Bitar Mansion (Wikimedia Commons)
BY BRIAN LIBBY
These first two weeks of April are particularly jam-packed with events thanks to the annual arrival of Design Week Portland, which begins April 6. The listings included below are only a partial selection of the much larger DWP calendar. Visit the Design Week Portland website for a full listing.
Historic Dunthorpe Neighborhood Tour
An architecturally rich neighborhood (and a neighborhood for the rich), Dunthorpe is perched above the west side of the Willamette River near the southern edge of Multnomah County. As attendees on this Architectural Heritage Center will learn, in the early 20th century, the area attracted well-to-do Portlanders searching for a wooded, quiet neighborhood close to the city. The elegant, spacious residences display a variety of popular architectural styles, including designs by noted local architects Roscoe Hemenway, Ellis Lawrence, Wade Pipes and others. Tour meetup location revealed with ticket purchase. 10AM Tuesday, April 2. $20 ($12 for AHC members).
AFO Hatfield Scholars Luncheon '19
The Architecture Foundation of Oregon's Senator Mark O. Hatfield Architectural Award was established in 1998 to annually recognize an Oregon architecture student for his or her design promise and community service. Since 1998, the AFO has awarded 25 scholarships to exceptional students, many of whom now practice in the Northwest and around the world. This year's event will see the 2019 Hatfield Architectural Award handed out to two recipients, as well as a keynote address from Alice Wiewel, State Architect of the Oregon Department of Administrative Services Chief Financial Office. Her office develops policy for the State’s building portfolio, particularly its focus on resilience, stewardship, design excellence and sustainability. Ecotrust, 721 NW Ninth Avenue. 11:30AM Wednesday, April 3. $75 ($65 for AFO members, $30 for students and emerging professionals).
Laurelhurst Neighborhood Tour
In the early twentieth century, the estate of former Portland mayor William Ladd transformed their family farm into one of the city’s most iconic Portland neighborhoods. With windy streets and rolling hills, the neighborhood soon known as Laurelhurst offered a suburban-style landscape complete with a romantic Olmsted-inspired park, tennis club, and a variety of house styles. This Architectural Heritage Center tour examines a portion of the neighborhood near the park. Several standout houses are along the tour route, including the Green-Bitar House (also known as the Bitar Mansion), designed by architect Herman Brookman; the neighboring H. Russell Albee House, designed by A. E. Doyle; and the Markham House, subject of recent preservation efforts. Attendees will also see a variety of other distinctive residences and even a couple of churches along the way. Tour meet-up location revealed with ticket purchase. 10AM Saturday, April 6. $20 ($12 for AHC members).
Design Week Portland — Opening Party
Returning for its eighth year, Design Week Portland is an all-inclusive festival celebrating the projects and processes as told by a creative community across many disciplines. This opening night party at the Jupiter NEXT hotel kicks off the space's weeklong role as headquarters of the festival, with libations and food from local purveyors. Jupiter NEXT, 900 East Burnside Street. 7PM Saturday, April 6. $10.
Walking Tour: Portland Bridges
As part of Design Week Portland, this walking tour led by John Doyle surveys the design, construction, and history of the bridges of "Bridge City". Learn what historical forces led to the construction of the bridges, why they were built the way they are and where they are. Consider how our bridges have shaped Portland's growth and continue to impact our urban environment. Tour begins at Salmon Street Fountain, Southwest Salmon Street and Naito Parkway. 10AM Sunday, April 7 and 2PM Friday, April 12. $30.
Restorative Design: The Confluence Bird Blind by Maya Lin
Combining natural history, culture and design, the Confluence Bird Blind asks visitors to consider evolving land ethic and one’s role in a sustainable future. This informative hike through the significantly restored Sandy River Delta as part of Design Week Portland brings an opportunity to design as a means of greater ecological awareness. Sandy River Delta Park, Troutdale. 10AM Sunday, April 7. $10.
