Portland Architecture

Design calendar: May 1-15

Wright's Marin County Civic Center (image courtesy AHC)

BY LUKE AREHART

Romanza: The California Structures Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright 
In 1909, Frank Lloyd Wright designed a summer home for George and Emily Stewart in Montecito, California, his first California commission and his only Prairie School building in the state. His drawings even included a doghouse for “Eddie,” the family pet! Thus began a 50-year relationship between Wright and the Golden State. 7:00pm Wednesday, May 1. Architectural Heritage Center 701 SE Grand Avenue, $10 (pre-registration is strongly suggested).

Architects in Schools displays
Celebrate the creations of hundreds of the youngest architects in Oregon. Final projects in this year’s six-week Architects in Schools residencies will be on display in Portland. Come share in the excitement as more than 2,200 third through fifth grade students, their teachers, and the volunteer architects and architecture students who have worked with them demonstrate their learning from afo's longest running, signature program. 5:00 to 8:00pm Thursday, May 2. Center for Architecture, 403 NW 11th Avenue; Opsis Architecture, 920 NW 17th Avenue;  Pioneer Place, 700 SW Fifth Avenue; ZGF Architects LLP, 1223 SW Washington Street; and on Friday, May 3, at the Old Mill District in Bend. 

Placing Series: Julie Bargmann
Julie Bargmann is an innovative designer of regenerative landscapes and founder and principal of D.I.R.T. Studio ("Dump It Right There"). Based in New York City, she is also Associate Professor at the University of Virginia, where she leads venturesome investigations with students into derelict terrain, imagining renewed sites of cultural and ecological production. Her work has received numerous awards and has been featured in art and design exhibitions worldwide. 6pm Thursday, May 2. Shattuck Hall Annex, corner of SW Broadway and Hall Streets, 503-725-8405 or www.pdx.edu/architecture. Free.

"Ride on Holgate" (image courtesy Shawn Demarest)

You are Here
A solo exhibit featuring oil paintings from 2012 and 2013 by Portland artist Shawn Demarest. This exhibit presents paintings that explore place. All of the scenes painted represent roads frequently traveled by the artist. The roads might seem mundane, like SE Holgate, but when explored during a rain soaked day, or early evening, the play of headlights, power lines, and curve of the road come to life in an exciting way. 6:00-8:00 pm Friday, May 3, Architectural Heritage Center 701 SE Grand Avenue. Free.

Speaking Between
An exhibit of the 2013 University of Oregon Master of Fine Arts students' work; from investigations of form, to cinematic monsters redefined, to explorations of "perfection, rapture, anxiety and possibility," the show will provide a stepping off point for these artists and their entry into a global art ecology. Opening reception 7:00pm May 3, Disjecta 8371 N. Interstate Avenue, Friday-Sunday 12:00-5:00pm. Free.

Isamu Noguchi: We Are the Landscape of All We Know
Isamu Noguchi (1904–1988) was one of the twentieth century’s most critically acclaimed sculptors. Through a lifetime of artistic experimentation, Noguchi created not only sculpture but also gardens, furniture and lighting designs, ceramics, and architecture. The exhibition, organized in collaboration with The Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum in Long Island City, New York, will feature 22 works by acclaimed sculptor Isamu Noguchi amid the setting of the most authentic Japanese garden in North America. May 3–July 21, 12–7pm Monday and 10am-7pm Tuesday–Sunday (Saturdays until 9:00 p.m.), 611 SW Kingston Ave., (503) 223-1321 or www.visitjapanesegarden.com. Entrance is included with Garden admission ($9.50 Adult; $7.75 seniors; $7.75 college students; $6.75 youth aged 6-17). 

The Renaissance of the Historic Alphabet District
The 2nd annual walking tour of historic homes includes 8 historic homes raging from 1883 to 1909 and begins at the Historic NW Neighborhood Cultural Center 11:00am-4:00pm Sunday, May 5th, 2013, 1819 NW Everett Street., www.nwcts.org. $25

Historic Multi-Family Housing of NW Portland
Northwest Portland’s Alphabet District is often thought of for its beautiful mansions, when in fact, it has a surprising history as a "rental" district. The Couch family built some of the earliest upscale rental units. In the 1920s, Elmer Feig became well known for his Northwest Portland apartment designs, and a housing crunch during World War II led to the conversion of many classic homes into multi-family units. We hope you’ll join us as we explore this fascinating aspect of one of Portland’s most endearing neighborhoods. 1:30pm Sunday, May 5 and 1:30pm Sunday, May 26. Offered by the Architectural Heritage Center, 701 SE Grand Ave., 503-231-7264. $10 members, $15 general public.

Lead Pencil Studio
Seattle's Annie Han and Daniel Mihalyo, leaders of Lead Pencil Studio, have received international acclaim for a series of projects overlap of a rchitecture and site-specific art, including "Inversion: Plus/Minus" at the east end of the Hawthorne and Morrison bridges. Returning to their alma mater, the University of Oregon, will discuss their origins and the studio's portfolio. 6pm Tuesday, May 7, University of Oregon White Stag Block, 70 NW Couch Street. Free.

