LOS ANGELES — Frank Gehry, who designed some of the most imaginative buildings ever constructed and achieved a level of worldwide acclaim seldom afforded any architect, has died. He was 96.

Gehry died Friday in his home in Santa Monica after a brief respiratory illness, said Meaghan Lloyd, chief of staff at Gehry Partners LLP.

Gehry’s fascination with modern pop art led to the creation of distinctive, striking buildings. Among his many masterpieces are the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain; The Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles and the DZ Bank Building in Berlin.

He also designed an expansion of Facebook’s Northern California headquarters at the insistence of the company’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg.

Gehry was awarded every major prize architecture has to offer, including the field’s top honor, the Pritzker Prize, for what has been described as “refreshingly original and totally American” work.

Other honors include the Royal Institute of British Architects gold medal, the Americans for the Arts lifetime achievement award, and his native country’s highest honor, the Companion of the Order of Canada.

After earning a degree in architecture from the University of Southern California in 1954 and serving in the Army, Gehry studied urban planning at Harvard University.

But his career got off to a slow start. He struggled for years to make ends meet, designing public housing projects, shopping centers and even driving a delivery truck for a time.

Eventually, he got the chance to design a modern shopping mall overlooking the Santa Monica Pier. He was determined to play it safe and came up with drawings for an enclosed shopping mall that looked like others in the United States in the 1980s.

To celebrate its completion, the mall’s developer dropped by Gehry’s house and was stunned by what he saw: The architect had transformed a modest 1920s-era bungalow into an inventive abode by remodeling it with chain-link fencing, exposed wood and corrugated metal.

Asked why he hadn’t proposed something similar for the mall, Gehry replied, “Because I have to make a living.”

If he really wanted to make a statement as an architect, he was told, he should drop that attitude and follow his creative vision.

Gehry would do just that for the rest of his life, working into his 90s to create buildings that doubled as stunning works of art.

As the acclaim grew, Gehry Partners LLP, the architectural firm he founded in 1962, grew with it, expanding to include more than 130 employees at one point. But as big as the firm got, Gehry insisted on personally overseeing every project it took on.

The headquarters of the InterActiveCorp, known as the IAC Building, took the shape of a shimmering beehive when it was completed in New York City’s Chelsea district in 2007. The 76-story New York by Gehry building (now known as 8 Spruce), once one of the world’s tallest residential structures, was a stunning addition to the lower Manhattan skyline when it opened in 2011.

That same year, Gehry joined the faculty of his alma mater, the University of Southern California, as a professor of architecture. He also taught at Yale and Columbia University.

Not everyone was a fan of Gehry’s work. Some naysayers dismissed it as not much more than gigantic, lopsided reincarnations of the little scrap-wood cities he said he spent hours building when he was growing up in the mining town of Timmins, Ontario.

Princeton art critic Hal Foster dismissed many of his later efforts as “oppressive,” arguing they were designed primarily to be tourist attractions. Some denounced the Walt Disney Concert Hall as looking like a collection of cardboard boxes that had been left out in the rain.

Still other critics included Dwight D. Eisenhower’s family, who objected to Gehry’s bold proposal for a memorial to honor the nation’s 34th president. Although the family said it wanted a simple memorial and not the one Gehry had proposed, with its multiple statues and billowing metal tapestries depicting Eisenhower’s life, the architect declined to change his design significantly.

If the words of his critics annoyed Gehry, he rarely let on. Indeed, he even sometimes played along. He appeared as himself in a 2005 episode of “The Simpsons” in which he agreed to design a concert hall that was later converted into a prison.

He came up with the idea for the design, which looked a lot like the Walt Disney Concert Hall, after crumpling Marge Simpson’s letter to him and throwing it on the ground. After looking at it, he declared, “Frank Gehry, you’ve done it again!”

“Some people think I actually do that,” he later told the AP.

Ephraim Owen Goldberg was born in Toronto on Feb. 28, 1929, and moved to Los Angeles with his family in 1947, eventually becoming a U.S. citizen. As an adult, he changed his name at the suggestion of his first wife, who told him antisemitism might be holding back his career.