Lents: Creative Design Solutions for Southeast Foster (An Action-Oriented Community Conversation)
Through a unique partnership, UO Portland, Michael Singer Studio and Rose High Bear from Wisdom of the Elders seek to use the power of design in this event to advance a conversation about inclusive and resilient urban futures. As part of graduate-level urban design studio class that begins in April 2019 and that will focus on sites east of I-205, along Southeast Foster Road and near Johnson Creek, and as part of Design Week Portland, comes this conversation about Leach Botanical Garden and its future. Mindful of previous planning efforts, the goal is to develop integrated and creative solutions that address goals of food security, public safety, economic development, and improved flood mitigation and water management. Leach Botanical Garden, 6704 SE 122nd Avenue. 12PM Sunday, April 7. Free.
Walking Tour: South Portland — Design, Development, Displacement
In the 1960s and '70s, the historically Jewish and Italian 19th century neighborhood of South Portland was demolished for urban renewal projects designed on a vast scale. This Design Week Portland walking tour hosted by John Doyle explores what was lost and what was gained including the Lawrence Halprin Portland Open Sequence of fountains which culminates in the Keller Fountain. Tour begins at SW 1st Avenue and Arthur Street. 2PM Sunday, April 7. $30.
Kenton Women's Village 2.0 Open House
The Kenton Women's Village is a transitional housing community for women experiencing homelessness, providing sleeping pods to individuals, with common facilities shared by all of the residents. The first Kenton Women's Village was created through the POD Initiative organized by Portland State University's Center for Public Interest Design, which brought architects and designers together with housing advocates and people with lived experience with homelessness to explore the village model as one avenue for addressing Portland's housing crisis. Due to the success of this pilot project, Kenton Women's Village is getting a new and longer-term home in the Kenton neighborhood. As part of this new effort, and as part of Design Week Portland, contractors from throughout the city have agreed to take on the construction of new pods (21 in total) based on three designs from SRG Partnership, Scott Edwards Architects, and PSU's CPID. This open house immediately follows the completion of the pods and a chance to see how each team customized their unit. Kenton Women's Village, North Argyle Way and Columbia Bloulevard. 2:30PM Sunday, April 7. Free.
Hot New Next
As part of Design Week Portland, Gray magazine presents this competition celebrating the innovative ideas moving Pacific Northwest design forward. This Shark Tank-style program will offer contestants the chance to present a rapid-fire pitch of a compelling new design-related concept or product to an expert panel. Judges and the audience will vote, after which regional winners will be featured in an upcoming issue of Gray and advance to the championship round—held on the Gray Stage at the Interior Design Show Vancouver in September. Whether the idea is brand new, or a clever update to an existing product, all design disciplines have a chance—from architecture and furniture to interiors, fashion, tech, and beyond. Design Within Reach, 825 NW 13th Avenue. 5:30PM Monday, April 8. $15. [Note: the event will be followed by an after party at The Eleanor, 1605 NW Everett Street.]
Creative Design Solutions for Community, Infrastructure and Environment: An Evening with Michael Singer and Friends
As part of the Creative Design Solutions series from the University of Oregon's School of Architecture and the Environment, which explores how strategic combinations of design and planning teams and citizen stakeholders can devise creative solutions to pressing environmental and other problems that communities confront, and as part of Design Week Portland, comes this panel discussion featuring artist Michael Singer of Michael Singer Studio, Maria Cahill of Recode, Cornel University landscape architecture professor Josh Cerra, and University of Oregon School of Architecture and Environment master's degree candidate Sabrina Ortiz Luna in exploring new and innovative approaches to the multifaceted design and urban challenges Portland and other cities now experience. University of Oregon, White Stag Block, 70 NW Couch Street. 6PM Monday, April 8. Free.
