Scott Mooney (SRG Partnership)
BY LUKE AREHART
Our occasional interview series featuring architects and their inspirations continues with Scott Mooney, a senior associate at SRG Partnership. Mooney has worked on numerous sustainable civic and higher-education projects for the firm, and has also taught design studios at Portland State University and University of Oregon. He also currently serves as a Fellow in Practices at Portland State University's Center for Public Interest Design. Yet he may be best known for the Pinwheel ADU in Mooney's backyard, designed with his construction-engineer wife, Lauren Shumaker, which in 2018 was featured in Dwell magazine. This conversation is a bit of a time capsule, having taken place back in May of 2019.
Portland Architecture: When did you first become interested in architecture as a possible career?
Scott Mooney: When I graduated from high school, I knew I wanted to be in a creative field but didn’t quite know what that field was. I was a little bit of an academic omnivore and was interested in so many different areas. I started by stepping back and looking at an overview of all the different courses that were offered in school.
I went to Stanford University for my undergraduate degree. I discovered this unique degree that was called Urban Studies that had a focus on architecture and urban design. What intrigued me about it was that the program allowed you take courses in art history, studio art and design. This program was also was interdepartmental, so you also took courses in a large variety of areas like urban history, sociology, urban politics and political science. You also took courses in ecology, mechanical engineering and design thinking. I was just so fascinated that there was one degree that had all these different areas of study under a single umbrella. The more I started to connect the dots through this experience, the more I realized that architecture really is the intersection of all those different areas of interest for me and that's how I decided to become an architect. It was that revelation that I could concurrently work to solve all these different problems that I feel like architecture can address while still making something beautiful in the process.
Where did you study architecture and how would you rate the experience?
It was an incredible undergraduate experience because the curriculum exposed me to a lot of historic inequalities that I hadn’t been fully aware of in my life up to that point. My parents were both teachers. I grew up on a farm. I wouldn't say it was a sheltered life, but I also was not in a place where these issues were a part of our everyday conversation. My education allowed me to understand some of the big problems that needed to be tackled on a global and societal scale. It also gave me an awareness of those filters and ways to think about how we apply ourselves professionally to help solve some of those problems.
I met some incredible people who have gone on to do some incredible things. I was inspired by the motivation and passion amongst my peers, who I'm still close with today.
I went and eventually got my Master of Architecture at the University of Oregon, and I would say the same thing about those classmates as well. They are inspiring folks who are doing some remarkable work, both here in Portland and elsewhere in the world.
The reason I ended up in the University of Oregon is because I wanted to focus a big portion of my design career on sustainable design and understanding how we could create buildings that are more harmoniously connected to the natural world. It was an opportunity to help address the climate crisis, that even back in the early 2000s, was obviously a major issue and continues to be so.
What is your favorite building project that you’ve worked on?
I feel lucky because it seems like every project I've been able to work on has just gotten better in terms of the richness and the complexity of the problems. My most recent project, that's under construction right now, was a really great experience. It's Fourth and Montgomery. It is a four-owner building that is shared between Portland State University, OHSU, PCC, and the City of Portland. Each one of those groups is trying to make an impact in a different way. It's the Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability that's moving in on the top floor. The building will serve as the OHSU-PSU School of Public Health, which is a partnership between those two universities. It is the PSU Graduate School of Education, and it's also the PCC dental program space that are all sharing one roof. These users are in addition to shared classrooms, and retail at the ground floor.
Rendering of the upcoming Fourth & Montgomery (SRG Partnership)
It was a complex process that involved a lot of interesting problem-solving that we had to address and reach consensus between four owners. It was a fun challenge to tackle, and I think that we ended up creating a design that is successful in a lot of different ways. I'm proud of that. It’s an interesting project on an urban scale. We wanted to do what we could to expand the public realm at the ground floor. It's on the Montgomery Green Street so we're hoping to stitch the PSU park blocks down to the Halprin Open Space Sequence. We also were able to carve out what the Design Commission was referring to as a pocket park, which we are excited about because I think a well-scaled outdoor room is important for the public.
