Works Partnership Architecture was formed in 2005 by Carrie Strickland and William Neburka.  In the decade since opening its doors, the small but vibrant firm has garnered 31 awards and citations of merit, including 24 from the American Institute of Architects.

In addition to its recognition and awards, the firm last year found itself and its work on the pages of several local and regional design and business magazines.

MARK magazine featured Works Partnership Architecture projects twice in 2014. One mention highlighted the Overton 19 residential block of eight adaptable units that was completed in 2014. The project features a facade that forms a veil of “trees” to create both a sense of openness and privacy. The other focused on the firm’s design for 33rd and Division, an 8000-square-foot, mixed-use building with “punch-outs” that form small interior courtyards and exterior voids that let in light and create a more open feel to most of the spaces in the building.

GRAY magazine, a regional publication dedicated to covering the design arts in the Pacific Northwest, featured a profile on Strickland and a full spread on Block 75, a highly visible project that is part of ongoing redevelopment of the area at the east end of the Burnside Bridge in Portland. The first phase of the Block 75 project is to be a 130,000-square-foot concrete structure that will synthesize commercial and residential communities. The magazine applauded Works Partnership Architecture’s innovative design approach that will create a building that will be visually impressive and spatially functional, yet still very unique in its surroundings. Ground was recently broken, and the project will continue through this year.

The firm also garnered three awards from the Portland AIA chapter in 2014 for 33rd & Division, Overton 19 and the Bowstring Truss house. The latter is a former cereal warehouse with holes punched through the ceiling, large but airy roof truss members installed and integrated into the overall aesthetic of the interior.

With several projects ongoing, it’s a good bet that the region will see Works Partnership Architecture continue its winning ways in 2015 and beyond.

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Work is wrapping up on a project started last year by the Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability to explore ways to leverage investment and maximize employment opportunities in Portland’s Central Eastside Industrial District and Brooklyn neighborhood.

Eden Dabbs, a spokeswoman for the BPS, said the Southeast Quadrant Plan’s Stakeholder Advisory Committee in January will present to the planning commission its recommendations for zoning changes in the inner east side. A public hearing will take place in March, and the commission will vote in April whether to recommend the proposed changes to Portland City Council, Dabbs said.

“The advisory committee was trying to address what the community wanted,” she said. “They wanted to come up with a hybrid plan that pleased as many people as possible.”

Portland’s inner east side – from the waterfront east to 12th Avenue and north of Powell Boulevard to the Banfield Expressway – has become one of the city’s fastest developing areas. The advisory committee met in early September and again in early October to come up with preliminary land use decisions based on input gathered over the past year from a wide range of individuals and organizations that could be affected, said Troy Doss, Southeast Quadrant Plan project manager.

“There’s going to be a demand for 9,000 new jobs in this area in the next 20 years,” he said. “Our job is to figure out how to fix things to allow for this growth.”

Doss explained that the area the advisory committee is reviewing is zoned mostly for general industrial use or for mixed development much like the Pearl District.

The proposed changes would allow new construction for industrial purposes and expand the amount of square feet allowed for retail sales.

Some business owners in the area are worried about potential changes, Doss said.

“The notion of what an ‘industrial sanctuary’ means was developed in the ’70s and ’80s when industry looked different,” he said. “We’re not seeing traditional industrial wanting to be in that area as much anymore. We’re seeing a new, different type of industry.”

Doss said that many of the businesses interested in the area are software companies, design firms and light industrial firms such as bicycle parts manufacturers.

“We need to be nimble as a district – we need to allow for a framework that can adapt to changes in industry types, production and employment that we might not even see coming right now,” said Carrie Strickland, co-founder of Works Partnership Architecture. “For someone that has done a lot of work with businesses that fit into the ‘industrial office’ category, I think that we need to make sure that the outcomes support the shift in what constitutes production space, and employment has to continue to be the main focus of the district.”

Strickland, an advisory committee member, said she’s encouraged by the progress the group has made.

