Liberia Hotel, Monrovia, Liberia, 1965 (Wikimedia Commons)
BY BRIAN LIBBY
Monrovia Modern: Urban Form and Political Imagination in Liberia
Like cities across the global south, the Liberian capitol city of Monrovia is dominated by the ruins of modernist urban forms. The International Style once marked the city as cosmopolitan and contemporary. Today, many Monrovians inhabit the remains of this infrastructure in unintended, improvised and transitory ways. Architects, urban designers, anthropologists, historians, geographers, photographers and filmmakers have all seen in these novel attempts to inhabit ruins a new popular politics of the city. Drawing on fieldwork with male ex-combatants in Monrovia, many of whom live as squatters in the city’s ruined infrastructure, this talk and multimedia presentation by Danny Hoffman, who chairs African Studies in the Jackson School of International Studies at the University of Washington, is an effort to understand the limits of this emergent popular politics. Portland State University, exact location undisclosed. 4:30PM Monday, February 17. Free.
BIM in Wood Construction
This workshop hosted by the TallWood Design Institute, an interdisciplinary research collaborative between Oregon State University and the University of Oregon, is an introduction to IFC, an Open BIM technology platform meant to enable the exchange of information between different software tools, in order accelerate input and reduce transmission errors. Presenter Michael Marzy of design software firm Dietrich's will explain the basic functions and the necessary setup to use IFC effectively. From dimensions to materials, from organizational to business information, from the first drawing on a napkin to the CNC machine output, the possibilities will be demonstrated with successful case studies and examples. Oregon State University, Portland Center. 555 SW Morrison Street. 1PM Tuesday, February 18. Free.
On the Boards: Learning Environments in Process
Join the Association for Learning Environments for an evening of presentations by school designers and facility planners as they share projects that are currently in the design process. Each presenter will share a single upcoming project, in an abbreviated Pecha Kucha style slide format: 10 slides x 20 seconds per slide. Projects can be at any point in the design process, from concept to construction documents. IBI Group, 907 SW Harvey Milk Street. 5:30PM Tuesday, February 18. $15 (free for ALE members).
Resilience, Passive Design and Smart Grid Optimization
Hosted by the Energy Trust of Oregon and presented by Forest Tanier-Gesner, a building performance specialist for local engineering firm PAE, this edition of the Building Energy Simulation Forum training series will cover critical synergies that are emerging among renewables, energy storage and passive design strategies that take buildings and electrical grids into a reduced carbon future while also supporting resilience. Whether planning for business continuity or disruptive events, participants will learn about energy load reduction and backup power use possibilities based on Oregon climate analysis. Mercy Corps, 45 SW Ankeny Street. 12PM Wednesday, February 19. Free.
History of Oregon’s Energy Code and ASHRAE Standard 90.1
Beginning in 2019, the State of Oregon is moving away from a highly modified energy code to a new, quicker adoption cycle using the latest version of ANSI/ASHRAE/IES Standard 90.1. For designers, the format of the new code requires some changes to design documents. And with a quicker adoption cycle, designers can look for a new code within one year of the release of the latest 90.1, which means another energy code update in late 2020. In this course, presented by the Construction Specifications Institute, presenter Mark R. Heizer of Oregon’s Building Codes Division will review COMcheck and other compliance materials required for submission, as well as an overview of how the move to 90.1 effects designers and spec writers. 920 SW Sixth Avenue, Suite 1300. 6:00PM Wednesday, February 19. $10 ($5 for students).
Bold Type Talks: Grit
"Grit" is the theme in this latest edition of the bi-monthly discussion series Bold Type Talks, which seeks to inspire and empower female-identifying and non-binary Portlanders as a forum where women in architecture, art, and design can meet and inspire one another. Attendees will hear some inspiring stories from tenacious people, about how to muster through tough times and keep one's long-term goals in sight, even when the going gets tough. Then, the group will create a game plan to remind each other of short and long-term goals, pitch ideas and get some collective feedback & encouragement. My Financial Girlfriend, 1455 NW Irving Street, Suite 200. 6PM Thursday, February 20. Suggested donation.
Sellwood Bridge to Powers Marine Park Tour
Powers Marine Park is a little-known city park that runs north-south for one mile between the Willamette River and the Lake Oswego Trolley line. This Positively Portland walking tour will make its way west over the Sellwood Bridge and down to the trail in the park to complete a full-circle route. Tour begins at The Muddy Rudder Public House, 8105 SE Seventh Avenue. 1PM Friday, February 21. $15.
Care Practices: An Exchange
How is care sited and how can it be scaled? As part of an ongoing initiative in design for spatial justice, The University of Oregon School of Architecture & Environment is hosting a two-day exchange and workshop on care practices in architectural design, preservation, and landscape architecture. Examining social and material precarity together from the intimate to the systemic, the event will engage with the work of repair, relief, recovery, maintenance, access, and support toward more critical forms of sustainability. This introductory reception will include presentations from Menna Agha, a visiting assistant professor of architecture at UO and a Fellow in its Design for Spatial Justice program; Jonathan Beaver, a principal with landscape architecture firm 2.ink Studio; Gail Dubrow, a professor of architecture, landscape architecture, public affairs and planning at the University of Minnesota; Michael Geffel a visiting professor of landscape architecture at UO, and Andrew Santa Lucia, an assistant professor at Portland State University and director of Office Andorus. University of Oregon, White Stag Block, 70 NW Couch Street, Fifth Floor. 6:45PM Friday, February 21. Free.