Soda Pop to Swimwear: The Commercial and Industrial Architecture of Sandy Boulevard
Sandy Boulevard has a long history of commercial and industrial architecture with styles ranging from Brick Utilitarian to Brutalism – all with a generous supply of Streamline and Zig Zag Moderne in between. This tour takes a closer look at a surprising section of the city, an area that hosts some of the city’s most notable businesses. You’ll also see firsthand how the automobile played a major role in the form and style of 20th century architecture. 6:00pm Thursday, May 9. Offered by the Architectural Heritage Center, 701 SE Grand Ave., 503-231-7264.Pre-registration is required. $10 members, $15 general public: $15

Zaik residence (photo by Brian Libby)

Mid-Century Modern Saul Zaik Home Tour
A unique collection of six homes designed by the renowned Oregon architect Saul Zaik will be open for the annual Mid-Century Modern Home Tour hosted by the Historic Preservation League of Oregon. Zaik’s own home is among those featured, and an illustrated lecture and Q&A with the architect, and an after-tour “Snappy Hour” cocktail reception at Rejuvenation. 10:00am-4:00pm Saturday, May 11, 2013. 1838 Jefferson St., 503-243-1923 or www.historicpreservationleague.org. $30 for members, $40 general.

Gordon House Mother's Day Tea & Tour 
Reserve your seats now to celebrate Mother's Day and enjoy tea, music, poetry, and a grand guided tour of the Gordon House. We invite you to join us for the popular afternoon tea at Frank Lloyd Wright's Oregon legacy. The best way to enjoy it is to sit down to a cup of tea and scones with family and friends in Wright's living room designed for the Gordon farm in Oregon. 2:00pm-4:00pm Saturday, May 11 Gordon House; 869 West Main Street, Silverton, 503-874-6006 or www.TheGordonHouse.org. $25 per person or $20 for members and their guests. 

George McMath Historic Preservation Award
Portland architect William (Bill) Hawkins III is the 2013 George McMath Award recipient and is honored for his dedication to preservation through both his architectural career and scholarly work. The University of Oregon’s Historic Preservation Program and Venerable, Inc., present the McMath Award annually to an individual whose contributions in Oregon have raised awareness and advocacy for historic preservation. 11:30am-1:00pm Wednesday, May 15, 2013, White Stag Block 70 NW Couch Street. Reservation deadline is Friday, May 3, 2013 at http://uoregon.edu/mcmath 541-346-4363. $50.

 

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The Architect's Questionnaire: Tim Eddy

Tim Eddy (photo by Kim-Oanh-Nguyen)

BY LUKE AREHART

Since forming in 1992, Portland firm Hennebery Eddy Architects has amassed an impressive portfolio fusing sustainable principles with a reverence for craftsmanship and simple, beautiful forms. The firm has won a slough of design awards, most recently earning a spot in 2012 on the prestigious national AIA Committee on the Environment Top Ten Green Projects list, one of only three local architecture firms to do so. Be it libraries, university buildings, eccleasiastical centers, golf courses, bus stations, even landscape and interior design, Hennebery Eddy has been honored for a wide spectrum of work. If there is a connecting thread, it's not a stylistic one so much as the presence of light and natural materials.

Celebrating the firm's 20th anniversary last year, Hennebery Eddy is a testament not only to longevity but overcoming obstacles. In 1998, co-founder Stephen Hennebery died suddenly. But the firm has gone on to prosper, keeping Hennebery's name on the door. Hennebery's partner, Tim Eddy, has now guided the company for more than two decades, not only as an architect but a community leader, serving eight years as on the city's Design Commission. Recently Eddy sat down to discuss his career as an architect in Portland. 

Portland Architecture: When did you first become interested in architecture as a possible career?

Timothy Eddy: I started to think about becoming an architect when I was in high school. I was looking for something where I could work at an artistic endeavor with real world implications. I grew up on a family ranch in Montana and I enjoyed and loved the character of the spaces, the landscape, and the history. I didn't experience urbanity until I was in college, aside from an occasional trip to San Diego or Seattle when I was a kid. The place I lived in Montana gave me a rural, small-town upbringing. My interest in urban places is a result of the place I grew up; you often gravitate toward what you are deprived of. I enjoyed painting and drawing and making things. I also have an affinity for math and science, so architecture seemed like a reasonable thing to do. I trotted off to architecture school and I don’t think I met a real practicing architect other than a college professor until I was in my second or third year of college. 

Where did you study architecture and how would you rate the experience?

Since I grew up in Montana, there is one architectural school in the state—Montana State University in Bozeman. For me, it was a lucky thing that I went there. I suppose if the internet had been around then I would’ve searched around and might have ended up somewhere else. Montana State is a terrific school. The school is interesting because it is out in the middle of nowhere, and pre-internet it was very isolated. There was a real sense of the need to reach out; I think that sense is still there. There was a lot of faculty from other places, which made it a good and diverse program. I did an exchange to the School of Design at North Carolina State in Raleigh, which was a different kind of architectural education experience and a different environment. It gave me the opportunity to spend time seeing cities on the East Coast. Subsequently when I graduated school, I went to work on the East Coast.

MSU College of Business (rendering courtesy Hennebery Eddy)

I’m still involved with Montana State today. I’m on their advisory council, along with a couple of other architects here in town. One of the most exciting things for me personally over the past year or so has been designing the College of Business for MSU. My firm started working on that project about a year ago, and it has been fun for me to go back and revisit the school.  

