Walking tour: Yamhill Historic District and Beyond What is today the Yamhill National Historic District was separated from the rest of Old Town when the new Morrison Bridge was constructed in the 1950s. This Architectural Heritage Center tour contains an array of 19th century cast-iron buildings, as well as some of the most notable historic commercial architecture in Portland. Attendees will also learn about how this one-time market area was home to the city’s early Chinese immigrant community. Tour begins outside the World Trade Center at SW 2nd Avenue and Salmon Street. 10AM Saturday, August 1. $20 ($12 for AHC members).
Picnic at the Shire Join the Yeon Center and its executive director, Randy Gragg, for a tour of The Shire, a stunning landscape in the Columbia Gorge designed by architect and conservationist, John Yeon. The 75-acre private reserve was sculpted by Yeon in the 1960s with groomed paths and captured views of Multnomah Falls. A captivating outdoor experience, The Shire draws on the great tradition of picturesque landscapes while anticipating 1970s-era earthworks. This storied spot was the place where the Friends of the Columbia Gorge was founded and capped Yeon’s six decades of activism preserving important Oregon landscapes. The tour and event, which includes food from acclaimed chef John Toboada, is a fundraiser for the Yeon Center's many events throughout the year. 3:30PM Sunday, August 2. $150.
Walking tour: Skidmore-Old Town Historic District Learn about some of the oldest buildings in the city and the people who built them in this Architectural Heritage Center tour of Portland’s only National Historic Landmark District. The area also contains the highest concentration of cast-iron fronted buildings on the west coast and much of that iron was even produced locally. Tour meets at Skidmore Fountain, SW First Avenue and Ankeny Street. 6PM Wednesday, August 5 and 6PM Wednesday, August 12. $20 ($12 for AHC members).
Evolution of Enclosure: The Anatomy of Building Performance We now have the science and techniques to build for comfort, health, and revolutionary efficiency. At the center of it all is the advanced building envelope. “Evolution of Enclosure: The Anatomy of Building Performance,” a monthlong exhibit opening with this First Thursday party, draws on built projects in Portland and Seattle designed by four leading architecture firms to explore the building science that guides high performance assemblies. Four full-scale wall assembly cross sections, a suite of building science of illustrations, project photography, and an interactive set of high performance building animations will show how buildings can go from net consumers of energy to net producers: part of the climate solution. AIA/Portland Center For Architecture, 403 NW 11th Avenue. 6PM Thursday, August 6. Free.
Walking tour: Pioneers to Postmodern - Downtown Taking a whirlwind tour of the entire range of Portland's architectural history via this downtown Architectural Heritage Center tour, attendees will learn about the first wooden structures near the river as well as the elaborate cast iron, stone and terra cotta decorated buildings of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. From there one will be transported into the modern age and the sleek designs of Pietro Belluschi and the postmodernism of Michael Graves. Tour meets at southwest corner of SW Pine Street and Naito Parkway. 6PM Friday, August 6. $20 ($12 for AHC members).
Walking tour: Kenton neighborhood In the early 20th century, before it was known best for its Paul Bunyan statue, Kenton was the heart of Portland’s meat-packing industry and home to the largest livestock exchange on the West Coast. Swift & Company, through various subsidiaries, platted, developed, and heavily influenced the industrial, commercial and residential growth of Kenton. This Architectural Heritage Center tour shows how a dominant employer influenced the housing stock of management and labor in a neighborhood that possessed many elements of a company town. Tour meets at Paul Bunyan statue, at North Denver Avenue and North Interstate Avenue. 10AM Saturday, August 8. $20 ($12 for AHC members).
Walking tour: Midtown and the West End Explore downtown between the South Park Blocks and I-405, an area filled with iconic buildings as well as numerous lesser-known architectural gems. Attendees on this Architectural Heritage Center tour will see historic apartment houses, storefronts, cultural and religious buildings, and the remnants of what was once a thriving residential area, while also gaining an understanding of the impacts of development on historic preservation efforts. The West End has also become one of Portland's hottest shopping and restaurant destinations, as evidenced by a New York Times travel article last year, and includes noteworthy recent projects like Lever Architecture's Union Way, Skylab Architecture's Blackbox building, and ZFG's 12 West tower, not to mention historic gems like A.E. Doyle's Central Library. Tour meets on the north side of Central Library, on SW Yamhill Street between 10th and 11th Avenues. 2PM Sunday, August 9. $20 ($12 for AHC members).
