Design calendar: October 2-15

Courtyard House, Aurora (Iwan Baan for NOA Architecture)

 

BY BRIAN LIBBY

Goose Hollow to Portland Heights Urban Hike
The Portland Heights neighborhood towers above southwest Portland providing spectacular views and close proximity to downtown. This area was virtually inaccessible until a cable car was built in 1890 that provided all-weather access to this highly desirable location. In 1906, the electric streetcar provided even more reliable service to Portland Heights and continued on up to Council Crest. As this Positively Portland Walking Tour will show, Portland Heights has become one of the most desirable neighborhoods in the city, with a mix of spacious and elegant early 20th century homes. Norw rhis is a strenuous three-mile urban hike with steep climbs and descents. Tour begins at Starbucks, 1710 SW Jefferson Street. 10AM Friday, October 4. $15.

Downtown Portland's North End 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 revealed with ticket purchase. 10AM Saturday, October 5. $20 ($12 for AHC members).

Cocktails at the Courtyard House
As part of the Architecture Foundation of Oregon's Dine & Design fundraiser series, which features events in significant architectural spaces,Set on an urban in-fill site in the picturesque town of Aurora, architect Andrew Heid and the homeowners, his parents, will host a gathering at this contemporary home connects the natural and urban environments through floor to ceiling glass windows on the outside and a faceted glass courtyard inside. Cocktails, local wine generously provided by Domaine Drouhin, Trisaetum and Pheasant Run, and light hors d’oeuvres by Filberts Farmhouse Kitchen, are included. The event will also host a small exhibition of west coast photographers themed around nature and the outdoors, with work by Catherine Opie, Alexandra Opie, Chelsea Mosher, and Meghann Riepenhoff. Meetup location revealed with ticket purchase. 4PM Saturday, October 5. $75.

NW Broadway Corridor Tour
This Architectural Heritage Center walking tour offers an in-depth look into some of Portland’s most histoiric public and private buildings located near and along NW Broadway. In addition to the architectural details, attendees will also learn about the history of the buildings and the architects who designed them. This tour provides the opportunity to step inside Union Station and two former federal buildings – the former 511 Broadway federal building that now houses the Pacific Northwest College of Art and the historic US Custom House that is now a WeWork shared office. Along the way one will see several styles of architecture, ranging from the Romanesque to the International – and all are within a few short blocks. Tour meetup location revealed with ticket purchase. 10AM Tuesday, October 8. $25 ($15 for AHC members).

Lily Bernheimer: The Shaping of Us
The Portland chapter of the League of Women Designers and Passages Bookshop host author Lily Bernheimer for a reading from her new book, The Shaping of Us, and ensuing question-answer session. The book explores how the built and natural worlds subtly influence our behavior, health, and personality. From caves to cathedrals to our current housing crisis and the dreaded open-plan office, Bernheimer argues that we only when people are involved in forming and nurturing our environments will they feel a greater sense of agency, community, and pride. Passages Bookstore and Gallery, 1223 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. 7PM Tuesday, October 8. Free.

Historic Linnton Walking Tour
Like many communities situated on the Willamette or Columbia River in the mid-1800s, the founders of Linnton had visions of grandeur, hoping to be the next San Francisco of the Northwest. By the 1890s, Linnton was a lumber-era industrial site with a growing Main Street featuring a typical mix of service and retail businesses. Annexed into Portland in 1915, little remains of historic downtown Linnton because of highway widening in the 1960s. However, there remains a small hamlet of residences and a few buildings dating from the early 20th century. This Positively Portland walking tour will include a short (but steep) walk up to look at some of the homes and enjoy a good view or two of the Willamette river to the east. Tour begins at Decoy restaurant, 10710 NW Saint Helens Road. 10AM Friday, October 11. $15.

Fridays@4: Diversion Design-Build Studio — Treeline Stage
As part of the Portland State University School of Architecture's Fridays@4 lecture sties, professor Clive Knights and associate professor Travis Bell will join students who participated in the Treeline Stage Diversion Design-Build studio this summer at the Pickathon music festival. The team will discuss their creative process and logistical challenges of designing and constructing this innovative structure. This year's Treeline Stage, made from 160 apple harvesting bins, was featured in ArchDaily and The Architects' Newspaper. As part of Portland State of Mind 2019, a retrospective exhibition exploring the Pickathon Treeline Stages from 2014 to 2019 in Shattuck Hall's second floor will also be launched in conjunction with this Fridays@4 talk. Portland State University, Shattuck Hall Annex, 1914 SW Park Avenue. 4PM Friday, October 11. Free.