The Power of Color in Design
Color is a critical element of design. One makes a judgment about a space within 90 seconds and up to 90 percent of that assessment is based on color alone. In this Design Week Portland talk, hear from Kristin Van Buskirk, owner of local home goods shop Woonwinkel and a former Nike color director, speaking about the power of color to capture a consumer and transform an environment. She'll talk about her former life as a corporate color designer and share the tenets of successful brand color she gleaned along the way. She'll also help introduce the new Portland chapter of Project Color Corps, a volunteer nonprofit organization that paints urban neighborhoods with color and pattern to impart positive messages of optimism and hope. An interactive color exploration will round out the event. Living Room Realty, NW 1636 NW Lovejoy Street. 6PM Monday, April 8. $10.
The 1% Project: A Collaboration to End Homelessness
Our community is experiencing a crisis. The number of Portlanders experiencing homelessness has skyrocketed. The 1% Project, which works with leaders in this field to drive impactful change, plays host to this Design Week Portland panel discussion with local leaders about the different approaches these organizations take, how and why these approaches are working, and easy ways you can take direct action. Speakers include Portland Homeless Family Solutions executive director Brandi Tuck, Community Warehouse executive director Dunetchka Otero-Serrano, and Jessica Helgesson Interior Design founder Jessica Helgerson, who also founded The 1% Project. Portland Art Museum, Whitsell Auditorium, 1219 SW Park Avenue. 6:30PM Monday, April 8. Free.
Pearl District Walking Tour - A Century of Preservation and Change
Over the last 20 years, the Pearl District has been transformed from industrial enclave and rail yards into one of Portland’s most popular residential, cultural 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 biggest industrial and warehousing area. 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. But as the recent demolition of the Pacific Northwest College of Art's Feldman Building (a renovated old warehouse) reminds us, the current wave of development could threaten more historic buildings. Tour meetup location revealed with ticket purchase. 10AM Tuesday, April 9. $20 ($12 for AHC members).
Placemaking for a Sustainable Future
Placemaking has the power to improve the quality of life for future generations, so how can we use our businesses, brands, and institutions as catalysts for positive change? How do we design spaces that allow us to gain efficiencies, work on what we love, make purchasing decisions, and all of the in-between? This panel discussion, part of Design Week Portland and hosted by Eyelevel, includes a cross-section of designers from architectural planning, manufacturing, sustainability, and retail brand experience, including Opsis Architecture's Alec Hosler, Kara Solomonides and Matt Kelly of Adidas, and Britt Howard of the Portland Garment Factory. Eyelevel, 1615 SE Third Avenue, fourth floor. 5PM Tuesday, April 9. $5.
Democratizing VR for More Livable Cities
As part of Design Week Portland, this panel discussion on virtual reality features Vanport mosaic's Laura Lo Forti, The City Repair Project's Ridhi d’Cruz, TPSU Center for Public Interest Design professor Todd Ferry, ZGF Architects' Charles Kelly, Bora Architects' Jeanie Lai, and visual artist Alex Chiu. The discussion will be preceded by demonstrations of how virtual reality can enable oral histories such and architecture. Open Signal, 2766 NE Martin Luther King Jr Boulevard. 5PM Tuesday, April 9. $15.
Design Thinking in Art and Hospitality
This Design Week Portland panel discussion, moderated by Buccini/Pollin Group co-founder Dave Pollin, features Elizabeth Leach Gallery founder Elizabeth Leach, behavioral strategist Thom Walters, and ZGF Architects interior designer Sharron van der Meulen discussing design thinking in art and hospitality. Canopy Hotel, 425 NW Ninth Avenue. 5:30PM Tuesday, April 9. Free.
Walk on the Wild Side: The Final Three Oregon Zoo Bond Projects
There are three projects awaiting construction using funds from the Oregon Zoo's $125 million bond, designated in 2008: the Polar Passage, Primate Forest, and Rhino Habitat. As part of Design Week Portland and hosted by the Oregon chapter of the Construction Specifications Institute, members of the zoo's general contracting firm, Lease Crutcher Lewis, will share renderings of the projects, all designed by Minneapolis firm CLR Desgin, an expert in zoo design. Oregon Zoo, Conservation Hall, 4001 SW Canyon Road. 5:30PM Tuesday, April 9. $35.