Walking tour: Irvington neighborhood The largest National Register Historic District in Portland, Irvington encompasses 583 acres and 2,800 buildings. This Architectural Heritage Center tour explores only a small slice of a remarkable neighborhood, including the work of notable architects like Joseph Jacobberger and Ellis Lawrence – all with the goal of providing a broader understanding of the fascinating and rich history of this one-time streetcar suburb. Tour meets outside Holladay Park Church of God, at 2120 NE Tillamook Street. 6PM Thursday, August 13. $20 ($12 for AHC members).
Walking tour: Modernism and Beyond - south downtown Downtown Portland contains an abundance of post-World War II architecture by renowned architects and firms like Pietro Belluschi, Michael Graves, and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. This Architectural Heritage Center tour explores the southern portion of the central business district. You’ll learn about the controversial as well as the award winners, the architects and firms that designed them, and the issues of the times that led to such dramatic changes to our built environment and skyline. Tour meets at the Salmon Springs Fountain at SW Naito Parkway and Salmon Street. 10AM Saturday, August 15. $20 ($12 for AHC members).
Begun in 2011, the Endangered Places list has brought attention in its five years to a variety of works of architecture, landscape and more. According to Restore Oregon's director, Peggy Moretti, the intent is not so much to provide a definitive, authoritative hierarchy of important structures around the state but to offer help where it might be useful.
"The Endangered Places list is designed to shine a spotlight on places significantly at risk, and to rally support," she said. "We provide grants and devote consulting time to help each of those places develop a plan to move forward. Whatever expertise is needed, we’ll help get them involved. And we help work with locals to learn how to collaborate to save that endangered place."
The 2015 Oregon's Most Endangered Places list was a septet with a wide variety of scales, styles and histories.
Eastern Oregon University Grand Staircase in La Grande, for instance, is not only part of a grand circa-1929 Italian renaissance revival style (listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1929), but the only remaining element of what was originally an elaborate set of landscape features as the staircase moves downward from its hillside perch over five tiers. The First Congregational Church in Portland, completed in 1895, has been a downtown landmark for over a century and for six decades its tower was the tallest structure in Portland. There were also two barns on the list, the Shipley-Cook Barn in Lake Oswego (1862) and the Smith Barn in Cave Junction (1896), each notable for their hand construction, and the rural Mildred Kanipe House in Oakland, Oregon (near Roseburg), dating to 1865. And just as the Gray Building is an important historical landmark from Portland's African American community (it was home to one of the city's first black-owned businesses and later a Black Panther Party meeting site), so too did the Wong Laundry Building (1908) play a significant role in the development of what was once the West Coast's biggest Chinatown.
Nominations for the list can be made by anyone. But the real reason I contacted Moretti was to find out who decides on the list itself. Apparently, the nominations are collected and scored by Restore Oregon’s advocacy committee, which is comprised of its board of advisors largely and a couple of staff members.
"We evaluate based on certain criteria: the urgency of the threat, the historic significance of the place, the degree of community support—we always need support from locals—and the long-term viability of the place, so if time and money is invested it has legs, and has a viable purpose," Moretti explained. "Typically we have more nominations than we can list. The Restore Oregon board takes the list of recommendations and formally votes to approve them."
Moretti said that the board of advisors, which comprises much of the decision-makers for the list, is made up of what she called subject-matter experts and regional representatives. By way of example, she added: "We have an advisor who’s an archeologist. We have somebody who has expertise with legislative issues. And we have people from the Parks Department. It's people with a certain set of skills and have eyes and ears in a certain region."
I told her that configuration made sense, because while I always learn something interesting about Oregon and its heritage when the list is published, it usually doesn't seem like a roster that was chosen by architects.
"Definitely there’s a number of buildings on our list that would not be considered architectural gems, but they have huge value culturally or historically," Moretti said. She cited the Gray Building in Portland, which was included in this year's list, and "has tremendous significance to the African American community," but is architecturally more than a boarded-up old storefront. "It’s definitely about more than just architecture," she added. "But we had last year the Dome Building at the Oregon State Hospital, for example. In some cases we’ve done a whole district or category like the Oregon Trail Pioneer Farmsteads. In that case it’s like, 'Oh my gosh!' The not just Oregon history but American history that is there."
