Opening day at the Bud Clark Commons

Bud Clark Commons (photo by Brian Libby)

BY BRIAN LIBBY

On this first day it was open to the homeless, the day center of the Bud Clark Commons was filled with people at every table: some awaiting services, some to eat or get a haircut, others there just to read the newspaper and enjoy being off the street.

"Is that TV available to watch," one denizen asked a staff member, referring to a flat-screen monitor on the wall with its power switched off.

"No, that's going to give information about the services that are availalble," the staff member told her.

The $47 million Bud Clark Commons is a residential building for homeless and low-income people, located along NW Broadway in Old Town beside Union Station and the Greyhound bus depot. The shelter opened June 10, the day center today and permanent housing June 21. Clark Commons is a cornerstone of the city’s ambitious 10 Year Plan to End Homelessess. It's a noble endeavor, if difficult to truly achieve. The way the Clark Common provides something more bonafide: a place to regain one's dignity through simple basic addressing of everyday needs like shelter and food, as well as dignity. And that's what transitioning out of homelessness is all about. The Commons is a partnership between the Portland Housing Bureau, the Housing Authority of Portland, Transition Projects Inc., and Multnomah County.

Upper floors of the eight-story building feature 130 studio apartments for the chronically homeless. Transition Projects Inc. will have a 90-bed men's shelter downstairs and operate a day-resource center open to those not living or staying at The Commons.

Bud Clark Commons (photos by Brian Libby)

Just under $30 million for the project comes from the River District Urban Renewal Area. Its borders include most of the Pearl District, which has previously seen construction of countless condominium towers geared toward residents in upper income brackets. At the same time, the River District URA includes much of Old Town and even patches of downtown, all areas of lesser investment and subject to numerous social-service building projects over the past decade from the Union Gospel Mission to Central City Concern's Richard L. Harris Building (formerly 8 NW 8th).

Designed by Holst Architecture, Bud Clark Commons uses wood, glass and bits of color to enliven the simple brick of its upper facade. Walking along Broadway, one meets at ground level a long succession of floor-to-ceiling glass. The corners along Broadway do not serve as entrance; instead one enters the day center in the back of the building, through a courtyard. Here and in other areas at ground level, Holst utilizes a series of patterned screens to not only add privacy but texture.

Bud Clark Commons (photos by Brian Libby)

The building's mass is broken up by using two opposing light and dark shades of brick on the front and back halves. The darker brick portion on the back of the building also is cantilevered slightly, and the architects cut into a portion of the Broadway-side facade to allow a deck. All of which helps again give a sense of lightness to what, in other architects' hands, might have been a utilitarian, plainly institutional looking building.

Clark Commons is anticipating a LEED Platnium rating from the US Green Building Council. Its sustainable features include natural ventilation, solar-powered hot water delivery, a high-performance exterior envelope, bioswales, greywater reccling, energy-efficient lighting, a green roof and low-flow plumbing fixtures. It was also developed from a brownfield site.

Bud Clark Commons (photos by Brian Libby)

Standing on Broadway outside the Clark Commons, one can see this stretch of Broadway transforming. Directly across the street is the massive downtown US Postal Service facility that ultimately will be vacated, bringing a major redevelopment opportunity. Just across the intersection is the historic 511 Broadway building, which belongs to the Pacific Northwest College of Art and will be renovated soon from an Allied Works design. There is also a new streetcar line set to go over the adjacent Broadway Bridge, and just down Broadway is the US Customs House, another historic property being renovated. All told, the Clark Commons is part of a larger shift for this stretch of Broadway that will make this once destitute area part of the true center of the city.

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Comments

[stephen]

This is a handsome project.
I have pointed the building out to friends and they are usually very surprised that this is a facility that will support homeless folks.
Great job to the design team.
My hope is that this facility along with the medical building a few blocks away will help give some relief to the desperate people around town.
It is too bad that we can't help people before they get to the state that I see all too often around downtown. Places like this will possibly give them some hope of a better life.
The lack of affordable housing, medical and mental health insurance and education is absurd in this country. Nobody should have to suffer like this. Homelessness is often equated with laziness, which is a fallacy.
Ok, that is the sad part, but I do appreciate this project for it's compassionate and hopeful reality.

[Fred Leeson]

I agree, it is an interesting building. It strikes me as having a split personality with the buff brick and the black brick. I'd feel better if the "split" had something do do with the internal functions. Maybe it does....I don't know.

There are some interesting visual gymnastics involving the windows on the upper floors. Although the fenestration is actually very consistent, the designers used art glass surrounding the transparent panes in differing sequences....which from a distance makes the fenestration look irregular. Almost as if you were wobbling down the street having had too much to drink. (But we don't need to go there.)