Old Town's iconic water tower (Wikimedia Commons)
BY BRIAN LIBBY
Old Town/Chinatown Walking Tour
Discover the history and architecture of Portland's first commercial district, where over 100 years ago ocean-going ships delivered their passengers and goods in this thriving port city. This Positively Portland Walking Tour will include a few survivors of the Cast Iron era of architecture in the late 19th century and also swing through Portland's Chinatown. Like many neighborhoods in Portland, this district is changing with the times and those changes involve the re-purposing of many underutilized buildings. The tour will include a look at some prominent success stories including the US Custom House (completed in 1901 and now a WeWork coworking outpost) and the Society Hotel (completed in 1881 as the Sailors Mission). Tour begins at AIA Portland Center For Architecture, 403 NW 11th Avenue. 1PM Friday, January 4. $15.
Design Museum Portland: 2019 Annual Meeting
Beginning this year, Design Museum Portland is making the first of its four annual meetings open to the public. Interested parties can hear from Design Museum Portland staff as well as board members both this institution and its parent, Design Museum Boston. The event will look back at DMP events in 2018 and ahead at what’s to come including new exhibitions, education programs, special events, and more. The first Distinguished Service Medal will also be awarded, to an individual volunteer who made a significant impact at Design Museum Portland in 2018. Centrl Office, 1355 NW Everett Street, 2nd floor. 7:30AM Wednesday, January 9. Free.
Beyond Transparency: Materials Disclosure + Practice
As part of the AIA Materials Matter initiative, a five-session series delivering comprehensive, high-level knowledge and strategies for assessing and selecting healthy, sustainable materials, Session Five, Beyond Transparency: Materials Disclosure + Practice, will unpack how to integrate healthy materials selection into firm culture and practice. The session will clarify the risks of material transparency for firms and shares strategies for managing risk while encouraging transparency, investigate how firms balance making better material choices while considering client and firm values, and how firm-based decisions ultimately impact the ‘bigger picture’ – human and environmental health. Local manufacturers will also engage in a moderated discussion to share their perspective on the challenges and opportunities of healthy, sustainable materials. AIA Portland Center for Architecture, 403 NW 11th Avenue. 8AM Thursday, January 10. $595 ($425 for members, the Construction Specifications Institute, the American Society of Interior Designers, the American Society of Landscape Architects, the Structural Engineers Association of Oregon, and the Structural Engineers Association of Washington; $255 for AIA Associate members, $127.50 for students).
Information Session: PSU Master of Architecture and Graduate Certificates
The Portland State University School of Architecture offers two options for master's level study in architecture, together with a graduate certificate in public interest design, a graduate certificate in urban design, and a pre-professional undergraduate degree in architecture. In this information session, potential students can learn about graduate programs in architecture, meet teaching faculty and the director, talk with current students, learn about the curriculum and our teaching philosophy, discover leadership and design-build opportunities, tour our studios and lab facilities, and find out more about the application process for these programs. Portland State University, Shattuck Hall, 1914 SW Park Avenue, Room 235. 2PM Friday, January 11. Free.
Portland 101: Crooked Grids, Tiny Blocks, and the Building Of The City
How did Portland get this way, with its little square blocks and weird intersections, the funny pronunciations and the bridge ramps to nowhere? Why is it even located where it is? In this Architectural Heritage Center lecture, Robert Jordan will guide attendees through 150 years of Portland’s development, including stone carver’s mistakes, upside-down pineapples, and mythical tunnels, as well as more major decisions like the city's street grid, the naming and re-naming of our streets, and the eras of commercial architecture that have marked our compact and vibrant downtown, as well as the near blitzkrieg effect of the mid-20th century demolitions that left us with parking lots where the temples of finance and industry once stood. Architectural Heritage Center, 701 SE Grand Avenue. 10AM Saturday, January 12. $20 ($12 for AHC members).
Advertisements
Comments