I couldn't help but notice that some of the threatened Portland buildings that have been most discussed locally have not been added to the Endangered Places list. No Portland Building, for example. No GasCo Building. No Memorial Coliseum or Centennial Mills. In most of those cases, Moretti says the buildings were never nominated. Maybe that's because of their scale, which is a little too large for Restore Oregon to impact (at least financially), or perhaps it's because many of these dramas go on for years, with a mix of progress and regression that can be difficult to keep track of.
Of these aforementioned buildings, only the GasCo received a nomination. The committee rejected it, Moretti explained, "because we were concerned that it was not viable. It could be revisited. Every year we take a new look. But that’s a tough one. It’s so elegant, and people talk about it so much, but there’s so much stacked against it. Our goal with the list isn’t to say, look at what we’re going to lose. It’s to say, let’s rally resources so we can revive them. If we can’t identify a path forward for a place, we’ll care a lot about it and want to see it documented. But we’re trying to take some scarce resources and put them where they’ll have impact." But don't get too mad at Restore Oregon for not putting the GasCo on the list. The organization was one of the first to take action when the building was threatened and call upon its owner, Northwest Natural, to at least leave it as a ruin.
Today lists are almost painfully ubiquitous. From BuzzFeed to Bleacher Report to The Oregonian, writers churn them out from a seemingly inexhaustible ongoing supply of half-formed ideas. Yet thoughtfully made lists from real organizations, like the American Institute of Architects Committee on the Environment's annual 10 Ten Green Projects List for nationally-significant sustainable architecture, or Restore Oregon's Most Endangered Places list, can turn our attention to buildings and places in a way that is helpful and constructive. And while there may be some architecture that matters more to me than some of the buildings on this year's or past lists, that's what good lists should be about: expanding what you thought you knew, and what we can all do to affect positive change. Numerous preservation success stories have happened with buildings on Restore Oregon's list, and in many cases that wouldn't have happened unless they were listed.
Next in our continuing series is Lucas Gray, of Portland architecture firm Propel Studio. Along with firm partner Nick Mira, the studio recently completed designs on a sustainable outdoor classroom shelter for Vernon Elementary School, a Street Seat for Bamboo Sushi, many accessory dwelling units around Portland, and also provided pro-bono design services for the interior design of The Rosewood Initiative community center in East Portland. In addition to his design work, Gray has been leading the charge as a strong voice for emerging architects, which includes serving as the regional associate director for the American Institute of Architects' Northwest and Pacific region, as well as being a board member of AIA Oregon and writing for online magazine Talkitect.
Portland Architecture: When did you first become interested in architecture as a possible career?
Lucas Gray: This may be one that you’ve heard many times in this series, but I always knew that I wanted to be an architect — ever since I was a child. My interest stemmed from what I did as a kid: I was always building things. I loved LEGO and had boxes full of wooden blocks. I would build towers in my room and make little cities out of dirt and sticks in the backyard with friends. I would constantly draw and sketch as well. I also did a lot of fine art courses in summer camps and throughout high school. My interest in architecture was always present through these various activities.
Where did you study architecture and how would you rate the experience?
I studied in two places. I earned my undergrad in architecture at McGill University in Montreal and earned my master’s degree at the University of Oregon in Eugene. They were very different experiences, both good, but in different ways. McGill is much more of a traditional Beaux-Arts style school that was more design focused. My experience was about pushing the fundamentals of design along with making timeless spaces. The conversations were often on beauty in design, graphic representation, materiality and tectonics. My classmates were incredibly talented designers and many have gone on to work in great offices and start firms. It was a great foundation.
The University of Oregon was almost the opposite. My education there was more about a different way of thinking about how architecture can impact the world. It was much less focused on the aesthetic value of buildings and more about thinking holistically on how buildings are put together and how sustainability becomes pervasive throughout the design process. Students were probably more socially active and talking about community engagement more than design excellence. Together, the educations at these two schools complemented each other well. I don’t think I would have valued either as much without having the other one to accompany and balance it.
A project with Berlin's Mathewson Architecture (photo by Espirito Meller)
What is your favorite building project that you’ve worked on?