What is your favorite building project that you’ve worked on?

I don’t think I have one favorite: I have dozens of favorites. Every project has incredible moments along with frustrating moments. For me, my favorite is the next one. There is something about each and every one of them that makes a story. Being part of that story, helping to write it, and carrying the story forward into the next thing you do is hugely important.

A recent project that I'm very personally invested in is the Portland Community College Newberg Center—our client was very engaged in both the design and technical aspects of the project, which enabled us to create a building that is conceptually quite clear.  The recent work we did on the Spalding Building, a historic building in downtown Portland, is a favorite too—it was a pleasure to be able to resolve the design and materials so completely.

PCC Newberg (photo by Nic Lehoux)

Who has been an important mentor among your colleagues?

This is something else that is really difficult for me to pin down. There are the guys I worked with years ago on the East Coast at RTKL and at Ayers Saint Gross. I learned from them and they gave me a great deal of opportunity and autonomy to both learn about the profession and design work. I learned about being an architect, and there were people at both firms who pushed and supported and helped. My most important mentors are the other principals and the folks here in this office. It’s the people I work with all of the time; there is always something new.

I learned a lot during the 8 years I spent on the Design Commission, and I’d have to say that I learned an enormous amount from every person that I sat on the Design Commission with and from some of the applicants too.

What part of the job do you like best?

The thing I like best is working with the people that we’ve put together here at Hennebery Eddy. I like working with other architects and designers to analyze issues and develop concepts while testing, refining and working with our clients. It is great to see our younger staff grow and learn.  I look back and see the opportunities that I was given as a young architect that helped me to grow, learn, get established and try to figure it out as much as I could; I want to make sure that we do that for the staff here.  

It's also really fun to do projects that lots of people recognize, like Fire Station 28 where we had a really successful collaboration with the public artist, James Harrison.

Fire Station 28, Portland (photo by Michael Mathers)

What are some Portland buildings (either new or historic) that you most admire?

I think the Equitable/Commonwealth Building is one of the most important buildings in Portland from a range of perspectives, especially considering when that building was built and the ideas that were pioneered on it along with its impact on the rest of the world.

There are other buildings that I admire as well. The sanctuary at the First Presbyterian Church is fantastic. When you walk in you step into a different era in Portland, the craftsmanship, woodwork and the whole space is absolutely gorgeous. 

This is one that you probably don’t hear from many architects in Portland, but one of my favorite buildings is the Union Bank of California Building. It’s abysmal from an urban design standpoint and flies in the face of everything that we try to do in terms of creating great streets, but it’s really an unabashedly sculptural building. I know it has a sister building or two elsewhere. It’s an interesting building in terms of what it does and its gutsy sculptural quality.

Union Bank of California and Big Pink (photo by Brian Libby)

What is your favorite building outside of Portland and besides any you’ve worked on?

One is the East Wing in the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. It demonstrates how contemporary architecture can merge into a very formal historic context. It was a place of respite for me when I was working hard as a young architect. I would go spend time there after we would finish a project. For me it’s a personal thing, but it is an interesting and beautiful building.

Another favorite is the reconstruction of the Barcelona Pavilion, which is just a fantastic experience to see now.

Barcelona Pavilion (photo by Tim Eddy)

Is there a local architect or firm you think is unheralded or deserves more credit?

We have such an amazing architectural community in Portland. I think the folks that deserve credit are generally getting it; both in terms of peer recognition and their work. With the downturn of the economy in 2007-2009 many young and entering mid-career architects are working on their own or starting new small firms. I think we are going to see a range of new talent and new ideas emerge from this movement. 

There is robust competition in Portland among architects. There is also a sense of collegiality that really makes it very satisfying to work here. For all of the competiveness while we are all working hard to keep our noses above water, that level of collegiality has become increasingly more important to me the longer I live in Portland.

What would you like to see change about Portland’s built environment in the long term?

I’d like to see them put the Columbia River Crossing in a tunnel and keep the existing bridges for light rail, pedestrians, bikes and local traffic to Hayden Island and Delta Park. It feels like the horse is out of the barn and that’s done, and it’s too bad because I think the Columbia River Crossing has every opportunity to be one of the most disappointing public works projects that we’ve seen. Second to that, I would say we need to work to resolve the East Bank freeway problem. 

Connect all of the bike lanes so that they are uninterrupted.

Spalding Building (photo by Josh partee)

How would you rate the performance of local government like the Portland Development Commission, or the development and planning bureaus?

It is easy for some to point to the shortcomings of BDS or the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability, but there are some enormously talented folks working there. With all of the things that we get frustrated with as practicing architects or developers, we have to realize that Portland didn’t get to where it is today without a few bumps in the road. We have active community participation and a strong set of rules that we all have to play by. The Design Commission helps foster opportunities, and I think the design review process enables coloring outside of the lines when there is a great architect who has a great project. Sometimes things are administered in a tough way and there are always new rules that throw you asunder. While you could never say that you’d ever agree with everything that a bureaucracy does or the processes that we have to go through, generally, Portland's way of doing it is one of the best in the country.

Who is a famous architect you’d like to see design a building in Portland?

I’d love to see Renzo Piano design a building in Portland.

Name something besides architecture (sneakers, furniture, umbrellas) you love the design of.

Cars. 

Any make or model in particular?

