91视频

Preliminary designs for the Hyatt Regency hotel planned near the Oregon Convention Center could better reflect the buildings’ setting, according to the Portland Design Commission.

鈥淚t feels very generic,鈥� Commissioner Tad Savinar said during a design advice hearing on Thursday. 鈥淚’m just looking for where is Portland in this?鈥�

The meeting offered one of the first public looks at the initial building and site plans for the controversial $235 million project on a site between Northeast Holladay and Multnomah streets, directly north of the Oregon Convention Center.

The 19- to 21-story, 600-room hotel and neighboring above-grade parking garage with approximately 385 spaces is scheduled to open in 2018, said Mike Clifford, a construction executive with Minneapolis-based Mortenson, the project developer and general contractor.

Project designers Elness Swenson Graham Architects of Minneapolis, Ankrom Moisan Architects, landscape architecture firm Mayer/Reed and Portland architect Michael McCulloch are moving full steam ahead conceiving plans for the long-sought development, he said.

The hotel project has drawn criticism because it will receive public revenue bond financing through Metro.

鈥淭oday, we’re closer than we’ve been in 30 years to completing this project,鈥� Clifford told the design commission.

The impression the hotel will make on visitors to Portland and the rest of Oregon has been one of the key design considerations, McCulloch said.

鈥淲e’re creating the front porch,鈥� he said. 鈥淲hen you leave the airport on light rail you come to this spot, so that front porch better be inviting and it better be Portland 鈥� We also know it’s a brand of our region.鈥�

Also important was figuring out a way to relate the hotel to the nearby convention center, particularly its iconic glass spires, said Michael Great, managing principal with Ankrom Moisan Architects.

鈥淲e know we want to be a quiet, simple backdrop to the spires,鈥� he said.

With the aim of letting the hotel tower fade into the background, the design team focused mostly on the building’s lower portion, ESG design principal Trace Jacques said. The idea is to create an active podium that engages passersby by exposing activity inside the building through windows to the street, and showing the surrounding city to hotel visitors looking out, he said.

鈥淲e’re basically turning the program inside out 鈥� (to) push as much visible activity to the perimeter of the building as possible,鈥� Jacques said. 鈥淚t’s also how users in the building are connecting with the city around them.鈥�

Despite commissioners’ advice offered last fall against placing a plaza on the superblock site at the corner of Northeast Holladay Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, the design team said Thursday they decided to stick with a scaled-down version at the same location. Commissioners responded that they still took issue with a plaza at that intersection.

Commissioner Guenevere Millius pointed out that a series of planters and benches would feel like a series of obstacles for visitors arriving with suitcases at the Convention Center MAX station nearby.

鈥淚t’s your guests that are going to be using that stop,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t’s your job to make them feel welcome and not have to go past these barriers.鈥�

Commission Chairman David Wark said the private plaza should feel more civic because it’s adjacent to the publicly owned convention center.

鈥淓verybody should feel like they can enjoy it without feeling cut off,鈥� he said.

Wark was among commissioners who expressed concerns about a large vehicle drop-off space on Northeast Hassalo Place, a private drive connecting Martin Luther King Boulevard and Multnomah streets. Millius said she worried about vehicle and pedestrian conflicts.

鈥淭hat’s what bothers me,鈥� she said. 鈥淭here’s no way to walk and not feel like you’ve stepped into a (driveway).鈥�

Commissioners also criticized plans to build a loggia at the intersection of Northeast Second Avenue and Holladay Street because it could feel dark and unwelcoming.

鈥淭here’s just something about that loggia that’s just counter to everything else,鈥� Wark said.

The overall building massing plans are on the right track, commissioners said, but the design team’s inspiration for the stripped facade coming from a line of trees in the forest is cheesy. The designers should incorporate the Portland spirit into the architecture in a more creative way, Wark said. He suggested that the team return later for a third design advice hearing.

鈥淚t’s about recognizing something that goes beyond a stereotype,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 think what we’re asking for is not to be generic. There are numerous ways to interpret Portland.鈥�

Mixed-use building reviewed

Also on Thursday, the design commission offered feedback on the design for Couch 9, a proposed 11-story mixed-use building, at 115 and 125 N.W. Ninth Ave., designed by Portland-based Vallaster Corl Architects.

Instead of voting whether to approve the project, commissioners asked the design team to take another crack at the building’s northwest side. The checkerboard pattern of red balconies sticking out from the facade wouldn’t relate to the southwest side’s inverted balconies, they noted.

Oregon Square proceeding

American Assets Trust‘s proposed Oregon Square mixed-use superblock development recently was the subject of a third design advice hearing. The GBD Architects design team plans to next seek the design commission’s approval for the project, city planner Kara Fioravanti said.

Plans call for a plaza more than 100,000 square feet surrounded by four L-shaped buildings. Combined, the new buildings will hold more than 900 apartments above approximately 55,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space and 745 below-grade parking spaces. Two buildings will be 11 stories, one will be 21 stories and one will be 29 stories.