A project that I’ve worked that has special significance is a small building that I designed while living in Berlin, Germany. After graduating from U of O, I moved to Berlin where I lived for two years and worked for two small boutique firms. The first firm I worked for, Mathewson Architecture, did a lot of historic building renovations around the city. We also entered a few design competitions, one of which we won. The clients were looking to renovate an existing historic brick gymnasium that was part of an elementary school that was destroyed during the war. Along with the renovation, the brief called for a small 500-600 square foot addition to house a pair of changing rooms, restroom facilities and two coach’s rooms. It was a simple project but very impactful for the community. It is located within a courtyard surrounded by housing in the heart of Kreuzberg, a district in southeast Berlin. You can’t even see the project from the main street and can only access it through a gate within one of the housing blocks. We had the freedom to go beyond what someone might see in a typical historic city. We were able to preserve the existing brick building and build an elegant, modern addition that ran perpendicular to the main structure and stretched across the entire courtyard. We used channel glass, which created a translucent, glowing box that set the backdrop for the view through the courtyard. It was a great experience. Winning a competition is always gratifying, as well as seeing it actually built. It was the first project I designed that was completed.
Who has been an important mentor among your colleagues?
That’s a great question. One of the unique aspects of my career has been that I’ve traveled a lot and lived in lots of different places. There have been good and bad things as a result of the travel. I wasn’t in any one place long enough to have a mentor that has been there throughout my career. It has been more about short touches of mentorship along the way for me. Casey Mathewson, the owner of the firm I worked for in Berlin, was great because he was very diverse in his interests. He has a small architecture practice and works on building projects, he also writes books about contemporary architecture around the world. This influenced me in that I also practice architecture and compliment the design work with a mix of writing for my blog, contributing articles to other publications, while leading the social media marketing and business development of our firm, as well as staying very active in the AIA.
When I lived in Shanghai, I worked in a boutique design firm called Brearley Architects + Urbanists. It was an interesting place because the owner is an Australian architect who had moved to Shanghai to set up his business. It was great to learn about the world of international architecture along with how you can design anything anywhere using the technology that we have today. It definitely peaked my interest in working internationally and put me in a situation where I had way more responsibility early in my career than I would have experienced working at firms in the US.
What part of the job do you like best, and as a designer what do you think you most excel at?
What I like best about what I am doing now is that I’m constantly doing various tasks. Running a small firm requires that you have to design and get the necessary drawings out the door, but in order to have a successful business you also have to meet with the clients, market the firm, develop the website, and manage employees, all while balancing each component. I think this diversity of tasks plays into my strengths. I consider myself more of a big-picture thinker than a detail oriented person. I’m much more interested in managing multiple aspects of a project or company rather than delving into any one project down to the minute details over the course of multiple years. I also enjoy, and am good at, communicating with clients, listening to what they want and interpreting what they need.
What are some Portland buildings (either new or historic) that you most admire?
Portland is an interesting city in that there aren’t that many noteworthy or iconic full buildings. Some of the best designs are adaptive reuse with interesting interiors. The Wieden + Kennedy project by Allied Works is a great example, or the EcoTrust building by Holst Architecture.
Another recent project that I admire is Union Way. It’s a spectacular project in many ways. It’s beautifully designed, and the materials and details are great. I love how it creates a new urban experience within the city as a covered retail alleyway that functions as an exterior and interior hybrid space. It reminds me of some of the alleyways in old Shanghai or Berlin. You see these creative re-thinking of urban spaces happening more here in Portland which is exciting. I hope developers, planners and architects continue to explore underutilized spaces throughout Portland.
Street seats at Bamboo Sushi (image courtesy of the architect)
What is your favorite building outside of Portland and besides any you’ve worked on?
My favorite building is one that I visited a few years ago: the Thermal Baths at Vals, Switzerland by Peter Zumthor. It’s one of the few buildings that lives up to and even exceeds the built-up expectations of how great it is. You see pictures in magazines and read about it; and then going to visit and experience it in person is better than what you’ve seen. The materials, details and immense variations of spaces within the building are outstanding. He engages all of your senses and does it in a way that is so peaceful and calming. It perfectly blends into the landscape and context of this small town in an alpine valley. By far the best building in the world to me.
Is there a local architect or firm you think is unheralded or deserves more credit?
I mentioned a couple earlier — Allied and Holst — but I’m not sure if they are really unheralded. I think Lever Architecture does great work and look forward to continue seeing them do bigger projects in Portland. Some of the smaller firms like Fieldwork Design & Architecture is a great example of a firm that pays attention to craft and detail. I’d love to see how they would translate that into something at a much larger scale.
