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When visitors arrive at Ankrom Moisan Architects’ space in 38 Davis, a mixed-use building being constructed in Old Town Chinatown, they won’t anywhere see a receptionist. Instead, guests will check in downstairs with the building security guard, who will use the Slack app to communicate with Ankrom Moisan personnel. Upstairs, newcomers will be greeted by a free-floating iPad-wielding office 鈥渁mbassador.鈥�

The setup is more 鈥渉ospitality-like鈥� and 鈥渓ess transactional.鈥�

鈥淚t’s a way of inviting people into our culture,鈥� executive vice president Karen Bowery said. 鈥淵ou step off the elevator right into our world. There’s not that barrier. They’re part of us and they’re engaged in our culture.鈥�

It’s one of the ways Ankrom Moisan is rethinking the architecture office, for a move that is by accounts much anticipated by staff. And with so much brainpower at its disposal, the firm has employed a heavily collaborative process, according to Bowery and managing principal Murray Jenkins.

38 Davis is five heavy-timber stories over a concrete podium, with Ankrom occupying floors two and three, and 65 apartment units on four and five.聽The聽University of Oregon is a ground-level tenant. That improvement is being handled by Swinerton Builders; all other construction is being done by Andersen Construction.

The first four floors of the mixed-use building should open to phased occupation in mid-November, Andersen senior project manager Gene Archibek said.

Ankrom Moisan, Portland’s second-largest architecture firm (gross local receipts), with offices in Seattle, Portland and San Francisco, is set to join ZGF Architects as a design firm occupying a building of its own design. But聽the historically-minded聽38 Davis is in many ways distinct from the glossy聽12 West high-rise.

Being located in Portland’s cast-iron district, the building exterior features historic cast-iron columns and the design is intended to serve as a 鈥済ateway鈥� to the district. The mix of occupants was also influential, Jenkins said.

鈥淚t’s a reasonably small building with a ton of uses,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e’re really trying to experiment with those mixed uses in places like our lobby space.鈥�

A Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design v4 gold rating is being targeted for the building. It uses gray water reclamation, recycling shower water for use in the office toilets.

Currently crowded into the Willamette Oaks office building in South Portland, Ankrom has for two years thrown everything it has into 38 Davis and its own new, 58,000-square-foot space, according to Bowery and Jenkins. (Cardno Engineering is expected to take over the first and second floors of Ankrom’s old space.)

鈥淲e couldn’t be more excited about this,鈥� Bowery said.

Relocating to a more urban setting was important the whole office, Jenkins said.

鈥淭hat’s a serious deal for architects, and it was one of the big driving factors for moving our office downtown,鈥� he said. 鈥淥ur work is in cities, right? We make cities these livable, mixed-use, vibrant places, and we wanted our office to represent what we believe in and the work that we do.鈥�

Jenkins called the Ankrom’s new space 鈥渞aw鈥� 鈥� highly polished concrete floors, exposed heavy timber and big, steel girders. But it’s also intended to be forward-thinking 鈥撀燝lumac, a project consultant, assisted with light fixtures with fans inside to form 鈥渞ings of light.鈥� The word 鈥渆rgonomic鈥� factored heavily into design. Monthslong beta tests of different workstations have been run out of the Willamette Oaks location.

鈥淭he design absolutely was more than usual,鈥� Bowery said. 鈥淚t was not the status quo as far as the way we run our projects. It was very much a design that represents the collective voice, instead of the voice of the few, so it’s been a bit cumbersome to manage, but ultimately, I think, successful.鈥�

Currently, Ankrom Moisan’s 鈥渓ibrary鈥� is stacked around various hallways. At the new space it will be consolidated into one area. Kitchens are being handled in the same way: While the South Waterfront space has seven kitchens, 38 Davis will have a single, large commercial one. Coffee will come from only one gathering place 鈥� a well-lit 鈥渇orum鈥� that in renderings features wine glasses hanging overhead.

Too many architects can equal headaches for a contractor in the same way too many chefs in the kitchen can ruin a broth. So, anticipating a flood of feedback for 38 Davis (aka Block 8L), the team of Ankrom Moisan, developer Gerding Edlen and Andersen Construction established a method for distilling a community-wide view for the builder that’s clear and consistent.

鈥淲e set up a system early on of funneling feedback through a conduit of two to three people,鈥� Archibek said. 鈥淏ecause, yeah, with 200 architects, everybody’s going to have a view.鈥