Care Practices: The Workshop
How is care sited and how can it be scaled? As part of an ongoing initiative in design for spatial justice, The University of Oregon School of Architecture & Environment is hosting a two-day exchange and workshop on care practices in architectural design, preservation, and landscape architecture. Examining social and material precarity together from the intimate to the systemic, the event will engage with the work of repair, relief, recovery, maintenance, access, and support toward more critical forms of sustainability. The second day features a workshop entitled "What is a Recovery-Enhancing Urban Environment?" Presenters will include Cory Parker, a visiting assistant professor of landscape architecture and a Fellow in the Design for Spatial Justice program at UO; Chad Randl an assistant professor at UO and director of its historic preservation Program; Gail Dubrow, a Univeristy of Minnesota professor of architecture, landscape architecture, public affairs and planning; Daniel Klinkert, the Old Town Community Association's community development director; Cathleen Corlett of Corlett Landscape Architecture; and Scott Kerman, executive director of Blanchet House. University of Oregon, White Stag Block, 70 NW Couch Street, Fifth Floor. 10:00AM Saturday, February 22. Free.
Uncovering Barriers and Benefits of Net Zero Schools
Energy Trust hosts this talk by Dr. Ihab Elzeyadi, who has been involved in the design, construction and research of high-performance buildings for more than 25 years as a University of Oregon architecture professor and director of its High Performance Environments Laboratory. As a Net Zero Fellow, the goal of his research is to offer owners and design teams evidence-based data to support decision-making when developing net-zero schools. His research will inform various stakeholders, school districts and economic analysts in the key barriers and benefits to planning K-12 building design. Mercy Corps, 45 SW Ankeny Street. 12PM Tuesday, February 25. Free.
Getting to LEED Zero Energy and LEED Zero Carbon
How do architects and building-team members take LEED and high-performing building to the next level to mitigate the impacts of climate change? This workshop from the Cascadia chapter of the US Green Building Council demonstrates how LEED Zero supports expands the verification life-cycle of high performing buildings, while identifying key energy and carbon management concepts reflected in LEED version 4.1. Oregon Conservation Center, 821 SE 14th Avenue. 1PM Tuesday, February 25. $100 ($70 for employees of USGBC-member firms).
Material Health and Transparency in Affordable Housing
Co-hosted by the Emerging Professionals Committee and the Sustainability Committee of the Construction Specification Institute's Portland chapter comes this discussion from interior designer Kim Stanley of Carleton Hart Architecture. Stanley's firm has completed numerous sustainably designed affordable housing projects. Carleton Hart Architecture, 830 SW 10th Avenue, #200. 5PM Wednesday, February 26. Free.
Architecture 2030 Working Group
Join the American Institute of Architects' Oregon chapter and the Energy Trust's New Buildings program for a discussion on how Oregon firms are tracking and meeting Architecture 2030 goals through the AIA’s Design Data Exchange reporting tool. This working group meeting will focus on the successes and challenges for firms implementing a 2030 reporting process. AIA Center for Architecture, 403 NW 11th Avenue. 12PM Thursday, February 27. Free.
Van Evera Bailey Fellowship Celebration
The Architecture Foundation of Oregon and the Oregon Community Foundation annually award the Van Evera Bailey Fellowship to practicing architects and related professionals in order to advance their professional development and make greater contributions to their profession and community. In this talk, architect Jennifer Wright of Telford + Brown Studio Architecture, a VEB Fellow, will discuss how she researched and established construction workshops for women in architecture, further addressing gender inequity within the architecture industry. Two recently awarded Fellows, Jackie Santa Lucia and Harley Cowan, will discuss their plans. Santa Lucia, a sole practitioner architect, is using the fellowship to expand Your Street Your Voice, an immersive program for high school students to learn about the intersection of architecture and social justice, and design spaces that reflect their communities. Cowan, an architect and photographer, will use a large format camera to document architecture in Oregon that is at risk or in need of documentation. AIA Center for Architecture, 403 NW 11th Avenue. 5PM Thursday, February 27. Free.
Architectural Styles of Portland Workshop
This Architectural Heritage Center workshop hosted by Arciform's Anne De Wolf will demonstrate that Portland’s architecture styles are wide and varied and ready to be discovered Attendees will learn to identify architectural styles like Victorian, which is defined by verticality and formality, and Prairie, with its low-pitched roofs, deep overhangs with boxed eaves, and extensive porches. Architectural Heritage Center, 701 SE Grand Avenue. 5:30PM Thursday, February 27. $10.
Craig L. Wilkins: The Age of the Activist Architect
Join Craig L. Wilkins, the Pietro Belluschi Distinguished Visiting Professor in the University of Oregon's College of Design and a fellow in its Design for Spatial Justice program, for a talk entitled "The Age of the Activist Architect." When he's not at UO, Wilkins is a lecturer in architecture at the University of Michigan’s Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning. A recipient of the 2017 National Design Award from the Cooper-Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, Wilkins is a self-described hip-hop architectural theorist, architect, artist, academic, and activist. His creative practice specializes in engaging communities in collaborative and participatory design processes. The former director of the Detroit Community Design Center, he currently is creative director of the Wilkins Project, a social justice and strategic design alliance that provides architectural, urban design and planning services, public interest design solutions, and expertise in engaged public discourse. His practice includes both written and built work. Wilkins is particularly interested in the field of public interest design and the production of various forms of space; understanding publically accessible and responsive design can radically transform the trajectory of lives and environments, especially for those on the margins of society. University of Oregon, White Stag Block, 70 NW Couch Street. 5PM Friday, February 28. Free.
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