It’s very interesting to watch and see what happens across the whole scope of the industry. How they deal with technical and practical considerations as well as fashion, design and accommodating people, it’s fascinating to me. 

What are three of your all-time favorite movies?

This is probably the hardest question on here. There are so many, but if I have to say what I would watch, it’s probably movies I have already watched a hundred times before: 

Clint Eastwood’s early westerns; they are so interesting in the way simple stories are put together along with some of the symbolism. They are fun to watch. Hang ‘Em High, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, and the High Plains Drifter where they paint the town red. 

Another movie that always flashes back to me is the film version of Sometimes a Great Notion “Never Give an Inch.” I enjoy that movie - it’s an Oregon movie.

This is probably an obscure one, Repo Man with Harry Dean Stanton. There are parts of it I still can’t get out of my head. 

 

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Neighbors seek limits on Williams Avenue

The Albert Apartments, Williams Avenue (image via Ruben J. Menashe, Inc.)

BY BRIAN LIBBY

Today perhaps like no other street in Portland, Williams Avenue embodies the ups and downs of density and development in historic neighborhoods.

The one-way, two-lane street, part of a north-south couplet with Vancouver Avenue where North and Northeast Portland meet, is surrounded by neighborhoods of single family houses and single or double-story commercial storefronts. As development has ramped up here both before and since the recession, tension has increased over just how dense Williams and Vancouver should be and how tall its new buildings should be allowed to go.

In past years, as Williams in particular has attracted a host of mixed-use development with new restaurants, bars, cafes and other businesses, these have principally occupied single or two-story buildings. Yet over the past year, as the real estate economy has recovered from the Great Recession and even seen a boom of apartment construction, the newest generation of buildings on Williams has been significantly bigger, up to five stories.

Leaders of the Boise neighborhood have begun the process of creating voluntary design guidelines for developers to follow, similar to what happened in the Pearl District when it was experiencing rapid growth in the 2000s.

"The neighborhood’s been overwhelmed by developers and their proposals. And every time a project came, the neighborhood had to start from scratch," says realtor Daria Crymes, co-chair of the Boise Neighborhood Association's Land Use and Transportation Committee.

The ire of neighborhood activists has been focused on projects like The Albert, a 72-unit apartment project developed by Jack Menashe; the Boise neighborhood association appealed Bureau of Development Services approval of the design in 2009, arguing it was too big based on the size of the surrounding houses and that its design, by LRS Architects, was not pedestrian friendly. The appeal was denied, but LRS and Menashe voluntarily made some slight modifications, such as shortening the building’s southeast corner by two feet, changing the northwest corner from a square-edge to a bevel, and adding planters.

Earlier this year neighborhood leaders also opposed another Menashe development designed by LRS, the 84-unit Williams and Mason apartments. "The Albert was his first and this is his second. Neither has been well received," says architect Diana Moosman, Crymes' Boise neighborhood co-chair, "but we had another Menashe duplex presented [to the neighborhood association] by William Kaven Architecture, and we liked it a lot. There's just a series of developers who have traditionally done single-family residences."

Indeed, The Albert's language on its website is all about fitting in. "Given the choice, wouldn't you rather live in a community that's aware of the world around it?" it reads. "In a home to rent that's true to the Portland scene? The Albert is just that." It also advertises the building's proximity to Williams, a "bicycle highway." The design, although perhaps unremarkable aesthetically, doesn't seem overly monolithic. What's more, The Albert has a Gold LEED rating; in many ways it aspires to be responsible, sustainable, transit oriented development and succeeds. It's also fully leased out.

The building just happens to be taller than neighbors would like.

Unlike comparable major neighborhood streets such as Hawthorne Boulevard or Alberta Street, which are zoned CS ("Commercial Storefront") and allow buildings up to 45 feet (about four stories), Williams is largely zoned EX (for "Central Employment"), which allows up to 65 feet - generally five stories. 

Williams zoning is defined by the circa-1993 Albina Community Plan, which sought to preserve the industrial jobs that had lined Williams and Vancouver in generations past. Hence the EX classification, which was intended to maintain jobs in the center of the city; from the 1960s into in the 1980s and '90s, these neighborhoods were losing much of their employment base.

According to Debbie Bischoff, senior planner in the Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability who oversees the Northeast district, the city may be reviewing the Albina Plan within two years or even as soon as this summer if given a grant from Metro. But due to budget cuts, she says there is a backlog for amending zoning codes. "There are neighborhoods that haven’t been revised in 30 to 40 years," she says. "We’re behind. All plans, we hope every 20 years or so we can go back and revisit. But we haven’t had adequate staff."

What's more, the EX zone code is subject to state law, which requires what's called a two-track system, in which a developer can either chose to meet zoning codes or, if seeking exception for some kind of innovative design that violates the code, go through a discretionary design review process open to public comment. But as long as they meet the zoning code standards, there's no staff overview.

"It’s been frustrating to community members," Bischoff adds. "If a developer wants to work with them voluntarily, that’s great. But he can also say, 'I’m meeting the zoning code standards, so I don’t have to make the changes that you’re asking.' It’s not until the last three to four years we’ve seen development maxing out to that full build out. I’m hearing what the community’s saying, and we know there are problems, and we want to try to address them. "

Crymes says the neighborhood association would actually be open to the existing 65-foot height limit "as long as it’s not done continuously in huge mass so it totally contrasts with what’s here." If this were downtown, mandatory design review for projects of a certain size would help assure something compatible with the existing urban fabric is built, but it doesn't apply here. Boise neighborhood leaders suggested perhaps it should be expanded to major streets outside downtown, but that would still require a change from EX to CS zoning to avoid the state law.