“I think the greatest challenge is making sure that folks are thinking about the future and what’s best for the district as a whole, not just their personal interests,” she said.

The committee also is deciding what to do with a 17-acre plot of waterfront land – owned by OMSI – slightly north of the Tilikum Crossing and underneath the Marquam Bridge. Museum officials want the land rezoned to allow housing.

“(OMSI officials) think they need to have residential there, but I adamantly disagree,” Doss said. “Jerry Johnson from Johnson Economics ran the numbers for us to compare what OMSI proposes with what we propose. There’s just not enough land to create a sense of place.”

Doss said that with so much multifamily construction under way, by the time zoning changes take effect, demand won’t be as high and no developer will want to build.

“I say, why zone for a moment in time?” he said.

According to preliminary decisions made by the advisory committee, the land where OMSI wants to build would stay EX, or mixed use, but not allow residential or big-box retail.

Strickland said she’s unsure whether housing on OMSI’s land is a good idea, but said she’s open to it.

“I think it’s still up in the air about whether housing is the key to unlocking the potential of that area,” she said. “The light rail station will obviously bring a different energy to the south end of the Central Eastside. If there are ways to mend potential conflicts between residents and businesses and the train – I don’t see why we couldn’t allow housing to play a role in that area developing.”

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Design Week Portland, set to kick off Saturday, includes a slew of architecture-related activities and events.

The festival’s , featuring interactive installations by creative agency SET, will take place Saturday from 7 to 11 p.m. at Staver Locomotive, 2537 N.W. 29th Ave. in Portland. This will be followed by a series of events related to all aspects of design and hosted by a variety of organizations through Oct. 11.

The American Institute of Architects‘ Portland chapter is among the participants in the festival, and has several activities planned, AIA Portland Executive Director Robert Hoffman said. One is a film series exploring issues related to urban density and infill development taking place Oct. 6-9 starting at 6 p.m. at the Center for Architecture, 403 N.W. 11th Ave. in Portland. The AIA chapter also will host a self-guided tour of eight contemporary Portland homes on Oct. 11 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

During the festival, the winners of a design contest to create patio seating on parking spots in front of the Center for Architecture will be on display. The two winning Street Seats designed by Hennebery Eddy Architects and Scott | Edwards Architecture were installed this week in preparation for the festival, Hoffman said.

Inside the center during Design Week, visitors will be invited to vote for their favorite projects vying for the Citizens’ Medal for Design Excellence as part of the 2014 AIA Portland Design Awards taking place Nov. 7, he said.

The Confluence Project, a series of public art installations at significant points along the Columbia River, and Project Cityscope, a nonprofit that aims to bring the design community and the general public together, will host architecture-related events during Design Week Portland. An interpretive walk to the Confluence Project’s will take place on Sunday from 10 a.m. to noon. The project at the confluence of the Columbia and Sandy rivers was designed by renowned architect Maya Lin.

Works Partnership Architecture principal Carrie Strickland and Rick Potestio of Potestio Studio will participate in an Oct. 8 Project Cityscope design presentation. The event will start at 7 p.m. at Rontoms, 600 E. Burnside St. in Portland.

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When Carrie Strickland and her business partner William Neburka opened Works Partnership Architecture, according to Architecture Magazine, they wrote down their dream number of employees: 15. Nine years later, the firm has beat that number by one, and has a growing list of awards and honors to its name.

During her 16 years in the design industry, Strickland has developed an extensive background in adaptive reuse and speculative development that has helped her firm carve a place for itself in Portland’s architecture scene.

The firm has received numerous design awards from the Oregon and Seattle chapters of the American Institute of Architects, and in 2008 was named a “Rising Star” as part of the Portland Spaces Roots Awards.

Strickland herself is a common face in the local industry. She has served as a visiting professor at both the University of Portland and Portland State University. She has been involved in the board of directors for the Portland chapter of the AIA, and served as active chairwoman of the annual Portland Architecture and Design Festival.