Although he had enjoyed drawing and building model cities as a child, Gehry said it wasn’t until he was 20 that he pondered the possibility of pursuing a career in architecture, after a college ceramics teacher recognized his talent.

“It was like the first thing in my life that I’d done well in,” he said.

Gehry steadfastly denied being an artist though.

“Yes, architects in the past have been both sculptors and architects,” he declared in a 2006 interview with The Associated Press. “But I still think I’m doing buildings, and it’s different from what they do.”

His words reflected both a lifelong shyness and an insecurity that stayed with Gehry long after he’d been declared the greatest architect of his time.

“I’m totally flabbergasted that I got to where I’ve gotten,” he told the AP in 2001. “Now it seems inevitable, but at the time it seemed very problematic.”

The Gehry-designed Guggenheim Museum in Abu Dhabi, first proposed in 2006, is expected to finally be completed in 2026 after a series of construction delays and sporadic work. The 30,000-square-foot structure will be the world’s largest Guggenheim building.

His survivors include his wife, Berta; daughter, Brina; and sons Alejandro and Samuel. Another daughter, Leslie Gehry Brenner, died of cancer in 2008.

Editor’s note: Rogers, the principal writer of this obituary, retired from The Associated Press in 2021. Reporter Jaimie Ding contributed from Los Angeles.

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The Portland Historic Landmarks Commission on Monday got its first look at the proposal for a seven-to-eight-story affordable housing development. Flatworks, at 240 S.E. Grand Ave., would have approximately 143 rent-restricted units. The site is in the East Portland/Grand Avenue Historic District.

The project is valued at $25 million, according to Portland Permitting & Development.

TVA Architects‘ design calls for eight-story dark massing clad in masonry on the north third of the block and seven-story light massing clad in high-quality fiber-cement panels on the remaining two-thirds of the block, according to the project’s narrative.

Sturgeon Development Partners is developing the project. The team also includes civil engineer Langan of Clackamas, structural engineer KPFF, landscape architect Shapiro Didway, MEP engineer Interface Engineering, and general contractor LMC Construction.

During a type III historic resource review hearing in 2020, the Historic Landmarks Commission had approved for the site a similar proposal with office space. But that proposal did not advance, and the developer shifted to affordable housing. The plug was pulled because of a lack of demand for office space, said John Jamiel, a TVA Architects senior associate.

The project team expects to seek a permit for the new proposal by April 2026.

At the ground level facing Southeast Grand Avenue, programming would include a lobby, offices, community rooms, a gym and bike parking. Eight parking stalls would be provided inside a ground-level garage with access at mid-block on Pine Street. Ground-floor glazing and active programming would generally be oriented toward Grand Avenue and on the corners, with building services at mid-block facing Ash and Pine streets.

The design team wants to offer some kind of roof deck for residents – on level 8 – and is looking into the cost of such an amenity.

Exterior cladding materials would include brick, composite metal panels, fiber-cement paneling and ribbed metal paneling. There would be five levels of wood framing over three levels of concrete.

The proposed fiber-cement material appeared to be of decent quality, commission Chair Andrew Smith said. Previously, for the office building proposal, only a couple of materials would’ve been used, he added.

“I would encourage the design team, as you move this forward, to take a hard look at that and try to simplify (the material palette),” Smith said.

Commissioner Hugo Hamblin-Agosto suggested the design team look for softer colors for the exterior instead of the dark brick so the building would blend more with the district. Pam Saftler, a TVA Architects principal, said alternatives would be a red or brown brick.

“I don’t find the dark nature of the material that has been chosen to be objectionable at all,” Smith said. “I’ve seen a couple of other buildings of this scale using that type and tone of brick and I’ve seen them be very successful.”

One of the potential modifications is related to required building lines. The space between the building and the street lot line must be designed as an extension of the sidewalks and committed to active uses such as sidewalk cafes, vendor’s stands or developed as “stopping places,” the city’s staff report states. The proposal includes raised planter beds along most of the street frontages between the building setback and the lot lines instead of treating this area as an active space. The commissioners suggested removing the planters to allow for a communal space for residents.