Even if the city does change the code, "There's going to be a lot of build out in the next few years," says architect Diana Moosman, Crymes's co-chair. "Williams may be done by the time anything changes."

Beyond the issue of height, neighborhood leaders also say there's a difference between much of the past decade's multifamily housing in established neighborhoods like Belmont or Hawthorne and what's going up along or near streets like Williams or even Division Street in Southeast Portland.

"It just seems like there’s a little bit of degradation of material quality," says architect Diana Moosman, Crymes's co-chair. "On Belmont I’m sure those buildings were controversial. So each one has a nice material quality." Now, she adds, "It feels like something’s shifted: four story buildings are accessible now, so the developers are saying, 'We’re not going to pander. We’ll just put in HardiPlank,'" referring to the inexpensive cladding material made of cement and cellulose.

The group cautions that they're not against all high-density development. They cite the work of developers like Ben Kaiser, who has been responsible for infill projects on the street such as the Williams five and an upcoming mixed use office building. "I think some developers want to invest in the neighborhood and some people just want a make a dollar," says Stephen Gomez, co-chair of the Boise committee and board chair of the Bicycle Transportation Alliance.

Boise neighborhood leaders say more projects are coming, such as the former Oregon Association of Minority Entrepreneurs property that was recently sold to a Seattle developer. If the guidelines can be put in place, they can work with developers and architects to avoid costly redesigns. 

"We’re hoping we’ll inspire developers to work with us first," Crymes explains. "I think Menashe would have been interested in it. They’ll be able to save money working with us. We don’t want conflict with developers. We really don’t."

Given Portland's multi-generational effort to curb sprawl with the Urban Growth Boundary, multi-family housing has to be allowed to happen, especially along major streets. Many of these developments are good for the neighborhoods they inhabit, increasing street traffic and investment, and some of it even has been amongst the best architecture being created in the city during this boom-and-bust era of the 200s and 2010s.

Williams seems to have the wrong zoning, especially given how it's set to be transformed from two automobile lanes to one, with an expanded bike lane. Yet city bureaus are by nature deliberative, slow-moving bodies that take years to enact changes to zoning or other guidelines. This isn't going to happen right away.

While design guidelines created by the Boise neighborhood would lack teeth, it would solve a key problem: that by the time news of potentially monolithic projects reaches neighborhood residents and leaders, it's already relatively late in the pre-construction period, when it will cost the developer to go back to the drawing board. The design guidelines Boise leaders are creating, while certainly no panacea for either side, can at least get everyone talking and thinking about these issues earlier in the process.

Design calendar: April 16-30

Tim Ingold (image courtesy L’Ecole Nationale Supérieure d'Architecture de Nancy)

BY LUKE AREHART

Editor's note: this post begins what is planned as an every-other-week roundup of goings on in Portland's architecture and design communities. To submit an event, write to [email protected].

Mark Mack
With thirty years experience as an architect in California, Mark Mack's design sensibility, clarity of form, and simplicity of construction have earned him a highly notable reputation. Since 1993, Mack has been a Professor of Architecture at the University of California, Los Angeles. Additionally, he has been a member of the visiting design faculty at Harvard University, Rice University, University of Chicago, and Sci-Arc. The lecture, part of UO's will cover the work of Mack Architect's over the last twenty-five years emphasizing international multifamily housing projects as well as the interrelation ship of teaching and practice. 5:30pm Tuesday, April 16, 2013, University of Oregon in Portland, White Stag Block, Event Room, 70 NW Couch Street. Free.

Placing Series: Tim Ingold
The influential anthropologist gives the fifth presentation in the “Placing” lecture series, offered by the Department of Architecture at Portland State University. The series will address the once-controversial assertion that “architects create places, not spaces,” discussing the ways in which the active processes of siting, locating, positioning and placing things and people in the world are conceived and embodied in their work. 6pm Thursday, April 18, 2013, Shattuck Hall Annex, corner of SW Broadway and Hall Streets. www.pdx.edu/architecture, 503-725-8405. Free.

CraftPerspectives Lecture: Cassandra Coblentz
Taking its title from a passage of writing in Joan Didion’s 1979 essay “The White Album,” Los Angeles-based guest curator Cassandra Coblentz employs Didon’s text as an evocative lens through which to view the diverse body of artwork produced by nine distinguished Oregon-based artists who have and continue to make remarkable contributions to the region’s cultural landscape. 6:30-8:00pm Thursday April 18, 2013, Museum of Contemporary Craft, 724 NW Davis St, http://cal.pnca.edu/e/725, 503-223-2654. Free.

Demystifying the Renovation Process
A Panel Discussion with Robert Kraft of Kraft Custom Construction and Wade Freitag of Craftsman Design and Renovation. Please bring your questions and photos and get answers straight from the experts on a variety of subjects, such as the pros and cons of do-it-yourself work; how to balance your interest in historic preservation with the requirements of modern building codes; and what to expect when working with a contractor. This program offers insight that will help you approach your next project in an orderly fashion and with the confidence to succeed. 10:00am-12:30pm Saturday, April 20, 2013, Architectural Heritage Center 701 SE Grand Avenue, http://www.visitahc.org/content/demystifying-renovation-process, Members: $8 General Public: $15, pre-registration suggested.