The Interdependent Ecosystem of Housing
Can Portland actually fix unequal housing access and structural segregation? How do we get more affordable units? What are the invisible structures underpinning our neighborhoods? Public policy, developer funding, construction costs, and social responsibility equally contribute to the changing face of urban development. Rather than viewing equitable housing through a separate lens of design, we approach housing development as an interdependent ecosystem. This Design Week Portland panel discussion, howed Ankrom Moisan, will explore how design can help bridge gaps in the industry to create more equitable and attainable housing. For everyone in our city. Panelists include Portland Design Commission chair and Home Forward senior project manager Julie Livingston, Walsh Construction director of innovation Mike Steffen, Related Northwest vice president Stefanie Kondor, and Urban Development + Partners principal Eric Cress. Ankrom Moisan Architects, 38 NW Davis Street, Suite 300. 6PM Tuesday, April 9. Free.
Reimagining Reclaimed
As design trends change, and the rustic look falls out of favor, what do we do with reclaimed wood? Hosted by Salvage Works, this Design Week Portland event looks at new ways to keep the look of reclaimed wood current and contemporary. Salvage Works, 2024 N Argyle Street. 6PM Tuesday, April 9. $10.
Design the Unseen
The University of Oregon's Institute for Health in the Built Environment, a collaboration between designers and scientists to consider the micro and the macro scales in design, plays host to this Design Week Portland presentation on the innovative work being done by the Institute and its academic collaborators and industry partners, with an ensuing tour of the research space and its design tools. University of Oregon, White Stag Block, 70 NW Couch Street. 12PM Wednesday, April 10. Free.
Designing Equity - Leveraging the AIA Guides for Equitable Practice
This Design Week Portland event looks at the American Institute of Architects' Guides to Equitable Practice, based on the recommendations from the AIA Equity in Architecture Commission Report and providing individuals and firms with guidance on best practices in equity, diversity, and inclusion principles. The Guides address such issues as career progression, work culture, leadership development, pay equity, talent recruitment and more. Topics under work culture include attention to specific areas such as professional ethics and sexual harassment. Location undisclosed. 3PM Wednesday, April 10. $5.
B76 Guided Tour
B76 by Skylab Architecture, the focus of this Design Week Portland tour, is the latest addition to the Burnside Bridgehead development at the east end of the Burnside Bridge. The ground floor will be activated by storefront along third avenue and work space above. This wedge-shaped 20,000 square foot building will feature a new cross-laminated-timber structural system with open ground level commuter oriented retail environments for daily guests and tenants. The workspace above will be wrapped in brick masonry with the building acting as an anchor for the Burnside Bridge and a gateway to the eastside community. This first of three days of tours will be led by Skylab Architecture, with subsequent tours led by structural engineer Catena and general contractor Andersen Construction. B76, 318 NE Couch Street. 3PM and 4PM Wednesday-Friday, April 10-13. $20.
What's the Future of O'Bryant Square?
Portland has a rich tradition of successful full-block public squares, but one of the most visible ones – O'Bryant Square – has had varied success. Initially a lively fountain plaza, after a few years the square, predominantly in off-hours, became a home for drug use and associated illegal activity. When nearby surface parking lots sprouted a robust food cart community in the late 2000s attracting legions of local downtown workers and out-of-town tourists, O’Bryant Square became “Portland’s Dining Room.” But then in March 2018, the City of Portland abruptly closed the square due to structural deficiencies in the underground parking garage’s walls. Portland Parks & Recreation is developing a long-term plan, but neighborhood activists and property owners want action now. Yet in this rare opportunity to completely reinvent a downtown park, how can O'Bryant best add to downtown Portland's civic ecology? This Design Week Portland event features Portland Parks Foundation executive director Randy Gragg in conversation with Pioneer Courthouse Square executive director Jennifer Polver, architect Will Ives, and Portland Parks & Recreation capital program manager Britta Herwig. Hennebery Eddy Architects, 921 SW Washington Street, Suite 250. 5PM Wednesday, April 10. Free.