Another potential modification is to the requirement of an eco-roof. Currently, one is planned on level 2.

“We’re looking at providing solar panels in lieu of providing an eco-roof,” Jamiel said, adding that stormwater would have to be managed in a different way.

Commissioners expressed support for eliminating the eco-roof as long as there would be stormwater mitigation. Smith suggested the team seek an equivalent that would provide benefits like those of an eco-roof.

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The Portland Art Museum‘s $111 million Mark Rothko Pavilion is nearing completion as construction crews work to meet a Nov. 20 opening date.

Museum Director Brian Ferriso pointed to “punch list” items on Monday that need finishing before the museum’s renovation and expansion centered on a landmark glass pavilion opens to the public.

On a recent visit, workers led by construction manager/general contractor Mortenson Construction were touching up paint, removing tape and sweeping floors.

The project was ambitious from the start: Constructing a new glassed-in pavilion sandwiched between two separate existing buildings, renovating the older structures, and melding it all together into a cohesive and seismically resilient 21^st century museum.

Designers from Hennebery Eddy Architects and Chicago’s Vinci Hamp Architects had to join 11 distinct floors among the three structures. Previously, there were no above-grade connections between the Pietro Belluschi-designed 1932 Main Building and the Mark Building, formerly a Masonic temple, built in 1927. Only an underground passageway joined them, requiring an elevator trip. Visitors complained of getting lost.

“If you’re looking at a map and feeling lost, you’re not looking at art and you’re not feeling welcome,” said Donald Urquhart, the museum’s director of collections and exhibitions.

Soon, a grand staircase will allow patrons to freely circulate around the museum, and additional elevators for both humans and large art pieces have been installed.

The project adds nearly 100,000 square feet of new and renovated public and gallery space. Museum officials have acquired nearly 300 new works to display.

The museum’s design takes transparency literally. Inspired in part by Apple stores, architects made liberal use of fritted glass that was expensively imported from Germany and fritted in Spain before its journey to Portland. It hangs 28 feet high, forming what museum officials call the “jewel box” of the Rothko Pavilion at the museum’s center.

Museumgoers will be able to view the downtown surrounds from indoors. During a tour this week, visitors could see the Portland Streetcar as it trundled by and daily activity at the Eliot tower and Park Blocks on either side of the museum.

“You can feel the city here,” Ferriso said.

Visitors don’t need to go inside the museum to get a taste — a glass passageway through the Rothko Pavilion allows pedestrians to see in. “Everyone will have a museum experience, whether they’re inside or out,” Ferriso said.

Other changes include relocating the loading dock to Southwest Jefferson Street and moving the library to a 4,200-square-foot space on the ground floor of the Mark Building to make way for the Crumpacker Center for New Art, an experiential contemporary art space. A state-of-the-art security center is hidden from view.

On the museum’s West Plaza, Coquelico, a café from Providore Fine Foods, will open in September.

Throughout, museum officials sought to uphold universal design principles to ensure patrons with disabilities can seamlessly experience the exhibits. No longer will patrons in wheelchairs have to enter the museum through a side door.

The design also pays attention to basic human comforts. More bathrooms are being constructed, and additional seating will be installed throughout the museum in response to feedback. “These areas for relaxation and contemplation are so important,” Ferriso said.

Construction crews were challenged by the complexity of linking HVAC and other building systems across the three structures, Ferriso said. Heating and cooling are provided by water tubes located under the slate gray stone floors. In other areas, the flooring is white oak.

No large construction project comes without surprises, and one arrived when workers discovered asbestos in the Main Building. “We ran into asbestos in the 1930s building,” Ferriso said. “That cost us some money.”

Now the project is on track to open to the public Nov. 20 with four days of free admission. Ferriso himself has announced he’ll be leaving shortly after that to take over as director of the Dallas Museum of Art after nearly 20 years helming the Portland museum.

Ferriso sounded a contemplative note as he discussed the Portland Art Museum’s collections. “We’re just stewards for a moment,” he said.

