William Kaven Architecture envisions major new Old Town hotel

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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Comments

[maccoinnich]

It will be fascinating to find out what the Historic Landmarks Commission thinks of this. Given that it's a) tall and b) unashamedly contemporary, it's hard to see them approving it.

[Dave]

Great concept for a hotel but that designs is completely out of place in Old Town/Chinatown.

[john]

Concept of base stories relating to built "historic" environment, roof plan consisting of court with "L shaped" tower building and plinth base / glass tower are all stellar modernist ideas. The best idea is that "party space" in the courtyard!

[Fred Leeson]

Typical Kaven project: ignore context and cram ego down everybody's throat. And we're supposed to be thrilled.

[John McIsaac]

Fabulous. This is exactly what Old Town needs. What it DOESN'T need is revisionist architecture.

[azzenstudent]

I love this. I doubt it can pass muster with the fetishists of historicism, but what a handsome project this would be.

[Douglas K.]

Not a fan of contemporary architecture in a historic district. There should at least be an effort to blend in to the surrounding neighborhood.

[Douglas K.]

Don't get me wrong, it's a beautiful design. But it should be in the Pearl or the West End or the Lloyd District or the Downtown Core. Not Old Town.

[Doug Klotz]

All zoning changes approved through the Comprehensive Plan (West Quadrant is part of that), will probably take effect in 2017. They have to go through the complete Comp Plan process, and then be approved by the State. Then there's those design guidelines he talks about.

[David Dysert]

Requiring all projects in Old Town "blend in" is a great way to dumb down design opportunities in this high opportunity area. Preserve and enhance what's good but allow invention to happen. My concern is not with the design guidelines but with the proposed use. I think we need to focus on the unique opportunity of Old Town to be "student quarter" of sorts. For this to happen we must be careful to curate uses which align with lower costs and diversity. Luxury projects might work against this.

[Kate Powell]

The idea for the project is wonderful -- revitalizing a virtually dead area.

However, being that William Kaven did the rendering, I assume that this is the way they want the building to look. How disappointing and boring. It ignores the context of the area it might inhabit in EVERY way, not even giving a nod to the history of the area. And it looks like yet another boring monolithic structure in NW. We've had many go up near 23d in the last two years, incredibly ugly buildings.

I see few buildings in Portland that I find interesting or beautiful. It looks like a developers box. IF Kaven wants architects to begin to shape the city, how about creating beauty? This one is a box with amenities.

[Jim Heuer]

I don't envy the Historic Landmarks Commission's job in reviewing this project. You see, there are actually two very different historic districts in this area: Chinatown and Old Town. The Chinatown district derives its historic importance not from its architecture, which is mostly late 19th and early 20th Century utilitarian commercial in nature, but from its having been the heart of one of the largest Chinese communities on the West Coast. In other words this is a cultural historic designation, not an architectural one.

In contrast, the adjoining Old Town district was specifically designated because of its late 19th Century cast iron buildings -- it is an architectural treasure trove and was designed to preserve the largest surviving collection of cast iron buildings outside of New York City.

It is true that new infill construction in historic districts must "fit" in. That's the law in general, and likely that is detailed out in the new guidelines. But how do you make a posh new hotel "fit" in with a district replete with historic echoes of early Chinese culture in Portland? Especially considering that much of that early culture was shaped by poverty and discrimination -- nothing at all comparable to this "urban resort" concept targeted at affluent globe-trotters.

Alas, I have no suggestions for the good folks on the Landmarks Commission on this one. I have a feeling that the very program of the building is antithetical to the cultural history of the district, and does nothing to reinforce the ethnic culture and history of Portland's Chinatown, much of which is still owned by the descendants of the early pioneers who came to this country from China to dig our mines and build our railroads.

Certainly, the sharp-edged modernism of the proposed design, towering over the surrounding historic structures, is going to stand out in stark, ill-conceived contrast to the modest structures constituting most of the district. How it can ever be made to "fit" in practice, regardless of the wording of the long-delayed guidelines, is anybody's guess.

[LMAO]

Typical Kaven:

1. All hat; no cattle. "Some of the first questions that I had Kaven can't yet answer, like who his partners are and when it will be built." Um, I call BS. However, I admire his bold attempt to get press by dangling a project with no owner, no funding, no start date and no actual plans in front of your writer. Chutzpa!

2. Height restrictions: As always, Kaven can't design within the confines of existing height restrictions. See: http://nwexaminer.com/demolition-wave-rising. A good-to-middling architect can work within parameters set by City Council.

3. Arrogance beyond measure: Not just ignoring the culture and style of the neighborhood, but blatantly giving it the architectural version of a middle finger. This is no "urban resort." This is an ego display of massive proportions. A good architect will look around the area and make design decisions that, while still bold, do not stick out like Donald Trump at a Serious Thinkers convention.

4. Funny, no mention of the raging problems in this neighborhood that would make an "urban resort" (snort) go broke within a year, assuming it actually was built. Sure, I'll pay $250/night to step in piss and vomit when I walk to dinner! Old Town is hardly "the living room" of Portland. Developers have tried and failed for decades to eradicate the problems in that neighborhood but for dozens of reasons Kaven is too lazy to investigate, gentrification that would allow for a hotel like this is many years away. And by "many" I mean about 90.

As for Kaven becoming a developer, best of luck with that. You do know that takes money and influence, right?

[bryan deaner]

For the record, my name is Bryan Deaner. I am not an architect, a bureaucrat or one of these feckless Internet gadflies who negatively and namelessly bray on about code, hats and cattle. Instead I am a passionate lover of architecture, bold design, new narratives and the power of buildings to transform a space. I believe in the architecture of change. I have traveled the world on countless occasions specifically to look at modern and iconic buildings in dozens and dozens of cities. Architecture inspires me. A well-built structure breathes life into a formerly unimagined site. A well-built building creates a container for living, working, worshipping and can overlay a structural mythology for the human experience.

I can’t objectively comment on this new hotel project. Why? Because I have the good fortune to live in one of those “winning home designs” built by William Kaven Architecture in their early days as a firm. It has been a true privilege and a joy to live in one of their creative and elegant designs. My home doesn’t exactly “fit into the surrounding neighborhood” of North Portland either. But I have encouraged community engagement by opening it up to literally thousands of friends/neighbors/new acquaintances to enjoy the spirit of good design, community interaction and fundraising for various Portland cultural institutions. My home has lit a positive spark in this neighborhood and has created new dialogue and value where once an overgrown briar patch stood.

Will this new hotel in this spot in Old Town do the same? Hard for me to say. It’s easy after-the-fact to praise the so-called “Bilbao Effect” of buildings like Gehry’s Guggenheim, the new Tate Modern, Corbusier’s church in Ronchamp or Tadao Ando’s concrete masterpieces throughout Western Honshu. Bold new buildings often create an architectural zeitgeist, a cultural ROI and can help drive a new economy in formerly decrepit environs. This often in spite of the initial reluctance of city councils, prefectures, those formerly mentioned gadflies and the vox populi.

What I do know is this building will be handsome, thoughtful, exciting and filled with new energy. It will invigorate and brighten the neighborhood. To wit, “The creation of space in architecture is simply the condensation and purification of the power of light” - Tadao Ando. William Kaven Architecture is a bright light in this city. We are lucky to have them for a short while before their star shines so brightly they will be thrust onto the international stage and leave Portland behind to make its more typical, conforming and safe architecture choices once again.