Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto (Portland Japanese Garden)
BY BRIAN LIBBY
Belluschi, Yeon, and the Northwest Regional Style
The Northwest Regional style of modern architecture has origins dating to at least the early 20th century, but it wasn't until the 1930s that it came into its own, thanks to the work of architect Pietro Belluschi and designer John Yeon. Yeon's Watzek House (1937) is often held as the gold standard of the style, which emphasized the integration of nature and building through the elegant use of local woods and lots of glass. In this talk, presenter Brian Libby (the same guy writing this calendar entry) explores the rich history of this architectural style, putting it into context with other mid-20th century architectural movements while also discussing several other practitioners of the Northwest Regional style, including Van Evera Bailey and John Storrs. In addition to writing the Portland Architecture blog, Libby has contributed to The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Architectural Digest, Architectural Record, The Atlantic, Metropolis and Dwell, among others.This program is supported in part by a grant from the National Trust for Historic Preservation and is the first in a series of 2019 AHC education programs focused on Modernism. Architectural Heritage Center, 701 SE Grand Avenue. 10AM Saturday, March 16. $20 ($12 for AHC members).
Downtown Sacred Spaces Tour
For anyone who loves to look at all those churches on the South Park Blocks and in the West End, and wonder what they’re like inside, this is the chance to see some of them. This Architectural Heritage Center walking tour includes the interiors of five downtown area churches: First Presbyterian, First Baptist, First Congregational, the Sixth Church of Christ Scientist, and The Old Church. Along the way, attendees will also see an array of Povey Brothers stained glass and learn about the variety of architectural styles that these sacred spaces embody. Tour meetup location revealed with ticket purchase. 10AM Saturday, March 16. $20 ($12 for AHC members).
Garden+ Lecture Series: Sou Fujimoto
One of the best-known Japanese architects today, Sou Fujimoto’s architecture practice, founded in 2000, challenges convention by blurring boundaries between interior and exterior, structure and furniture, nature and architecture. Giving a lecture at the Portland Japanese Garden as part of its Garden + Lecture series, his ideas are given voice not just in large-scale projects such as the White Tree multi-use tower in Montpellier, France, but also in playful projects like an installation evoking the feeling of walking through a forest of light, and a visual statement at the Chicago Biennale on ‘found architecture.’ Drawing inspiration from nature – he cites the forest landscape of his Hokkaido childhood as a formative influence – his interpretations on tradition and the relation of the built and natural environments skip effortlessly across centuries and national borders. Fujimoto will share the philosophy and ideas behind some of his major projects and help us rethink tradition and the relation between the built and natural environments. Portland Japanese Garden, 611 SW Kingston Avenue. 2:30PM Monday, March 18. $20 ($15 for PJG members).
Green Dreams - Albina Vision + I-5/Rose Quarter: A Match?
New leadership is coming to the City of Portland's Parks & Recreation bureau, which is currently at work on a new 2035 parks plan, as well as to Metro, which will be issuing its third major green spaces bond the November 2019 ballot. Activists are greening the city in innovative new ways. Everyone believes Portland needs a parks system worthy of the bigger city it is becoming. The Portland Parks Foundation and its new director, former Oregonian critic, Portland Spaces editor and John Yeon Center director Randy Gragg, have curated three evenings of corresponding discussion. In this second installment, "Albina Vision + I-5/Rose Quarter: A Match," the topic is the Oregon Department of Transportation's $500-million redo of I-5 through the Rose Quarter, building bridges and “lidding” portions of the freeway to reconnect the neighborhood, and its relation to Albina Vision, a grassroots effort to honor and partially restore pre-freehway history of Albina by welcoming African-American people and culture back to the district with a 21st-century vibrancy. Can freeway lids, parks, and open spaces merge these two futures? Portland Center Stage at The Armory, 128 NW 11th Avenue. 6:30PM Monday, March 18. $20 for "Patron" admission, $10 general admission ($5 for those on a fixed income).
Belmont-Sunnyside Neighborhood Tour
Explore Southeast Portland's Sunnyside neighborhood along SE Belmont Street in this Architectural Heritage Center tour. The neighborhood, which has lately seen controversy as a building on Belmont's last contiguous block of historic commercial storefronts has been threatened with demolition, contains a wonderful mix of late 19th and early 20th century homes, along with numerous streetcar-era commercial buildings. Tour meetup location revealed with ticket purchase. 10AM Tuesday, March 19. $20 ($12 for AHC members).