Canstruction Gala Awards Ceremony
A celebration of the achievements of the Canstruction teams, a place to recognize the event sponsors, and an opportunity to mingle with others in the architecture, engineering and construction community. 5:00pm Tuesday, April 23rd, 2013, The Nines, 525 SW Morrison. To request a ticket email Amber Corsen at [email protected] by Wednesday, April 17th.

Strange Utility: Architecture Toward Other Ends
A symposium that seeks unexpected ways of defining “utility” within and with respect to the built environment. This symposium will be structured around a series of events and speakers who will provocatively question the nature architecture’s utility—particularly its relation with art, literature, the urban environment, and the sciences. The symposium seeks to redefine architecture’s use value by exploring these unexpected uses of architecture in order to expand our own understanding of it today, and imagine what the utility of architecture may be in the future. Presented by Portland State University School of Architecture and the Portland State University Speakers Board. 4:00-8:30pm Friday, April 26, 2013, and 9:00am-5:00pm Saturday, April 27, Shattuck Hall Annex, corner of SW Broadway and Hall Streets, www.pdx.edu/architecture or call 503-725-8405. $15 before April 23 and $25 after April 23.

2013 Solar Winery Tour
The tour includes round trip transportation, lunch in a vineyard, solar tours and wine tasting at three wineries. Pick-up from two locations: Portland and Tigard. 10:00am-4:00pm Saturday, April 27, 2013. First pickup: 8:45am at Platt Electric parking lot, 322 SE Taylor St. Second Pick-up: 9:15am, Tualatin Park & Ride SW 72nd Avenue & Bridgeport Rd., Tualatin. Sign up online at http://solaroregon.org/winery-tour/details-and-registration 

 

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Portland Playhouse exemplifies church-to-arts transformation

Portland Playhouse (photo by Matthew Henderson)

BY MATTHEW HENDERSON

The community initiative to save the vacated St. Paul/Gethsemane church at NE Eighth and Failing and turn it into a non-profit community center has met its end. But around Portland there has quietly assembled a host of former churches (or Xhurches, as my blog calls them) now hosting a variety of artistic and neighborhood endeavors.

Gethsemane will instead be given to another church, one currently attended by one of Gethsemane's chief inheritors. The fate of the church had been in question in recent months, initially due to a developer's plans to raze the building to make room for condos. This gave rise to an effort led by Sabin neighborhood resident Diane Benson and a group of concerned neighbors who saw potential to restore the church for use as a community center.

Perhaps there’s no better use for a building, or at least no more obvious one, than that for which it was originally designed. But whether they stay churches or become something else, these buildings are an important link to the past, adding to the character of our neighborhoods, while acting as easy landmarks—even offering a touch of the picturesque.

One example of a successful church reuse is Portland Playhouse, which has had a positive impact on its surrounding community through its vital and affordable theater productions.

Portland Playhouse appeared on the scene in 2010 when the family trio of Brian, Michael, and Nikki Weaver moved to Portland from Boston in search of a space to start their theater company. They found the disheveled church building at NE 6th and Prescott and it was a match. Originally known as Highland Congregational Church and dating to 1903, the modest-sized, wood-framed church was later sold to an African American congregation following a pattern common to many early churches of North and Northeast Portland, where congregations comprised of German-Russian immigrants dwindled due to changing values among the church's younger congregants, and discrimination sustained by the two World Wars.

Portland Playhouse (photo by Matthew Henderson)

Now there is a new wave of turnover. For the Weavers, rent was affordable, the space was well-suited to their vision, and the location was good, barring issues relating to parking, which have since been formally resolved with the city council last year following an outpouring of support for the venue. Portland Playhouse is currently thriving, consistently garnering acclaim from local press outlets and theatergoers alike.

As for the building itself, it enjoys good visibility at its corner lot on Prescott. The embattlements on the church's wooden tower give the sense of entering a small castle, helping to prime the imagination for a potentially transportive theater experience. Inside, there are warm greetings, a smell of popcorn, with beer, wine, and candy concessions. Also, there is something special about the way in which the seats are situated facing each other, flanking the stage in bleacher fashion. It results in a uniquely intimate experience that, as director Brian Weaver puts it, "increases the awareness that you're an active participant in the event."

Attending a recent production of Mother Teresa Is Dead, I was impressed not only with the acting and story, but also the atmosphere: the vague sense that the building’s past life as a house of worship was somehow touching this present-day theatrical setting. Was anyone, or anything, watching with approval or displeasure? Or maybe it was merely the patina of the old building engendering the troupe to give their characters that much more resonance. More importantly, the cozy, intimate setting helped foster a closer bond between actors and audience. Portland Playhouse has certainly embraced the church architecture as an asset. 