I’d also like to see more local work by Allied Works. I think they are a firm that is a leader within the local design community and really sets the bar for local firms. However, although they create beautiful work, most of it is located somewhere else. I would love to see them get a commission to do a ground-up building here in Portland — maybe an addition to Portland Art Museum campus or another cultural building.
What would you like to see change about Portland’s built environment in the long term?
I wish that both architects and developers were a bit more daring. I think there is a lot of safe design happening here, a lot of background or “filler” buildings. There aren’t many iconic buildings in Portland that make a statement. Portland has become famous in part due to its innovative urban planning, and it seems architecture has taken a backseat to that success. I think it’s time to allow the actual buildings to catch up in prestige to our infrastructure, light rail, transportation systems, etc. When visitors ask me what architecture to visit or see while in town I usually don’t really know where to send them, I usually send them to the Halprin Fountains downtown, as they are some of the most daring and beautiful designs in the city. I wish we had architecture that could rival those.
How would you rate the performance of local government like the Portland Development Commission, or the development and planning bureaus?
I have mixed feelings. The Portland Development Commission has been great for us; we’ve done some small projects with them. We worked with them for Lents Town Center on an information kiosk and received a grant to turn one of their vacant lots into a community park and photography exhibit. They have been really helpful. I think the PDC sometimes gets a bad reputation but I believe they are looking to do the best work that they can for the neighborhoods that they work in.
The permitting office I have less fond feelings for. I think there are a lot of regulations in place that limit the ability of architects to do the best work possible. The Community Design Standards, for instance, are a terrible guideline that basically prescribes bad design. It should be thrown out. The ADU [accessory dwelling unit] code is another example where the zoning rules dictate the aesthetics of the building at the expense of what the owner actually wants it to look like. Protecting health and safety is one thing, but prescribing what style a building should be, and what it should look like, stifles creativity and prevents good design. There is no reason that any city code should dictate style or aesthetics.
A new residential project (rendering courtesy Propel Studio)
You could argue that a lot of the fees are excessive and in some way stymie development and growth. I would like to see fees be more related to a percentage of the cost of a projects rather than fixed sums. That might also prevent some of these housing builders from putting up these giant McMansions all over our residential neighborhoods. We should financially incentivize smaller dwellings that fit into the context rather than now, where people need to maximize square footage to get the most profit above the cost of construction and fees. I’d like to see some bold changes.
Who is a famous architect you’d like to see design a building in Portland?
I would love to see some of the high-end Swiss firms do work in Portland. Herzog & de Meuron has been one of my favorite firms to look to for inspiration for years. Peter Zumthor would be a great candidate as well, although he is a much harder catch. I think someone that can really get the public excited about architecture is Bjarke Ingels with BIG (Bjarke Ingels Group). He is great at presenting work and talking about architecture in a way that the average person can understand and get passionate about. Having his firm do a project here would be something exciting for the city. Studio Gang would be great as well. Jeanne Gang’s firm is creative and has a thoughtfulness about her work, and passion for sustainability that I think would fit in well with the Portland culture.
Name something besides architecture (sneakers, furniture, umbrellas) you love the design of.
Furniture. It’s probably pretty common for architects to say this. Furniture is sort of like a building for your body. My girlfriend and I designed a dining table and a coffee table for our house and she is working on the design of a conference table for a developer in town. We have each also designed chairs and other misc. items. My firm has designed a couple street seats around Portland which is basically furniture at a micro urban scale. The furniture exercises are fun because you get into the tectonics, materiality and details a lot faster. The projects in general are quick, so you usually get instant gratification. Where an architecture projects can take years, a piece of furniture might only take a couple weeks or months to see the results.
What are three of your all-time favorite movies?
There are too many to choose from. I love science fiction. The way that you can use a fictitious future (or past) setting to tell a story and explore a fundamental truth about some aspect of humanity. I also love how the stories are translated into a designed environment. Through these stories, they are having to create something either from scratch or re-envisioned from today’s world. Along these lines I have to say Star Wars — the original three movies. They combine great storytelling, innovative visual effects and a great designed environment. To go along with this theme of a dystopian, sci-fi future, I loved the film Blade Runner. I’m drawn to most of Ridley Scott’s films and how he uses architecture to create mood and tell the story.
A third movie that’s memorable is Pulp Fiction, mostly because of the way that it deconstructs and intertwines a set of stories. It was a revolutionary storytelling device at the time. I’d never seen a movie that took many different storylines and spliced them up along a non-chronological path through a series of events.