Technology and Livability: Designing Cities for the Future
As new technologies become more advanced, integrated, and connected; we are encouraged to reimagine our urban landscape and our daily lives within it. The future promises greater connectivity, convenience, and efficiency - but does it truly enhance our livability? As part of Design Week Portland, this Urban Land Institute panel discussion on on emerging technologies shaping the future of our cities features Gensler design manager Hannah Furseth, Metro technology strategist Eliot Rose, Iotas founder Sce Pike, Urban Systems CEO Wilf Pinfold, and Urbanism Next program director Becky Steckler. University of Oregon, White Stag Block, 70b NW Couch Street. 8:30AM Thursday, April 11. Ticket price undisclosed.
Net Zero Emerging Leaders
As part of Design Week Portland comes this opportunity to meet students from Energy Trust’s Net Zero Emerging Leaders internship grant, given to Oregon architecture firms to employ students for a 12-week internship. The interns support each firm commitment to the 2030 Commitment, an effort organized by the American Institute of Architects. Panelists include Matt Loudermilk of Carleton Hart Architecture, Madelaine Murray of Hennebery Eddy Architects, Lindsey Naganuma of Holst, Jessica Meylor of Otak, and Austin Daich of Speranza Architecture + Urban Design. AIA Center for Architecture, 403 NW 11th Avenue. 5:30PM Thursday, April 11. Free.
Leveraging the Past: Transformation of the Former Freeman Factory
In this Design Week Portland discussion, the team behind Redfox Commons, including designer Lever Architecture and client Langley Investment Partners, will discuss this soon-to-be-completed 60,000-square-foot adaptive reuse project in Northwest Portland, which transforms the former Freeman Factory buildings into an open and flexible development geared towards creative tenants. More than 400’ in length and with interior column-free spans of 100’, this project creates an architectural experience that is unique within urban Portland. The two historic buildings are joined with a wood and glass entry pavilion made from timber salvaged directly from the historic buildings. The project’s story is a catalyst for thinking about how development can leverage underutilized structures and materials to add value to our cities. Redfox Commons, 2638 NW Wilson Street. 6PM Thursday, April 11. Free.
Walking Tour: Mid-Century Modern and Minimalism in Portland
Until the middle of the twentieth century Portland architecture was firmly within the mainstream of American design. That changed with the emergence of architects Pietro Belluschi, John Yeon, and the Portland office of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill as the city leaped to the forefront of international architectural design. This walking tour led by John Doyle will survey this important aspect of our city. Tour begins at SW Third Avenue and Oak Street. 11AM Friday, April 12. $30.
AIA Portland Homes Tour
As part of Design Week Portland, the 10th annual AIA Portland Homes Tour showcases a modern take on northwest living, featuring new and remodeled residences representing a wide variety of architectural styles, neighborhoods and locations. This self-guided tour provides an excellent opportunity to see how great design impacts our quality of life through creativity, sustainability, and craft. Participating firms and architects include Guggenheim Architecture + Design Studio, Giulietti Schouten Architects, Webster Wilson, Minarik Architecture, Scott Mooney, Open Studio Collective and Waechter Architecture. Various locations. 10AM Saturday, April 13. $45.
Building an ADU from Idea to Occupancy
This is a three-part Design Week Portland event devoted to accessory dwelling units hosted by design/build studio Aforma. Part one will be a talk about the financing, permitting, design, and construction considerations that goes into these structures. Part two will be a town hall-style workshop about ADUs and their various implications for contemporary urban living. Part three will be a tour of an ADU under construction. 6503 N Burrage Street. 10AM Saturday, April 13. Free.