Subsidizing Housing Effectively: Lessons from LA, NYC, DC & the Bay Area
What does it take to deliver affordable housing programs, from houselessness to homeownership? How do cities and regions preserve and expand regulated affordable housing while experiencing rapid growth? The latest in an ongoing lecture series from Portland For Everyone features Tony Picket, executive director of Portland's Grounded Solutions Network; New York City deputy commissioner for neighborhood Leila Bozorg; and William Pickel, executive director of Brilliant Corners in Los Angeles and San Francisco — in a conversation with moderator Alison McIntosh with the Oregon Housing Alliance about how housing subsidies can be being spent where they most need to be, and strategies to increase resources where they will always be required. Ecotrust, 721 NW Ninth Avenue. 5:30PM Thursday, March 21. Free.
The Rose and the Chrysanthemum: Japanese Influence on Northwest Architecture
A craze for all things Japanese swept the United States beginning in the late 19th Century. By 1910, Japanese influence on Portland architecture had begun to take hold. The Arts and Crafts movement was highly indebted to the Japanese aesthetic, and it can be seen today in the thousands of bungalows throughout the Portland area. Japanese influence was perhaps even stronger during the mid-20th Century and it continues to this day in our local architecture. This Architectural Heritage Center presentation by Robert Jordan traces the origins of this architectural aesthetic from our trans-Pacific neighbor and its influences on our built environment.Architectural Heritage Center, 701 SE Grand Avenue. 10AM Saturday, March 23. $20 ($12 for AHC members).
Green Dreams – City of Gardens: What is the Portland We Want to Grow?
This third installment of the Portland Parks Foundation's Green Dreams discussion series hosted by Randy Gragg is billed as a fast-paced evening of leaders and creative thinkers imagining ways to grow the city’s health, culture, play, and beauty through new parks and old ones. Speakers and subjects will include Portland State University assistant professor Judy BlueHorse Skelton on conjuring the indigenous landscape; a preview of National Public Gardens Conference coming to Portland in 2020; a representative of DePave on a faster, cheaper way to build parks; and former Portland Parks Bureau director Zari Santner's proposal for Portland’s next culturally specific garden, among others. Portland Center Stage at The Armory, 128 NW 11th Avenue. 6:30PM Monday, March 25. $20 for "Patron" admission, $10 general admission ($5 for those on a fixed income).
Merchants and Markets Tour
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. The tour also will visit the Willamette’s first bridge, the first public market, and the city's first Chinatown as we discuss how the district spearheaded the first preservation efforts for Portland’s downtown. Tour meetup location revealed with ticket purchase. 10AM Tuesday, March 26. $20 ($12 for AHC members).
InProcess with Skylab Architecture & Graypants
As part of the InProcess quarterly lecture series from AIA Portland exploring the creative process of local architects, designers, makers, and creators comes this twin presentation, first from Skylab Architecture's Jamin AAsum (the second capitol letter is intentional) and Benjamin Halbern, who have been key contributors to the firm's projects, and then from Seth Grizzle, a co-founder of Seattle's Graypants, which produces everything from architecture to furniture and lighting. AIA Portland Center For Architecture, 403 NW 11th Avenue. 6PM Tuesday, March 26. Free.
Architects Without Borders: Call for volunteers — School for Deaf Children, Phase II
Over the last year Architects Without Borders-Oregon has been working on a design for the School for Deaf Children in Les Cayes, Haiti. The schematic design is now complete and as the team move into the second phase of this project, additional volunteers are needed. Any designers who can hel with design development and construction documents are particularly sought. At this chapter meeting, current team members will review the progress and challenges of this project and bring potential new volunteers up to speed. AIA Center for Architecture, 403 NW 11th Avenue. 6PM Wednesday, March 27. Free.
Walking Tour of the Pearl District
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, March 29. $15.
Visionary Architect & Educator: the Oregon Legacy of Ellis F. Lawrence
Architect Ellis F. Lawrence's career included over 500 building designs, many of them among the most significant structures in Portland and Eugene. Lawrence (1879-1946) was born in Massachusetts and received his architectural training at MIT in the classical Beaux Arts tradition before coming to Portland in 1906. Perhaps even more important than Lawrence's architectural practice was his advocacy for the profession and his role in advancing architectural education. His role as founder and first dean of the School of Architecture and Allied Arts at the University of Oregon in Eugene was arguably his biggest contribution to the profession. Under Lawrence's leadership, the school was the first architectural training program in the nation to reject both the teaching method and stylistic dominance of the Beaux Arts. Lawrence helped mentor a new generation of architects in the less formalized approach of the Modern movement, away from the constraints of classic design and allowing for a more creative approach to architecture. In this Architectural Heritage Center lecture, former University of Wisconsin architecture professor Judith Kenny explores the life and work of this important figure in Oregon's architectural history. Architectural Heritage Center, 701 SE Grand Avenue. 10AM Saturday, March 30. $20 ($12 for AHC members).
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