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Otak‘s name comes from the initials of founders Nawzad Othman, Ralph Tahran and Greg Kurahashi. It quickly grew into a firm with a presence across the western United States and the Middle East, with a strong reputation for smart growth planning, sustainable design and development, and innovative transportation solutions.

Over the last 45 years, Otak has built upon its multidisciplinary expertise and its services include urban design, architecture, engineering, landscape architecture, planning and construction management. With each project, Otak shares its clients’ commitment to promoting socially and environmentally responsible participation in business opportunities.

As part of its sustainability efforts, Otak has been quantifying and offsetting the greenhouse gas emissions associated with its business operations. This includes working with the Bonneville Environmental Foundation to quantify and offset its carbon footprint. Otak’s team is experienced in guiding clients in their pursuit of LEED, Envision, Greenroads, WELL and Green Globes certifications.

Otak actively seeks to partner with minority business enterprises and certified firms in the communities where it works. The company recognizes that supporting MWESBs requires a strategic approach to building relationships, cultivating opportunities and providing mentorship. Otak provides mentorship opportunities to teaming partners and students exploring paths within the AEC industry.

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Will Portland finally get a mass-timber high-rise?

Plans for Sandy Pine, a 12-story, 125-foot-tall structure, were unanimously approved by the Portland Design Commission on Thursday. The building would hold 276 apartments (including six live-work units), 14,500 square feet of commercial space and bike parking, and 2.5 levels of below-grade parking for 178 motor vehicles.

The project is the second mass-timber tower LEVER Architecture has designed for a Portland site. Framework, a 12-story mixed-use building envisioned for the Pearl District, gained approval and even had building permits issued – but was never constructed. Financial difficulties halted the project in 2018.

Sandy Pine, if built, will be Portland’s tallest mass-timber building. The eight-story Carbon12, at 85 feet, became the tallest wood building in the U.S. when it was completed in 2018.

SolTerra Capital is the developer of Sandy Pine, which according to the Bureau of Development Services would cost approximately $36 million. Framework initially was expected to cost $34 million.

The tower will rise to the maximum height allowed for 900 S.E. Sandy Blvd., with a 6.45-1 floor area ratio. A bonus was granted that increased the standard maximum of 6.1-1 for the site.

Structurally, there will be no beams. Instead, Sandy Pine will have a 10-by-16 column grid, creating a fairly dense wood structure. LEVER Architecture principal Jonathan Heppner, who also served as the project manager for Framework, said this will allow floors to be higher.

Commissioner Chandra Robinson did not participate in the hearing; she recused herself because she is a LEVER Architecture principal. Other commissioners had little to nothing to say about the V-shaped tower, with a one-story podium. They had previously seen the proposal during a design advice hearing in November 2021.

Most of the discussion was centered on how string lights could be allowed along Ninth Avenue. Plans call for reconfiguring that stretch into an outdoor gathering space.

“Does anybody have anything that they wanna discuss on the building at all?” Commission Chairman Sam Rodriguez said. “Doesn’t seem like it, since we’re talking about lighting on a tree.”

The development team has worked with the Portland Bureau of Transportation to extend the sidewalk along Ninth Avenue, on the property’s western edge, and turn the road into a two-way bicycle lane. That will expand the typical 4-foot furnishing zone to roughly 14 feet.

Vehicle access will be cut off from the street in favor of a 70-foot-wide bike lane. Signage, striping, and probably a bollard will be added to the ends of the avenue to indicate there is no vehicle entry, PBOT development supervisor Bob Haley said.

The project owner strongly desired string lights be used in this area, Heppner said, but did not want that to hold up potential approval. The Bureau of Environmental Services denied the request to place poles necessary for the lights within stormwater planters. Without another pole placement option within BES’ purview, the lights were removed from the proposal.

The development team indicated it may choose to return for a Type 1 design review hearing in the future in another bid to add the lights.

No public comments were received for the project. Commissioners praised the development team for creating a design that met every one of the necessary guidelines.

“The idea of turning that Ninth Avenue into a wonderful public street – I hope our Green Loop would take notice and use these elements as an example,” Commissioner Zari Santner said.

