Design calendar: July 16-31

BY BRIAN LIBBY

The Pearl District: Preservation in the Midst Of Change
Over the last 20 years, the Pearl has been transformed from an industrial area into one of Portland’s premier residential and retail districts. A century ago, the area went through a similar transformation—from a working class housing area at the edge of a marsh, to the city’s premier industrial and warehousing area. As this Architectural Heritage Center walking tour will demonstrate, many of Portland’s best known architects of the period designed buildings for important local and national companies. Most of these buildings remain, with their exteriors intact and new uses inside. Tour meeting location to be announced. 10AM Tuesday, July 18. $20 ($12 for AHC members)

Refresh @ Albina Yard
As part of the Architecture Foundation of Oregon's Dine & Design fundraiser series, this event offers a tour of Albina Yard, designed by Lever Architecture and the first project in the nation to use domestically fabricated cross-laminated timber for a building-wide structural system, which is quickly becoming the wave of the future in world architecture. Albina Yard, 4713 N Albina Avenue. 4PM Tuesday, July 18. $60 ($45 for AFO members).

Oregon Solar Celebration & Rally
Despite having the most corrupt and Draconian national leadership in American history and a largely indifferent state legislature, Solar Oregon wants send a message that America and Oregon will not be going backwards on clean energy. The Oregon Solar Celebration will feature a rally for solar and clean energy. The ticketed event will include speaches from local solar and clean-energy leaders; testimonies from Oregonians who have invested in solar for their home; an update on upcoming solar commercial projects and the utility-scale GALA project; and information about community-solar options. Breathe Building, 2335 SE 50th Avenue. 3PM Thursday, July 20. Free ($5-10 suggested donation).

Merchants and Markets: Portland’s Historic Yamhill District
Exploring the heart of Portland’s late-nineteenth century commercial district, this Architectural Heritage Center tour visits the Yamhill Historic District and nearby historic buildings of SW Second and Third avenues. The route is packed with the names of prominent city pioneers who made their mark as merchants, developers and architects as well as providing some of the city’s finest examples of cast iron, Richardsonian Romanesque and Classical buildings. Attendees will visit the Willamette’s first bridge, the first public market, and Portland's first Chinatown. Tour meetup location to be announced. 6PM Thursday, July 20. $20 ($12 for AHC members).

Timber Tech Summit & AEC Hackathon
AEC Hackathons have quickly become a global community of innovators that include all elements of the built environment, and they have been held around the world. This is the first hackathon to be held in Portland, and the timing could not be better. Oregon has become an epicenter of late for all things mass timber in the US, and in acknowledgement of this we will be holding a special Summit entitled “The Future of Making, Digital Construction and Timber Tech” during the day on Friday, prior to the hackathon’s evening kickoff. The Summit will feature presentations from the technology and AEC sectors as well as from university researchers associated with the TallWood Design Institute. Guests are encouraged and welcomed to attend the public presentation of the hacks, which will take place from 2pm to approximately 6pm on Sunday, July 23. University of Oregon, White Stag Block, 70 NW Couch Street. 9AM Friday, July 21. $75 ($40 for students, $35 early bird or for summit only).

Lair Hill neighborhood tour
It turns out that Lair Hill is not named for a hill. Named for pioneering Portland lawyer and newspaper editor William Lair Hill, this residential neighborhood and subject of an Architectural Heritage Center tour 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 meetup location to be announced. 10AM Saturday, July 22. $20 ($12 for AHC members).

Architecture Summer Immersion Program
Portland State University School of Architecture's Architecture Summer Immersion Program begins its four-week run. The program offers those interested in architecture as a potential career and/or field of study the opportunity to explore the subject in this intensive 4-week experience. Open to those eighteen years of age or older with a high school degree, this program is ideal for anyone considering architecture as a major, has an undergraduate degree in another field and is thinking of applying to a Master of Architecture program, or would just like to learn the foundational skills of architecture and have a unique and enlightening experience. Portland State University, Shattuck Hall, SW Broadway and Hall Streets. 9AM Thursday, July 24. Price undisclosed.

Old Town Historic District walking tour
The commercial district near the historic Skidmore Fountain and the oldest standing buildings in downtown comprise this tour of Portland’s only National Historic District. Attendees on this Architectural Heritage Center tour will see the work of Portland’s earliest architects, learning how cast iron played a central role in their designs and how the city developed so close to the river, and along the way learning about some beautiful but long-lost buildings while also seeing great examples of historic preservation. Tour meetup location to be announced. 10AM Tuesday, July 25. $20 ($12 for AHC members).