Walking tour: historic Albina Once a separate city from Portland, Albina has a lengthy and diverse history – along with some fascinating architecture. This Architectural Heritage Center tour explores old Albina from stories of early proprietors and its development as a railroad town, to its transformation into the heart of Portland's African-American community and the impacts of urban renewal. Tour meets at North Interstate Avenue and Russell Street. 6PM Thursday, July 16. $20 ($12 for AHC members).
Modernism and Beyond: The Architecture of Downtown Downtown Portland contains an abundance of post-World War II architecture by some of the leading architects and firms of their time, such as Pietro Belluschi and ZGF. This Architectural Heritage Center tour explores the northern portion of the central business district. Attendees will learn about the controversial and the award winners, the architects and firms that designed them, and the issues of the times that led to such dramatic changes to our built environment and skyline. Tour meets at the northeast corner of SW 6th Avenue and Oak Street. 10AM Saturday, July 18. $20 ($12 for AHC members).
Walking tour: Skidmore-Old Town Historic District Learn about some of the oldest buildings in the city and the people who built them in this Architectural Heritage Center tour of Portland’s only National Historic Landmark District. The area also contains the highest concentration of cast-iron fronted buildings on the west coast and much of that iron was even produced locally. Tour meets at Skidmore Fountain, SW First Avenue and Ankeny Street. 6PM Wednesday, July 22. $20 ($12 for AHC members).
PDX Interior Designer Spotlight In this continuing bi-monthly series, Portland's interior designers talk with yours truly about their influences, portfolios, and approaches to design. This time around, a trio of principals from Fieldwork Design—including interior designer Tonia Hein, architect Cornell Anderson, and architect Tim Fouch—will discuss the firm's combination of design and custom fabrication. Fieldwork was recently named one of 10 firms to watch by Architectural Digest. The firm has also won five IIDA awards in the last three years, for projects like Keen Footwear, Forge Graphic Works, a West Hills residence, and a branding wall for Nike. Ceilume Ceiling Showroom, 1225 SE Grand Avenue. 6PM Thursday, July 23. Free.
Walking tour: The South Park Blocks This 11-block downtown area was first platted and donated to the City in 1852, transforming a fire break parcel into the most desirable residential area of its day –complete with schools, playgrounds, stately homes and places of worship. As this Architectural Heritage Center tour will show, the South Park Blocks stand alone as a place of revitalization, refreshment and cultural allure. Tour meets outside the First Congregational Church at 1126 SW Park Avenue. 6PM Wednesday, July 23. $20 ($12 for AHC members).
Walking tour: Alameda Take a stroll back through time to examine the events, forces and players that shaped this northeast Portland neighborhood. The Architectural Heritage Center tour will trace a portion of the old Broadway Streetcar line as it highlights Alameda’s prolific homebuilders and architectural styles. Tour meets at NE 26th Avenue and Regents Drive. 10AM Saturday, July 25. $20 ($12 for AHC members).
Walking tour: Skidmore/Old Town Learn about some of the oldest buildings in the city and the people who built them in this Architectural Heritage Center tour of Portland’s only National Historic Landmark District. The area also contains the highest concentration of cast-iron fronted buildings on the west coast and much of that iron was even produced locally. Tour meets at Skidmore Fountain, SW First Avenue and Ankeny Street. 6PM Wednesday, July 29. $20 ($12 for AHC members).
Walking tour: Lair Hill Named for pioneering Portland lawyer and newspaper editor William Lair Hill, this residential neighborhood is one of Portland’s oldest. Lair Hill contains a fascinating mix of historic homes, along with notable buildings significant for their connections to the city’s early immigrant populations. It’s also a neighborhood that was impacted by urban renewal and freeway development. Tour meets outside Lair Hill Bistro, at 2823 SW First Avenue. 6PM Thursday, July 30. $20 ($12 for AHC members).
A planned Old Town hotel (rendering courtesy William Kaven Architecture)
BY BRIAN LIBBY
Recently I received a call from architect Daniel Kaven of William Kaven Architecture, a firm that has over the years produced many winning designs for houses and multifamily housing projects in Portland and beyond. I've long been a fan, so I was excited by the potential of what he had to say.