It's worth noting that, in this growing trend of church adaptation, Portland seems to be a forerunner. I have been charting trends in church adaptation for the past few years, and off-hand I can think of nearly a dozen instances of church reuse in Portland alone, including a dance studio, a theater, multiple arts venues, multiple event halls, a communal living space, multiple residences—all located in former churches. Whether the abundance of disused churches in Portland and elsewhere reflects a broader decline in church attendance and religiosity is the subject of many reports and statistics (a Lewis & Clark sociologist has been compiling some interesting notes here in town), but one thing is certain: an opportunity exists for artists, entrepreneurs and the like to adopt these often beautiful spaces (some of them representing our highest architectural aspirations) and reuse them in ways which continue to serve the surrounding community.

At the same time, the Portland Playhouse almost burned out before it bloomed: one year ago, the facility lost its permit to stage plays at the church when the city determined it was acting as a retail establishment, rather than as a community center - the former being disallowed under current zoning. But to the Playhouse's credit, the King Neighborhood Association appealed the decision to City Council, with more than 80 people from the neighborhood testifying on the theater's behalf and none in opposition. The Council voted to reverse the decision, and the Portland Playhouse has been going strong in the year since - emboldened by its demonstrated community support.

 

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Frank Lloyd Wright's Gordon House: discussing its past and future

The Gordon House, Silverton (image courtesy Gordon House Conservancy)

BY BRIAN LIBBY

When a landmark Frank Lloyd Wright-designed house in Arizona the architect designed for his son was threatened with demolition last year, it might have had a familiar ring to Oregonians. Twelve years ago, the only Wright-designed building in Oregon was moved from its original location along the Willamette River in Charbonneau 21 miles south to the Oregon Garden outside Silverton.

Originally designed for Conrad and Evelyn Gordon in 1957 and completed in 1963, the Gordon House had stayed in the family’s ownership for most of that history. But in 2001, new owners, reportedly ignorant of Wright’s historical significance, sought to demolish the home to build anew.

Although the Gordon House was well adapted to its site, the tall living room’s floor-to-ceiling glass framing offering views of the river to the north and Mt. Hood to the east, since being dismantled and carefully moved the house has somewhat quietly thrived. But the restoration is not complete.

As a fundraiser for the Gordon House, next Friday (April 12) in Portland, Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy president Larry Woodin will deliver a lecture called “Wright This Way: Saving the David and Gladys Wright House,” highlighting his organization’s role in that preservation fight as well as the Gordon House (5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at SmithCFI, 620 NE 19th Avenue, $25).

Recently Woodin and Gordon House director discussed by email the continuing Wright legacy in Oregon and beyond.

Portland Architecture: How close to fully restored would you say the Gordon House is today?

Murphy: “This year is the start of our second decade of restoration for long term preservation and sustainability.  We opened the house in 2002 at about 85% restored and have chipped away at the remaining 15% since then.  We have made it slowly but surely to about 95% complete now. We are working on fundraising for the remaining important capital projects that are outlined on our website and include the important MJ Murdock match, which doubles every preservation donation dollar.”

Upstairs at the Gordon House, pre-2001 move (photo by Brian Libby)

What are the goals for continuing stewardship of the Gordon House in the years ahead? What are the fundraising goals and how would that money be spent? 

Murphy: The Gordon House Conservancy under the oversight of the City of Silverton and the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy work in cooperation to maintain the mission of education, interpretation, and preservation for the public.  The cooperative agreement is under a Preservation Easement that ensures sustainable stewardship. 

The capital restoration goal is currently projected to be $300,000 total with breakdowns that embrace the specific projects. The projects include the famous red concrete floors, interior and exterior wall surfacing, exterior and interior Western red cedar wood conservation, west balcony and roof structural strengthening, kitchen workspace restoration including skylight and light canisters, and landscape design restoration.

Besides its pedigree as a Frank Lloyd Wright design, what can the Gordon House teach us about quality single-family home design? How different is it from a typical subdivision builder home?

Murphy: The house is a model for sustainable passive energy control and should be the beginning of every home design and redesign with efficient use of natural resources in mind.  Radiant floor heat and cooling, building siting and use of deciduous trees with deep eaves for all year exposure, and Wright’s famous floating concrete floor and concrete central core are all exemplified at the Gordon House. Its spatial design concepts with the open circular floor plan, central family living area, functional spaces, real and virtual indoor/outdoor rooms, built-in furniture and storage, and hallways that earn their keep with storage units and extended vistas.

Gordon House, Charbonneau, 2001 (photo by Brian Libby)

Are there any lessons learned from the episode 12 years ago when the Gordon House had to be moved because its owners wanted to tear it down? 

Woodin: Moving a building is ALWAYS a last choice! Convincing the person who wants to tear down an important building to discuss options is critical; we could have gotten an exception to the local zoning if the Smiths had been willing to talk.  They took a very combative attitude and only agreed to the move due to the tax deduction they would receive. It was often challenging to persuade them, though the expense to move and rebuild the Gordon House was persuasive evidence—to find another option.

Given that Larry's lecture is about the Wright home threatened recently in Arizona, how does that preservation emergency compare and contrast with the Gordon House saga?

Woodin: It is similar in that the owner was combative. In this case we were able to get profound amounts of international media attention due to the unique nature of the building. (This owner too thought we should move the house - to Taliesin West, no less!)  The publicity helped galvanize the community. However, it also persuaded the owner he could ask a high price. It took seven months for us to find a donor to purchase the property. He intends to donate the property to a non-profit so it can be made available to the public. The more strategies preservationists learn about by studying diverse examples (regardless of where they took place), the more nimble and creative they can be locally.