COTE Greenbag: Rocky Mountain Institute case study
The Rocky Mountain Institute Innovation Center, subject of this case study offered by the AIA Portland chapter's Committee on the Environment, is a two-story, 15,610 square foot net-zero-energy building that integrates sustainable thinking with climate-responsive design to provide office and collaboration space for research, seminars and conferences and outreach. Designed by ZGF, it is the highest performing building in the coldest climate zone in the nation. Most US office buildings are of similar size and owner-occupied, the lessons learned from the Innovation Center can be replicated to achieve similar success. Achieving LEED Platinum, Passive House, Living Building Challenge Energy Petal Certification, the building has many sustainability features to tout, becoming the most energy efficient building in one of the coldest climate zones in the US. AIA Center for Architecture, 403 NW 11th Avenue. 12PM Tuesday, July 25. $35 ($25 for AIA members or $15 for those not seeking AIA continuing education learning units).

An Evening with Robert Frasca
Over the past few decades, ZGF partner Robert Frasca, FAIA has been instrumental in transforming the firm from a regional office to an international design practice with a reputation for design excellence. Frasca has designed such projects as the Oregon Convention Center, Doernbecher Children's Hospital, and the Portland International Airport in Portland; and the Mark O. Hatfield Clinical Research Center for the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda. He was honored with the 2011 Medal of Honor Award from the AIA Northwest & Pacific Region for his contributions to the region’s design quality, the role of his urban-design-driven approach in making livable cities, and his many professional contributions through his service to the AIA. This DoCoMoMo event honoring Frasca will take place at the ESCO Administration Building, Frasca's first completed design, which was built in 1966 and received both AIA Portland Chapter and AIA NW & Pacific Region Awards of Excellence in 1968. Esco Corporation, 2141 NW 25th Avenue. 5:30PM Thursday, July 27. $11.54 (free for DoCoMoMo members, $6.27 for students).

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 27. $20 ($12 for AHC members).

The Pearl District – Then and Now
The Pearl District was practically deserted 25 years ago. On this Positively Portland Walking Tour, attendees will see how the district has been transformed into a dynamic walker-friendly neighborhood with contemporary and adaptive high rise housing, fine dining and world class entertainment. The Pearl District in Portland has become a model of high quality urban living and a must-see destination for visitors to our world-class city. Tour begins at AIA Portland Center For Architecture, 403 NW 11th Avenue. 10AM Friday, July 28. $15.

Downtown Portland's North End and Chinatown tour
This Architectural Heritage Center tour explores the abundant architectural and cultural history in the downtown neighborhood wedged between Old Town and the Pearl District. Along the way attendees will see 19th century gems like the Mariner’s Home building, which has recently been rehabilitated and turned into the Society Hotel. One will also learn how the area became New Chinatown, and later Japantown, while seeing landmark buildings like Union Station, the US Custom House, and a historic fire station. Tour meetup location to be announced. 10AM Saturday, July 29. $20 ($12 for AHC members).

Laurie Olin: Why Landscape is a Verb (and Not a Noun)In conjunction with the Portland Art Museum's retrospective devoted to local architect and environmental activist John Yeon, "Quest for Beauty," Laurie Olin, one America's leading landscape architects of the last 50 years, will reflect on the designer's role in shaping the larger landscapes we live in. No designer impacted larger swaths of the Oregon landscape than John Yeon, from his single-handed saving of Chapman Point and views south from Ecola State Park to his critical 50 years of work helping to preserve the Columbia River Gorge. And, Olin argues, there is more to landscape than folks with a truck planting shrubs. For thousands of years, humans have interacted with their environment: loving it, fearing it, changing it, and considering it a subject for art, philosophy, preservation, and recreation. It shapes us as we shape it. Among Olin's many landmark projects are Battery Park City, Bryant Park, and Columbus Circle in New York; the Barnes Foundation and Rodin Museum in Philadelphia; and the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden and Washington Monument grounds in Washington DC. Portland Art Museum, 1219 SW Park Avenue. 2PM Sunday, July 30. $19.99 ($16.99 for seniors and students, free for attendees 17 and under).