An Anti-Patriarchy Approach to Design Practice
This Design Week Portland conversation between Felt Hat senior environments designer Randy Higgins and Salome Institute of Jungian Studies director Satya Doyle Byock, Director of the will take a deep dive into the practice of design through examining Carl Jung’s Red Book and Hilma af Klint’s The Paintings for the Temple from the early 20th century, both intentionally left unpublished in their lifetimes. Now recently published, both works offer enhanced understanding of methods beyond patriarchy’s influence on contemporary design practice and process. They help answer the question "How can the Feminine be invited into design?" The Lumber Room, 419 NW Ninth Avenue. 10AM Saturday, April 13. $10.
Salome Institute's Satya Doyle Byock, The Felt Hat's Randy Higgins (Design Portland)
Destructive Idealism: Rethinking Resilient Systems
Our built environment is the product of generations of ideas and values layered upon one another, but recent generations have held ideals that are incompatible with the sustainable lifestyles we must lead today. Building social, economic, and environmental resilience in our communities requires that we revisit our visions, overthrow existing norms, and take deliberate action. This Design Week Portland panel discussion aims to challenge participants to rethink resilience in both their disciplines and lifestyles - bringing different perspectives that may seem incompatible into coherence. Panelists include: Emma Prichard of Plastic Lizard Recycling Susan Jones of atelierjones, Tim Smith of SERA Architects, Mark Lakeman of Communitecture and The City Repair Project, and Ronald Rael of the University of California at Berkeley's College of Environmental Design. University of Oregon, White Stag Block, 70 NW Couch Street. 10AM Saturday, April 13. Free.
Walking Tour: Designing Death — River View Cemetery
Founded in 1882 and located at the west end of the Sellwood bridge, River View Cemetery is the premier 19th century garden-style cemeteries on the West Coast and one of Portland's most beautiful green spaces. A veritable who's who of 19th century Portland resides there but the landscape architecture of rural cemeteries and their entire conception is one the earliest original American art forms and one of the least appreciated. The Design Week Portland walking tour led by John Doyle will examine these aspects of River View and its history. Tour begins at River View Cemetery office, 0300 SW Taylor's Ferry Road. 10AM Saturday, April 13. $30.
2019 Old House Revival Tour
An Architectural Heritage Center tradition since 1999, this year's Old House Revival Tour features six homes ranging in age from 1892 to 1939. The homes on tour this year are located in some of Portland's most beloved and historic neighborhoods, including Ladd's Addition, Colonial Heights, Alameda, northwest Portland, and Walnut Park. Also not to be missed is a landmark house on the edge of Mt Tabor undergoing an amazing restoration. Tour locations revealed with ticket purchase. 10AM Saturday, April 13. $35 ($25 for AHC members).
Introducing Hope: Utopianism as a Design Tool in Landscape Architecture
Landscape architecture (and the other architectures too) are future-oriented practices which demand both pragmatism and positivity. This Design Week Portland talk by Bartlett School of Architecture senior lecturer Tim Waterman examines how utopianism as a practice and a process of imaginative scenario-making may be employed in design as a tool for questioning, challenging, and reinventing the construction of knowledge and of places. It asks for hope and striving to form the foundational value and mind-set for design, and proposes they might drive practice and the propositional imagination to function in ways that are transgressive and transformative. 2.ink Studio, 106 NE Sixth Avenue, Suite 200. 12:30PM Saturday, April 13. $5.
24/7 by Judy Kim
"24/7" is a photographic installation by Judy Kim documenting the visual culture of immigrant-owned convenience stores. It explores narratives of shame, grit and security experienced and continuously being lived by Korean immigrants while investigating the relationship between memory and personal autonomy. Hosted by Paragraph, a pop-up gallery that appears in unexpected places and showcases the work of emerging artists and writers—always available for a limited time only, the show is being exhibited in a house in the Cully neighborhood of Northeast Portland. 5319 Northeast 48th Avenue. 6PM Saturday, April 13. Free.
Advertisements
Recent Comments