We were able to manage the floor plates so that in an open office scenario everyone has access to daylight and views at all the office levels. Even though it costs just as much as any other project of its type, in fact even a little less because of the resources that we had through these public institutions, we're still exceeding our energy targets on that project. We’re also getting 82% better than baseline for the 2030 challenge, which is not easy to do. That's without any real bells and whistles in terms of the technology of the systems. I give a huge credit to our engineering partners at PAE and the owner group for just being on board with all the different strategies that we implemented to get there. Most of this project was just being smart about the architecture and making sure that we were putting glazing where it wanted to be, not over glazing where it shouldn't be. We're also doing some interesting system strategies that allow us to be fossil-fuel-free.
Who has been an important mentor among your colleagues?
I've had a lot of great mentors over the years.
At Hacker, principal Charles Dorn was a consummate architect who really cared about design integrity and understood on a very deep level how systems integrate. I think Derek deVille (currently with ZGF) and Andrew Shilling at Hacker (currently with William Kaven Architecture) were also great mentors to me, in terms of just how to put together a good set of documents. Tracey Olson has been an awesome force in my career, because she brings energy, and challenges you on your ideas. I've really enjoyed having her as a colleague over the years.
I've worked very closely with Steve Simpson on both the Multnomah County Courthouse, and on the Fourth and Montgomery project. He brings a rigor and clarity of thought to the projects that I really value. He's not necessarily looking for additive solutions, but reductive solutions by asking how to simplify, simplify and simplify to the point where it's just the essence of the idea left in service to the larger value of the job. And I worked very closely with Laurie Canup on my last project. She's been a great mentor by showing how a job can be run successfully. She has a passion for the projects that we do which is infectious. It's sometimes hard to not get caught up in just how important the work we do is along with the difference it can make if we do our job well.
What part of the job do you like best, and as an architect what do you think you most excel at?
I like collaborating with the folks who will eventually be using the building, to find creative solutions and makes sure everyone’s needs are being met in a way that is responsible and beautiful. I like working to balance all those forces in a way that creates an outcome that everyone (for their own reasons) is happy and excited about. There are often a lot of different agendas when you start dealing with large user groups. When everyone is satisfied with the outcome then you know you've done your job well.
In terms of what I most excel at, I'm really interested in creating high-performance projects that don't necessarily look like high-performance projects. They don't call attention to the fact that certain strategies have been implemented. They just look like beautiful buildings and well-resolved design solutions. With that, there is a clarity of thought and execution that you look for in good architecture. I am also personally committed to creating projects that serve the public as a whole and aren't just necessarily for one small percentage of our society. Architecture should really contribute to the broader culture and, whenever possible, help ensure equity in the communities in which we live in. That is one of the things I've really tried to do in my career: be intentional about the kinds of projects that I work on from this perspective.
What are some Portland buildings (either new or historic) that you most admire?
If you were to think of the architecture of the building as an object, the Union Bank Tower is just a stone-cold classic: so well resolved and so clearly thought through. The execution on that project is still of the highest level that you'll find in Portland.
But with a background degree in urban design, I also just love good fabric buildings that make up the smaller parts of the whole. An example is the Ford Building in Southeast, close to the train tracks. The adaptive reuse is skillfully done. To see buildings like that be given another life, as opposed to be bulldozed for a larger project, is heartwarming because it's that kind of history and those kinds of structures that create a place. If we were to knock down every building from that era that we felt was underdeveloped, we would lose our history as a city. It's an interesting needle-and-thread situation in terms of which buildings we value and which we don't. I have a soft spot for inventive adaptive reuse projects. There's a lot of really good work happening in Southeast industrial areas right now and I'm happy to see that. We have so many parking lots in this town that we should not be knocking down beautiful old buildings when there are so many other places to build. Maybe once we fill up all the parking lots then we can have that conversation.
What is your favorite building outside of Portland and besides any you’ve worked on?
That’s sort of like asking if I have a favorite record: it depends on the context. Are we talking about a record for making breakfast on a Sunday morning, or for getting ready to go out on a Saturday night? There are so many different reasons to love buildings in different ways.