The commission included minor conditions of approval such as height limitations for mechanical equipment on the roof, material requirements for glazing and metal flashings, and a requirement that the residential space in the live-work units be limited to the second floor.

“This will be a massive change on the character of Sandy Boulevard,” Commissioner Don Vallaster said.

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Scott Edwards Architecture has followed completion of its new headquarters by rebranding itself.

The firm has dropped the vertical line from its abbreviated name to become SEA as well as incorporated use of a colorful, nine-piece-square logo. It represents the firm’s nine focused market sectors: civic, commercial, community, education, health care, hospitality, houses, interiors and multifamily.

Discussions about a rebranding began in 2018 when SEA was designing its new headquarters and preparing to consolidate two office locations in Portland. It felt like a transition period for the firm, Marketing Communications Coordinator Vanita Carrillo-Rush said.

SEA enlisted the Beauty Shop, a boutique creative agency in Portland, to redesign the logo. Agency staff interviewed SEA employees about the firm and its approach to design. Four differentiators stood out: the firm’s people-first tenet, the vibrant team culture, the diversity of projects, and the synergistic collaboration between the studios and disciplines. Those differentiators, along with the firm’s ethos of “People First. Design Forward,” drove the direction of a new brand.

“This rebranding process allowed us to discover what those differentiators are and spark new enthusiasm across the firm for the direction we are going,” Director of Marketing and Business Development Alexi Meuwissen said. “The new brand is a true reflection of who Scott Edwards Architecture is, and I cannot wait to keep having fun with it.”

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LEVER Architecture‘s design for the Meyer Memorial Trust headquarters in North Portland continues to draw plaudits – the latest from the American Institute of Architects.

The project was named one of the , along with projects in New Orleans, San Francisco, Iowa City, Iowa, and elsewhere.

For the three-story nonprofit headquarters in Portland, diversity and equity were given high priority – a key consideration on North Vancouver Avenue, part of a historically Black neighborhood that has undergone gentrification. The combination of high-performance sustainability and ambitious equity goals likely impressed the committee, said Chandra Robinson, a LEVER principal who served as lead project architect.

“Sustainability and equity are really tied together,” she said. “Climate change and severe weather – it affects a lot of folks. The folks who can’t get away are minorities and people of color; they are disproportionally affected.”

O’Neill/Walsh Community Builders served as general contractor, and 80 percent of the subcontractors for the $10.8 million project were minority- and/or woman-owned businesses.

“The whole building is focused on issues around equity, in terms of the project team, the contractors and subcontractors who did the work,” LEVER principal Thomas Robinson told the 91��Ƶ in a March 2021 interview.

The project included “stretch” contracts – jobs that subcontractors had not performed previously, or at least for a large project. The casework subcontractor was one example: Summit Wood Creations, a Portland business operated by Reyna Badillo, a woman of color, had residential project experience but limited commercial experience.

“Giving people stretch opportunities is important,” Chandra Robinson said. “It’s about equity.”

The 19,800-square-foot building, which was completed in October 2020, uses regionally sourced materials such as Willamette Valley white oak and mass plywood. The hybrid structure is largely supported by traditional stick-built timber, while also employing large glulam beams and steel to support cantilevers. The cutting-edge mass plywood came from Freres Lumber in Lyons.

The structure, at 2045 N. Vancouver Ave., was built with a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design platinum goal. Portland’s Project^ served as developer.

LEVER worked with Sustainable Northwest to source lumber, in some cases to the forest of origin.

“This building is providing a gathering space of significant scale that is also inspiring in and of itself while observing other structural systems,” the AIA jury stated. “This project provides positive transformation without gentrification, being a building of the community. The development through this engagement process has led to spatially detailed, well-executed spaces throughout the building.”

The AIA jury comprised architects from Chicago, Los Angeles, Baltimore and New Orleans.

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Portland-based LRS Architects has expanded and relocated its Bend office to The Quad at 1777 S.W. Chandler, Suite 270. It is the former home of The Bulletin newspaper.