2019 IIDA Oregon Design Excellence Awards
Recognizing interior design achievement and innovation, the 2019 Annual Design Excellence Awards will showcase award winning projects selected by the chapter's guest jurors. Dinner and drinks are included with your ticket purchase. Sentinel Hotel, 614 SW 11th Avenue. 5:30PM Friday, October 11. $80 ($70 for non-IIDA-member students, $60 for IIDA members, $30 for IIDA member students and IIDA Oregon board members).

Well Behaved Women Seldom Make History: Diversity Walking Tour
Presented by DoCoMoMo Oregon, this tour actually goes beyond the modernist idiom the organization usually focuses on in order to present architecture of all sorts in the downtown core either designed by women or with designs impacted by women. The tour will be led by Janice Dilg, the principal of HistoryBuilt, a historical consulting firm. Buildings visited on the tour include include Portland City Hall, the First Congregational Church, Multnomah County Library, and the Pioneer Courthouse, among others. Tour begins at Portland City Hall, 1221 SW Fourth Avenue. 10AM Saturday, October 12. $15 ($10 for DoCoMoMo members, $5 for students).

2019 AHC Gala
The Architectural Heritage Center's annual fundraising gala, this year in a midcentury-modern theme, features a three-course dinner prepared by the University Club’s gourmet kitchen, plus a live auction emceed by Poison Waters featuring experiences, getaways, and other items. The second half of the evening is a lounge party featuring DJ Pan Am. University Club, 1225 SW Sixth Avenue. 5PM Saturday, October 12. $175 ($35 for Lounge Party only).

Honored Citizen 2019: Joachim Grube
Since 1993, the Architecture Foundation of Oregon has honored public officials, community advocates, statewide organizations, philanthropists, developers, artists, architects and others with the Honored Citizen award, a kind of lifetime achievement honor for the building industry. This year's honoree, Joachim Grube, is founding patner at Yost Grube Hall Architecture, which in its more than 50-year history has helped shape the built environment in Portland and left its mark in some 45 countries overseas. Born in 1932 in Danzig (a then-independent city previously part of Prussia and now part of Poland), as a teen Grube and his family became refuggees at the end of World War II, eventually settling in West Germany. After a bricklayer apprenticeship, Grube graduated from the Hamburg School of Architecture and, after marrying his wife Liz, a Portlander studying abroad, they settled in Oregon. Grube began his career working for a seminal architect and firm: William Fletcher and then the Portland office of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill. In 1961 he was recruited by the United Nations to design teacher training institutes across Africa for UNESCO via its headquarters in Sudan. The four-year assignment compelled Grube to focus his career on projects in developing countries. At the same time, YGH has been responsible for a number of noteworthy projects throughout Oregon, including academic buildings for the University Oregon and Oregon State University as well as six church collaborations with Portland's most acclaimed architect, the great Pietro Belluschi. Oregon Convention Center, 777 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. 5:30PM Monday, October 14. $150 ($125 for AFO members).

Electrifying Everything
Join Solar Oregon, Forth, the Community Energy Project and others for an evening dedicated to electrifying everything. As part of Sustainable Building Week, the event will explore the idea that electricity is the quickest and most realistic form of carbon dioxide emission-free energy. Practical advice about how to switch household appliances and transportation to the most energy efficient electric form will be on offer, and how to provide that energy through renewables — ideally from local sources, like rooftop solar panels. Representatives from Solar Oregon will be presenting what's called the Average Person’s Guide to Electrifying Everything” and will be joined by representatives from Forth presenting on electrifying transportation, and a representative of the Community Energy Project will be talking about work with heat-pump hot water heaters. Vacasa, 850 NW 13th Avenue. 6:30PM Monday, October 14. Free.

Debunking Product Transparency
As part of Sustainable Building Week (October 14-18), this event features information about product transparency labels from the International Living Future Institute Declare, Cradle -to-Cradle, the Healthy Products Declaration Collaborative, and a yet-to-be-named manufacturer about how transparency has transformed their business. AIA Center for Architecture, 403 NW 11th Avenue. 9AM Tuesday, October 15. Free.

Downtown Portland Moves West Tour
After repeated Willamette River flooding in the late 19th century, Portland's central business district began to move west of Second Avenue, embarking on an era of building construction that utilized popular new materials, often coupled with classical design motifs. The results included some of the city's first tall buildings and by the 1910s, Fifth and Sixth Avenues had become the heart of this new business district. This Architectural Heritage Center tour examines downtown's temples of commerce, located mostly along Fifth and Sixth Avenues. Along the way one will see banks resembling classical Greek and Roman temples and learn about the early 20th century architects who left an indelible impression on Portland — in particular A. E. Doyle, Whidden & Lewis, and Reid & Reid. Tour meetup location revealed with ticket purchase. 10AM Tuesday, October 15. $20 ($12 for AHC members).

