An adaptive reuse project that combined a pair of Northwest Portland industrial buildings into a single creative office campus took top honors at the Portland Architecture Awards ceremony hosted by AIA Oregon last month.

earned LEVER Architecture an Honor Award for what judges described as a “rather sublime conception of how design might better relate to ecology in this century.” The project, completed earlier this year for Langley Investment Partners, involved stripping a pair of 1940s-era heavy-timber buildings down to their structural elements before rebuilding them into an open-office building with an industrial aesthetic respectful of the site’s heritage.

Old-growth timber posts, beams and joists were refurbished and left exposed, and mezzanines were installed in both buildings. New banks of clerestory windows provide natural daylighting. The buildings were clad in weathering steel and joined by a glass-enclosed breezeway that serves as a main entrance and reception area.

In their judging notes, Quebec-based competition jurors Cécile Combelle of Atelier Barda and Kiel Moe of McGill University lauded the building as an example of a design ethos that “… carefully considers and interprets what already exists in order to nudge and extend the life of our building environments.” The jury also included Kim Pariseau of Quebec-based Appareil Architecture.

Judges bestowed four Merit Awards, including two upon Hacker: one for a private residence in Bend, and another for Berwick Hall, a building that provides music rehearsal/performance space and offices for the Oregon Bach Festival on the University of Oregon campus in Eugene.

Merit Awards also went to Architecture Building Culture for Jarrett Street 12, a modular affordable housing project containing 12 for-sale units in North Portland, and Opsis Architecture for the Navigation Center shelter project in the Pearl District.

Citation Award winners included Silica by William/Kaven Architecture, the Oregon Conservation Center by LEVER Architecture, OHSU Center for Health and Healing – Building 2 by ZGF Architects, and Howard Residence by Architecture Building Culture. Works Progress Architecture‘s 7 SE Stark won a Citation Award as an unbuilt project.

In addition to the judged entries, two projects were honored for meeting or exceeding 2030 Challenge standards for carbon neutrality. Those honors were based on energy data from project submissions and with assistance from BetterBricks and the University of Oregon School of Architecture’s Energy Studies in Buildings Lab.

Tillamook Row, designed by Green Hammer director of design Erica Dunn, won a 2030 Award. Also, Hennebery Eddy Architects‘ Great Smoky Mountains Institute second campus in Townsend, Tennessee, won one for an unbuilt project.

Three design professionals were recognized for contributions to the community and the profession. John Reynolds, professor of architecture emeritus at the University of Oregon, was named the AIA Portland President’s Award winner; Carin Carlson, an associate with Hennebery Eddy Architects, was given the Young Architect Award; and Whitney Ranson, a designer with SRG Partnership, was honored with the Emerging Professional Award.

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