After acquiring GL3 Architects in May 2021, the firm expanded in the Bend area and has seen the office grow. The Bend architecture team focuses on mixed-use, affordable housing, multifamily housing, retail, commercial, and public projects. The new office features a naturally lit space that aligns with the firm’s goal of fostering a collaborative, active, and energetic environment. The new space also allows for future growth.

“We are excited to see our Bend office grow and thrive,” Trish Nixon, president and managing principal of LRS Architects, said in a news release. “Our goal in Bend was to bring a breadth of diverse project experience that was absent from Central Oregon, and the firm’s growth since arriving is a great sign for us moving forward.”

Mike Gorman and Jim Landin are co-directors of the Bend office. LRS has designed mixed-use and multifamily housing projects in Bend since the late 1980s. Projects include Touchmark Senior Living, 69 Newport Mixed-Use, Canal Commons Affordable Housing, Subaru of Bend, 515 Century Mixed-Use, Solis @ Petrosa Multifamily, and Bunkhouse Hotel-Madras.

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Designing a building with children in mind demands a different touch than most commercial architecture projects.

It requires the careful use of color and light to create spaces that encourage learning and collaborative play. And in the case of Portland Community College’s new child development center on its Rock Creek campus, there also is a strong desire to connect the spaces inside with those outdoors.

“Lighting is a big thing,” said project lead Allyson Oar, an architect with Scott | Edwards Architecture. “We want children to feel connected, not just to the teacher and the inside, but to the outside as well.”

General contractor Kirby Nagelhout Construction Co. of Bend broke ground earlier this month on the 7,800-square-foot facility. It is a new ground-up building with a $7 million bond-funded budget intended to serve as many as 67 children of PCC students and staff. It will have three pre-kindergarten classrooms and an infant classroom, as well as a multi-purpose room that can be opened to the outside via a vertical door.

“We thought a lot about color and how it can help foster a soothing environment for children to learn in,” Oar said. “So, we’re using mostly blues and greens. We wanted to have a connection with this idea that children are connecting with the environment outside, so we felt that pastel blues and greens would give a more natural feeling and a calmer environment.”

To further this idea, nature-based play elements such as logs, sand and a rolling landscape are being used in the facility’s outdoor play area.

Another notable design aspect on the building’s exterior involves the use of standing seam metal and various woods to reflect the appearance of other buildings on the Rock Creek Campus. It also is being constructed to achieve Earth Advantage Certification (EAC) Gold for sustainability.

“It’s actually very similar, but a bit more affordable for clients to get the certification,” Oar said. “LEED can be time consuming and cumbersome for the design team and costly for the client, so some of the smaller certification systems can be more appealing. They push the contractors and designers to push for similar efficiencies at a lower cost.”

Zahava Jones, project manager for PCC, agreed.

“LEED has really been on the forefront, but now there are other programs that are great for smaller projects,” Jones said. “Energy is a big hog, so if you have good systems in place and use healthy materials and the siding is done appropriately to maximize the sunlight, it’s great that there are other programs out there that can help achieve the same goal.”

Jones noted the project will also include a rooftop solar array, but its size and composition have yet to be determined.

Many of the materials used in the project also required careful consideration, Oar said.

“It goes hand in hand with sustainability,” she said. “With little kids crawling around on the ground, we wanted floor surfaces that aren’t toxic; we wanted everything to be as natural and resilient as possible.”

That goal extended from the linoleum used to line the floors to making sure only paints containing no volatile organic compounds were used.

In the end, the project, which is scheduled for completion by spring 2019, is about improving the student experience, according to Jones.

“It’s just really important to know that this is a student service,” she said. “Our goal at PCC is to help students achieve success and give them the best chance to complete their degree or certificate program, so having this on campus will benefit the students greatly.”

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has developed a fast-growing reputation nationally for his groundbreaking work tying together the role of architecture in creating the impoverished urban environments that inspired the creation of hip-hop music and culture. Ford presented his lecture Thursday at an and presentation at the Ziba auditorium in Northwest Portland and also hosted his popular Hip Hop Architecture Camp for middle school students all week at Benson Polytechnic High School. This photo gallery shows a few scenes from both the camp and lecture.

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