I think in terms of the space of a building, there's Grundtvig's Church in Copenhagen. It's designed in the 20s and built in the 30s and 40s. It's one of the best examples of what it would look like if folks took the principles of modernism but filtered them through the vernacular and building tradition of a place. The outside is sort of odd, almost like a jukebox. But inside you discover the purity of the form they created. It moves you and reveals itself in a way that is unexpected. The whole building is one material, locally quarried yellow brick. By just using one material, yellow brick, and by focusing on how light is reflected off the material, it makes for one of the most awe-inspiring spaces I've ever experienced. It's filtering hundreds of years of building tradition through modernist sensibilities of simplicity and minimalism.
Gruntvig's Church, Copenhagen (Ignant.com)
I'm as intrigued by the spaces between buildings the buildings themselves. How can buildings be a part of a larger whole that contributes to culture, and contributes to community? My favorite buildings are well crafted and thoughtful but quiet fabric buildings that make a place. When you think of cities like Rome or the hutongs in Beijing that were developed before the automobile was running the show, these are really great examples of the kinds of rich urban spaces that architecture can help define.
Is there a local architect or firm you think is unheralded or deserves more credit?
The work that's happening at the Center for Public Interest Design at Portland State University is important work. The way that they are leveraging the opportunity we have with students to do real work and make real meaningful impacts in our communities through design is impressive. I am consistently blown away by the small things that they do that start to build towards larger movements in ways that are unexpected and exciting.
One of the most significant projects they've had thus far was the SAGE Classroom. Since money isn't being spent on creating more permanent infrastructure for schools, a lot of school districts are having to install portable classrooms. These portable classrooms are not healthy places for kids. Over many years and many students, the folks at the CPID, Sergio Palleroni, and Margarette Leite worked to create a new model. The SAGE Classroom is in production now and has been used in dozens of locations. It is healthy, naturally ventilated, fully daylit, portable classroom that, in terms of cost, is only slightly more than you would pay for a traditional portable classroom.
I’m also impressed with the work that folks like Todd Ferry and Marta Petteni doing with homeless villages, like the Kenton Women's Village. I feel fortunate that SRG Partnership has been deeply engaged in the work at Kenton Women's Village in partnership with the Center for Public Interest Design and Catholic charities.
Kenton Women's Village (Scott Mooney)
What would you like to see change about Portland’s built environment in the long term?
I would love to see our built environment become more equitable and accessible to everyone in our community. There are a lot of folks in town who are working towards that by using architecture and, more importantly, development as a vehicle to enact some of that change. I think the work that Guerrilla Development is doing in terms of pushing the development model and making it something that everyone can participate in; not just for folks who already have a large nest egg, but instead really opens it up to the general public for micro-investments, is really cool. The fact that they have an agenda for their projects, a social agenda, in addition to an economic agenda is important. Evolution in our models for development will likely have to be enacted via policy based requirements or incentives down the road. But until we get there, I have a deep respect for those who are being proactive about solving those problems ahead of time so that there's a model to point to when we do actually have to create those policy changes and say, "This has been done successfully before, and here's how."
In addition, mass timber is an important technology both in terms of supporting our local economy and helping solve our climate crisis, especially with respect to embodied energy. The folks at PATH Architecture looked at that issue and said, "We need to be building this way." They didn't wait for someone else to ask them to do it, they just found a way to make it pencil did it themselves. It's those proactive responses to these issues that we have in our community that we need to solve; I think we should hopefully see more of in the future. Especially in relationship to both the climate crisis and our housing shortages.
How would you rate the performance of local government like the Portland Development Commission, the Design Commission, or the development and planning bureaus?
They are doing a really good job helping to maintain a standard of quality in our public spaces. In my mind, Design Commission is there to help make sure we build a good city. When you look at the projects that go through the design review process, nine out of ten of them come out better on the other end.
Some folks have pushed back on the Design Commission for approving the Harbor of Hope Navigation Center. But the commission is recognizing these as temporary emergency solutions, meeting an essential need and addressing it through design. I think that's the role that we can play as architects: helping to make sure that some of these emergency solutions are done at a level that allows them to be embraced by the community.
