

Park Avenue West (rendering courtesy TVA Architects)

It's not to say we're through the difficulty just yet. Unemployment remains high, both nationally and especially in Oregon. Development in downtown has lately been symbolized by a giant hole in the ground where the Park Avenue West tower was supposed to be built before construction stalled. And investments or other help from the federal government may be coming to a halt after Tuesday's elections.

But there are also signs of a thaw. On the national level, the Labor Department said today that the American economy showed a net gain of 151,000 jobs last month. (Yet the fickle electorate remained restless.) And here in Portland, Jeff Manning reported in Wednesday's Oregonian that not only may developer Tom Moyer's Park Avenue West by TVA Architects finally be resuscitated, but new downtown office towers are being pitched to meet increasing demand. After all, the city has a downtown office vacancy rate of less than 10 percent. And several large tenants may be looking for new space.

"Because we've been in such a difficult economic environment for a couple years, people haven't wanted to play a lot of offense," David Squire, managing director of the Grubb & Ellis commercial real estate office in Portland, told Manning. "But if you look at the numbers, it's tight out there. If you're a large user needing 50,000 square feet or more, you're out of options." 

Among those said to be looking for new space of this size are the Miller Nash law firm and KPFF Consulting Engineers. Iberdrola Renewables is looking for at least 100,000 square feet, Manning reports, and the Army Corps of Engineers needs 125,000. Although new office buildings like First & Main One Main Place have arrived recently, they've been offset by the emptying out of the Edith Green Wendell Wyatt federal building for renovations.

If any new office buildings see groundbreaking in the year ahead, two of the likeliest seem to be planned for the West End.

Manning reports Harsch Development, headed by Jordan Schnitzer, is looking at building a new 15-story office tower at the intersection of Southwest 10th Avenue and Stark Street, on a surface parking lot adjacent to the former Federal Reserve building. This would be an ideal location given the energy of the block across 10th Avenue that includes the Ace Hotel, Kenny & Zuke's Deli, and Living Room Theaters, not to mention Powell's Books and the Brewery Blocks two blocks north.

Twelve West building (photo by Brian Libby)

Developer Gerding Edlen may also be considering a project called 11 West, at the corner of Southwest 12th Avenue and Washington Street on a City Center Parking surface lot. The adjacent building, the ZGF Architects-designed 12 West mixed-use tower, Gerding developed in partnership with City Center Parking on one of the company's other surface lots. It has become the most successful major buiding project of the past two years, with a host of office, retail and housing tenants accrued even amidst the Great Recession. It also was named to the AIA Committee on the Environment's national Top 10 Green Projects list. Given that 12 West enjoys first-rate sustainability credentials, with its LEED Platinum rating and the nation's first-ever use of wind turbines on a high-density urban tower, perhaps Gerding has shown (as they did with the Brewery Blocks) that top level sustainability gives companies and developers a proven market advantage.

However, when I spoke with Gerding Edlen leader Mark Edlen this morning by phone (I happened to be interviewing him for another story), he called a groundbreaking announcement for 11 West "premature". If the economy really is picking up, Edlen knows it is a tentative, slow recovery at best. And he knows there is still a giant sink hole a block away from Pioneer Courthouse Square that is yet to be filled with steel and glass, let alone tenants.

One Waterfront Place (rendering courtesy Winkler Naito Development)

One other potential project was mentioned in Manning's story, one that has been in gestation now for nearly a decade: One Waterfront Place. I remember seeing a presentation on this building as far back as the Greenbuild conference in 2002. Developed by Jim Winkler and Bob Naito, the 12-story, 250,000 square-foot building would be constructed on a site at Northwest Naito Parkway just north of the Broadway Bridge with a LEED Platinum rating.

Given how a new streetcar line is being planned to cross the bridge and much development is planned for the Rose Quarter, One Waterfront could be ideally positioned. But that's something which was said of the building many years before. That's the thing about the speculative office market, I guess. Anything we say before ground is broken is just that: speculation.

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Architecture 2030 founder Ed Mazria headlines Greenday Forum

Ed Mazria (photo by Jamey Stilli)

It must be autumn because the art and design events are suddenly coming at a fast and furious pace. So on the heels of the Architecture + Design Festival, the EcoDistricts 2010 conference, the Green Champions summit, and various homes tours comes another lecture, but one very much worthwhile: by Architecture 2030 founder Edward Mazria.

Mazria is speaking as part of the daylong Green Day Forum at the Gerding Theater, an annual event that brings together Northwest regional leaders in green building, sustainability and climate change to explore carbon mitigation in the built environment. This year's conference, entitled "Marking the Milestones, Adding Momentum," will focus on the benchmarks that enable the industry to evaluate progress and impacts, and will take a critical look at how we measure the momentum of building sustainably and the resulting market transformation. The conference, hosted by the Earth Advantage Institute will highlight innovative strategies that seek to bridge industry gaps and scale up efforts to mitigate climate change.”

Mazria’s Architecture 2030 is a research organization focused on reducing the impact of the built environment on global warming. This comes on the heels of an already distinguished career of award-winning architecture and planning projects spanning thirty-five years. He is the author of numerous published works, including The Passive Solar Energy Book.

Seasonal solar orientation illustration from The Passive Solar Energy Book

Most recently, Mr. Mazria has reshaped the national and international dialogue on climate change to incorporate building design and the building sector. He developed and issued the 2030 Challenge, a measured and achievable strategy to dramatically reduce global greenhouse gas emissions and fossil-fuel consumption by the year 2030.

The annual 2010 Sustainable Design Survey of 240 design industry leaders in the U.S. by the Design Futures Council ranked Architecture 2030 first among industry leaders in 'leadership and resource deployment' to move sustainability issues forward in the U.S. and identified Mazria as one of the nation's leading 'role models' for green and sustainable design.

Mazria’s lecture also comes at a key time. This week code and government officials meeting in Charlotte, North Carolina voted to improve the 2012 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) standard by 30% beyond its 2006 strictures, as called for by Architecture 2030 and by a large coalition including the U.S. Department of Energy, and the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

Mazria's Rio Grande Conservatory in the Albuquerque Biological Park

 “This is the first step on our way to carbon neutral buildings by 2030,” said Mazria. “The next steps include timely state and local government adoption of the new code and improving the IECC code standard by 50% beyond 2006 IECC in 2015.” Doing so would meet the next energy reduction target called for by the 2030 Challenge and by legislation passed in the House of Representatives (HR.2454) and in Senate Bills S.1462 and S.3464.

At the meeting, government voting representatives also rejected efforts by some to weaken the IECC’s efficiency standard by allowing less building improvements in exchange for more efficient equipment. “Efficiency shouldn’t be an either/or proposition,” said William Fay, EECC Executive Director.. “We need to improve the efficiency of both our building envelopes and our equipment.”

Admission to The Green Day Forum is a bit steep at $125 ($69 for students), although that comes with not just Mazria's lecture but a full slate of speakers including Umpqua Bank's Brian Alfano, Portland State University urban studies professor Loren Lutzenhiser, Portland Development Commission board member and Glumac president Steven Strauss, and the Energy Trust's Kendall Youngblood. Besides, Mazria's own words may be all the motivation one needs:

"Every time we design a building, we set up its energy consumption pattern for the next 50 to 100 years."

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