Equity in Design with USGBC Oregon
As part of Sustainable Building Week (October 14-18), the Oregon chapter of the US Green Building Council (which administers the LEED rating system) hosts a panel discussion on impact projects to support equity and access (as part of the Green for All initiative). Moderated by Kimberly Lewis, a senior vice president overseeing market transformation and development for the USGBC, panelists include Elaine Aye, an associate and regional manager for RWDI Consulting Engineers; Dave Otte, a partner at Holst Architecture; Afton Walsh, Walsh Construction's community outreach director; and Ali O’Neil, a project manager for O’Neill Construction Group. AIA Center for Architecture, 403 NW 11th Avenue. 12PM Tuesday, October 15. $25 ($20 for USGBC members).

Multnomah County Central Courthouse Building Tour
As part of Sustainable Building Week (October 14-18), the Columbia River chapter of the Association of Energy Engineers and the Energy Trust of Oregon will host this tour of the Multnomah County Central Courthouse midway through its construction process. Designed by SRG Partnership, the new courthouse is 17 stories tall and will house 44 courtrooms, district attorney’s offices, judges’ chambers, and secure holding of detainees. The facility is enrolled in the Energy Trust of Oregon's Path to Net Zero program and features innovation throughout the envelope and mechanical design, including high efficiency chillers & boilers, active chilled beams, and radiant floors. The project also incorporated advanced seismic bracing and resilient strategies to increase safety. Multnomah County Courthouse, SW First Avenue and Main Street. 2PM, 3PM and 4PM Tuesday, October 15. $25 ($15 for AEE members).

How We Build Sustainability: PAE Interactive Open House
As part of Sustainable Building Week (October 14-18) comes this open house at the new headquarters of engineering firm PAE, which was designed by ZGF according to Living Building Challenge strictures while also remaining attentive to the existing historic building fabric of Old Town. The open house will feature a presentation on the building, a hands-on science lab, and interactive stations that will reveal the process behind discovering creative sustainable solutions. PAE Engineers, 522 SW Fifth Ave #1500. 4PM Tuesday, October 15. Free.

Green and Black: Equity in the Clean Energy Future
As part of Sustainable Building Week comes this panel discussion about how the Portland Clean Energy Community Benefits Fund and other resources are being developed to create equitable access to the clean energy future. Attendees will learn about the history of the June Key Delta Community Center and the importance of sustainability to one group of African-American women. Panelists include Sam Baraso, program manager for the Portland Clean Energy Community Benefits Fund; Alan Hipolito, who direct special projects for nonprofit Verde; and Nate McCoy, executive director of the National Association of Minority Contractors — all discussing how people of color can constructively challenge and influence how decisions are made regarding access to clean energy funds and work together to construct more green buildings in traditionally marginalized communities. June Key Delta Community Center, 5940 North Albina Avenue. 5PM Tuesday, October 15. Free.

Best Practices in Material Health: The Owner’s Perspective
As part of Sustainable Building Week (October 14-18) and as part of the continuing discussion series Transparency and Material Health In Practice from the Portland Materials Transparency Collaborative and the Health Product Declaration Collaborative, this panel discussion features Sara Cederberg, who manages the Healthy Materials Program for Google’s real estate and workplace services sustainability team; Kate Vance, a project delivery program manager at Multnomah County; and Leslie Crehan, a project manager for Home Forward; Gisele Geiger, who manages facilities planning and development for the California State Teacher’s Retirement System; and Bethany Clous, who leads Kaiser Permanente's National Total Health Environment initiative for facilities in its Northwest region. AIA Center for Architecture, 403 NW 11th Avenue. 5:30PM Tuesday, October 15. $25.

Fall 2019 CDT Certification Class
The Oregon chapter of the Construction Specifications Institute offers this series of training classes for achieving Construction Documents Technologist (CDT) certification, begun in August and continuing through mid-October. This ten-class series is useful for everyone in the A/E/C industry who wants to understand the processes, roles/responsibilities and project delivery from cradle to grave. Mutual Materials, 2175 NW Raleigh Street, Suite 103. 6PM Thursday October 15. $250 ($150 for CSI members, $75 for students).

 

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Comments

[Jon]

Regarding NW Broadway Corridor... has there been any talk of the Portland Public Market reusing the now-empty Greyhound Station? It's a distinct SOM-designed building and would seem to be very well-suited both inside and outside for a public market with a large interior clear span and covered outdoor canopy. It is admittedly a sketchy location.

It would save a notable landmark piece of architecture. The market could be up and running in relatively short time with quite minor improvements. The bus yard in rear could in the future be built on.

[Brian Libby]

That's an intriguing idea, Jon. I would guess the difficulty would be that whomever owns or comes to own that site will want more density than the station building provides