I think Prosper Portland is doing a good job trying to address the equity issue. I think that's becoming more and more of a hot topic in terms of development. I'm excited to see that there is an increased requirement for affordable housing, and for transitional solutions. We could honestly stand to be even more aggressive on those fronts, which I have been trying to support via my involvement with the PSU Center for Public Interest Design.
Who is a famous architect or firm you’d like to see design a building in Portland?
I'm excited to see Snøhetta’s Willamette Falls project reach completion. They're an extremely interesting firm in that they have a very impressive portfolio of work that is tuned to the program and the place for which they're designing. They don't necessarily have a style per se. They just have a consistent level of quality in their projects that is always very thoughtful in terms of how it's solving the unique problem that it's tasked to solve. There's no starchitect involved, as far as I know. It seems like it's a legitimately inclusive process. I think the work speaks for itself in terms of the level of quality you can get through true collaboration.
I would love to see a project by Lake Flato make its way into our market. I have a deep respect for the work they do because they're one of those firms that wins as many design awards as they do AIA COTE (Committee on the Environment) Top 10 listings. Which means that they are balancing their sustainability chops with their design execution in a way that makes the two inseparable.
Name something besides architecture (sneakers, furniture, umbrellas) you love the design of.
I'm a pretty big music geek, and I used to be a college radio DJ. I've always really appreciated good album art and how that relates to the music, and how that can be an embodiment of what you're about to hear. I obviously love all the sort of iconic cover art, like Andy Warhol’s cover design for The Velvet Underground and Nico. I also appreciate the storytelling that comes with some of the stuff that's put out there.
There's a record label and store in town called Mississippi Records. Founder Eric Isaacson puts out this incredibly well-curated collection of artists from throughout history. He also creates hand-made designs for most of the record sleeves, pamphlets and inserts. It all has an incredible kind of folk-art aesthetic, and helps provide context for who the artists were and where they were recording. Added ephemera that is incredibly rich from a storytelling perspective.
There are some other labels that do that well too, like Numero Group which re-Issues a lot of obscure and hidden but incredible music from all these different sorts of forgotten corners of America and the world. I feel the same way about Light in the Attic, a Seattle record label that has put together some incredible compilations. They put out a box set of Native and North American indigenous rock and roll folk music from the 60s through the 80s that probably would have never been heard had they not worked with native communities to compile it. It's a beautiful object and contains a book that digs deep into the life stories of the artists that it features. It's like architecture in that respect, where you can choose to only interact with the object and listen to the music, but there's so many other aspects of it that make it meaningful in you’re interested in digging deeper. And behind it all is the process of getting it made that you never see but are important towards it being successful – not the least of which is ensuring that these artists receive royalties and recognition for their art that may have otherwise slipped through the cracks of history. I like that about those particular labels.
Mooney's Pinwheel ADU (Olivia Ashtonn)
What are three of your all-time favorite movies?
I was born in 1979, so Star Wars is pretty much part of my DNA. Growing up in that era. The attention to detail and the way that they created those worlds still inspires me as an architect. Each one of those places had an identity: even the Ralph McQuarrie conceptual artwork and story-boarding that was done. It was one of the reasons why I was interested in being in a creative professional in the first place. I used to draw in the margins all day in my classes in elementary school and high school, and a lot of it was trying to emulate the sort of illustrations that he was doing for the movies. I had this book called The Art of Star Wars that just was so inspirational to me in terms of just how he was able to convey an energy, and spirit of a place with just a few lines.
I also love Wes Anderson movies. The way that he builds these worlds around his characters, and the attention to detail that he has is truly awe-inspiring. And his use of music: his soundtracks always kick ass. There's a lot of humor in what he does, and he doesn't take himself too seriously. I like that. It's amazing to see somebody so meticulous who isn't afraid to inject levity. I think that's something architects suffer from sometimes: taking ourselves too seriously.
I also liked a movie that came out last year called Leave No Trace, about a veteran and his daughter who lived in Forest Park. It addressed a lot of different questions about how we treat each other in society, and what we really need to be happy. It also featured some performances from Michael Hurley and Marisa Anderson who are two of my favorite Oregon artists. There's a humility to it, and a simplicity to it that whether you're doing architecture or design or music or anything, there's so much to be learned from having something that's direct and heartfelt, beautiful and accessible.
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