In January of this year, she was profiled by Architecture Magazine as one of its “Women on the Rise.” She also has served recently as a discussion panelist for a session during the AIA Oregon Design Conference.

Strickland’s experience starting an architecture firm served her well when she helped co-found Project Cityscope, which brings the design community and the public together to spark meaningful conversations about design via events and urban installations.

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When Petros Jarra and his wife Ainalem Sultessa moved to the U.S. from Ethiopia in 1974, they had no idea it would be permanent. But six years later, after they completed their studies, civil war made a return too dangerous.

Jarra and Sultessa changed their plans and opened Jarra’s Ethiopian Restaurant in Portland. It later moved to the Buckman neighborhood‘s southern edge.

“We wanted to do some business for ourselves,” Sultessa said. “(We thought) ‘We have this food that we can make that’s not familiar here. So we invited some friends to show them, and see if they like this food – and they did. So that gave us the idea to open up a very small place.”

However, after 31 years of service, Jarra and Sultessa are ready for another change. The restaurant will close, and the existing 4,100-square-foot building at 1435 S.E. Hawthorne Blvd. will be razed.

Sultessa and Works Partnership Architecture last week presented plans to the Buckman Community Association for redevelopment of the property as a four-story, 30-unit mixed-use building – the Langano Apartments, named after a bar on the ground floor. When fully developed, the 9,500-square-foot site will include 2,800 square feet of retail space and 13 surface parking stalls.

Works Partnership Architecture and Yorke & Curtis General Contractors are walking Jarra and Sultessa through the development process.

The Langano, unlike most buildings in the area, won’t have a traditional square box frame. Instead, it will have three house-shaped masses with pitched roofs that appear to teeter over the ground floor.

Large, upper-story windows on the Southeast Hawthorne face will continue the asymmetrical theme, while the L-shaped floor plan will be canted inward at an acute angle. That feature may draw some added interest in the facade, but its main purpose is to open a south-facing hallway to additional sunlight.

During the meeting last week, one neighbor asked if there were other buildings around town that might offer clues as to what the Langano would look like when finished. Works Partnership Architecture principal Carrie Strickland couldn’t think of any examples – even in the firm’s portfolio.

“We’re not a firm that repeats a lot of our work,” she said.

Like many new urban apartment projects, the Langano has elicited concerns about its potential impact on parking. One neighbor believes the development, despite a parking ratio of 0.44 stalls per unit, would cause a “big mess” because little street parking exists in the area.

However, with only 30 units, the Langano isn’t required by city code to provide parking. Strickland said the group chose to include it because it not only increases livability, but also investment value.

“For Aina and Petro this is the next big thing that they’re going to be doing for maybe the rest of their lives,” she said. “So we’re setting up the building so that it can last an apartment market that may soften at some point, and setting up the building for the long haul.”

The Langano will include six studios, 18 one-bedroom units, and six two-bedroom units in an effort to attract a broad spectrum of renters. Strickland said many of those units will rent for less than $1,000, with studios starting at $850. The goal is to create a sustainable product.

“It’s all part of making sure this is a long-term investment project,” she said. “We’re not filling it up and selling it as soon as it gets stabilized.”

Jarra and Sultessa plan to retain ownership of the development, but hire a management company to look after it. The plan is to begin demolition by June 15, and finish development by March 2015. The group declined to share financial details of the project.

A Buckman Community Association board member, Susan Lindsay, said at last week’s meeting that she was pleased the Langano will include not only parking, but also ground-floor commercial space – details that other developers in the area have often skirted. She offered appreciation for the couple’s longtime commitment to the neighborhood.

“It’s rare that we get to have a long-term Buckman business owner redeveloping and continuing to manage their property,” she said. “You are our neighbor and you’ve been a part of our neighborhood much longer than many people that are now a part of our neighborhood, and I’m very happy you’re going to continue to be a part of our neighborhood.”

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