 

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Art at the scale of architecture: talking with Lead Pencil Studio about "Inversion: Plus Minus"

"Inversion: Plus Minus" (photo by Rich Rano)

BY RICH RANO

The Central Eastside resides as one of Portland’s industrial sanctuaries with an established goal to evolve its uses while maintaining the close-in manufacturing core for the many makers, producers, and creators who make up much of the city’s identity. But while the zoning hasn't changed, the Central Eastside always has continued to do so. Now, with a new streetcar line at the district's eastern edge on Grand Avenue and MLK Boulevard, the Central Eastside is changing again. And in a public art project constructed as part of the new streetcar line, that slow transformation can be palpably felt.

"Inversion: Plus Minus" by Seattle's Lead Pencil Studio, located at the east end of the Hawthorne Bridge ramp (with an companion installation set to be constructed a few blocks north at the Morrison bridgehead) has been called a "ghost building" for how it evokes a long-gone warehouse on the site. But just as compelling as this large-scale artwork is the process Lead Pencil Studio used to design and construct it, which combined state-of-the-art digital means with traditional fabrication techniques. "Inversion: Plus Minus" is a conversation piece between industrial authenticity and the vision of a growing urban core through a contemporary lens.

Recently Lead Pencil Studio's Annie Han and Daniel Mihalyo answered a series of questions about how they put it together, and what they think the impact of the artwork has been thus far. 

Portland Architecture: The piece's welded Cor-Ten steel members are of a traditional analog process, yet "Inversion" yields a quite digital-age aesthetic. Were there any special tools or technologies in the design or assembly of the piece? 

Lead Pencil Studio: We looked at several techniques for developing a fabrication method including one version that involved digitally tracking every stick of steel with Revit and using bolted connections that would have required an absurd level of accuracy. In the end however, we opted for a manually performed assembly methods. The only use of the digital methods were for ordinary drafting, rendering tests and material estimation.

"Inversion: Plus Minus" (photo by Rich Rano)

It seems that no matter the method of drawing or modeling during conceptualization, there is always an uncertainty on whether or not the project will successfully scale-up during the interpretive process of fabrication. On this point, this project was a larger challenge than most because we were not able to see the final assembly until it was craned onto the site. The digital renderings that we worked on were never really able to accurately predict the appearance and density of material and inevitably there is a good amount of finesse performed on site.

In all that finesse, were there strict rules to the placement of each member to maintain your desired aesthetic?

We definitely had a system of techniques that we've developed over the years to keep things from getting away from us. More than half of the individual members had a structural role to play which dictated their connection points, welds and precise placement. The remainder of the material had an aesthetic role and therefore had to be generally located to maintain consistent density and gradation across the overall piece. There were daily checks with all involved to discuss consistency in the layout. The most vexing problem was to avoid the development of recognizable geometric patterns that tend to naturally occur anytime you have highly repetitive work.

"Inversion: Plus Minus" (photos by Rich Rano)

Ghosted images of the former buildings aside, how do you think the assembly methods and design choices relate to and spawn a dialogue with the industrial and manufacturing roots of the site?

From a material point of view, Cor-Ten steel has a leathery brown appearance that is nearly indistinguishable from the cast iron that was produced on the site. The utilitarian nature of industrial methods and materials figured large in our choices as we were looking to lend the project a good fit to the history of the neighborhood. Above everything though, we were challenged to create to a visually compelling piece that could compete on equal terms with the scale, velocity and deafening volume of cars and semi-trucks along Grand Avenue. When we look at it now, the work seems to be at peace within the violence of the context, rising above the crush of traffic and resilient in the face of change. In the end the work is a direct response to the 1950's planning decisions that shaped the site during the intervening 60 years since the demolition of the nascent urban fabric in favor of vehicle throughput.

On the theme of planning and zoned use revision, how have you witnessed the visual impact of Inversion informing the evolution of the area’s experience?

Most of Portland Oregon passes through this neighborhood on route to somewhere else. While many work there during the day, the evening is largely a ghost town - but the seeds of change are clearly in the works. As real estate pressures continues to rise, there will undoubtedly be increasing economic and political leverage applied to loosen the zoning protection of the Industrial Sanctuary. As those demolitions occur, the history of the activities that took place evaporate as well. Do this enough and a neighborhood and the people are forgotten. Our project is a response to this deleterious effect.

For those who are just passing through, we hope that they are able to discern our dialogue with the neighborhood forms, textures and materials and read our project as sketches of buildings that once existed or perhaps ones that might rise again.

Screen capture from "Inversion: Plus Minus" design (courtesy Lead Pencil Studio)

So your project aims to maintain the industrial identity of the area?

Our artwork operates less definitively, but on a personal level we do appreciate authenticity of place and are generally skeptical of developments that alter the built/natural environment one opportunistic project at a time. In the case of the Industrial Sanctuary, we're under no illusion that the area should be reborn with gritty belching shipyard smokestacks. We also feel that it is vital for a city that prides itself on making, such as Portland, that there be affordable, near-in places to get everything you need - hardware, materials, process expertise, basic industrial methods and equipment. Few cities have been able to maintain this and it would be a shame to see it quietly displaced by a completely different identity.

 

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