Kaven has news of what seems poised to become a major new hotel in Old Town, with around 250 units, on the site of a surface parking lot between Fourth and Fifth Avenues and Couch and Davis Streets that has seen potential projects (like an Uwajimaya grocery store) come and go. Not only is his firm the architect, but its sister company, Kaven + Co, is the developer.
"This project is going to have a major conversation about the design going forward because of the complexity of the site and how important the site is," he said. "You see a lot of tourists down there. It’s the oldest part of Portland. I think in the eyes of a lot of people who come to town, that’s what they start to see as being Portland. I just want there to be a hotel that really feels like the living room of Portland."
Some of the first questions that I had Kaven can't yet answer, like who his partners are and when it will be built. There is a major hotel company signed on to the project, he says, but the identity has to remain hidden for now. "I can tell you it’s a really amazing hotel group that has been really successful in other cities and Portland is a great fit for them," he said. There is a firm desire to begin construction early next year, Kaven adds, but that depends on a code change increasing maximum building height that has been approved by City Council but not yet implemented because of a lack of staff. As a result, the project has not yet entered into Design Review, which means the design could still change somewhat significantly.
Even so, I decided to write about the project because the architect says he wants to begin a public conversation. This project would be a coup for William Kaven Architecture (named for the grandfather of principals Daniel Kaven and Trevor William Lewis), graduating to a substantially larger scale, and the architect seems eager to not only design something this large but also to act as a co-developer. He sees this as a role that more architects should take on.
"The big idea of the hotel is to bring an urban resort to Portland, a destination type of hotel that people come to specifically," not just because they're coming Portland," Kaven said in our phone conversation. "When you talk of some of the other hotels coming to the city, they’re not that kind of statement, of having an urban resort. I envision retreats being there and it being lush with an outdoor beer garden, a swimming pool, lots of plants. The landscaping element will be huge, integrating the outdoors into the pubic spaces. I want to be able to have weddings and celebrations, all encompassing this project, and then a really good mix of retail. I think that Chinatown corridor can become the coolest retail in the city. There’s already a couple of great things happening down there. The idea is to continue to cultivate that. That area, it’s already very much an entertainment type of destination, and I’d love to see that block become a destination late at night."
A planned Old Town hotel (rendering courtesy William Kaven Architecture)
Indeed, the Old Town/Chinatown neighborhood has both great promise and big challenges. It's ideally located between downtown, the river and the Pearl District. Not only have institutions like the University of Oregon moved in, but so have an increasing number of creative and arts spots and restaurants. Projects like the Grove Hotel hostel on Burnside point to the possibility for this district to grow into even more of a destination, but Old Town can often still seem overpopulated with homeless and transients by day and by drunken revelers at night.
In terms of the architecture itself, Kaven explained: "It’s a post-tension concrete building that has this faceted curtain wall system on it. The plinth will be simple modern brick with steel apertures. Conceptually I see it as this monolithic form that’s retail and feels very grounded, and then a light glass structure on top of it. I’m never a fan of glass structures that hit the pedestrian access. Glass never in my mind makes for good pedestrian and retail experience. At the pedestrian level it’s good to feel grounded and have more of that urban material like brick or concrete."
A primary reason the hotel and its developer have not yet been officially announced, Kaven says, is because of the uncertainty about height limits.
"City Council adopted the 2035 West Quadrant Plan. It changes the height limit from 100 to 150 feet. My project is above the 100-foot mark, at 135. I may need to go to 150. But it is my understanding that the Planning Department doesn’t currently have a staff member to write the proposed design guidelines that have already been approved by City Council." He's hoping the zoning change might happen by the first of next year, but that is not at all certain. "This hotel project is an enormous boost to the micro economy. It’s a big job creator and has a significant economic impact. And construction financing happens in cycles, and the time is now to do this project."
Kaven believes the project can potentially exemplify the role architects can play as shapers of cities. "I feel increasingly the architect’s role has been skewed to be mainly focused on small, minute details of projects. Not big ideas. In my career I’m trying to advocate for architects to be visionaries of the environment," he added. "We can be very passive in our role to society. We have bankers and real estate agents creating and planning our cities. The architects are just given this role to shape that. I feel the new role of an architect is to do all of that: to really become much more engaged in the process of development. That’s where I feel the strong vision really is: starting from scratch with a site and envisioning all of the components that make it happen. It’s not just having a building code book sitting on your desk to learn fire egress and stuff like that. And I think some of that is happening. But it’s just a point of my career, to try and create that vision from scratch."
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