Portland architect Chandra Robinson, known for designing a series of equity-focused projects, has struck out on her own.

Robinson recently left LEVER Architecture to start �����dz����ٴDz���á�ھ�����. The time had come for her to start her own firm, she said.

“It just felt like I could generate more work for myself, and I could take it in a different direction and operate differently,” she said.

Robinson served for seven years at LEVER — most of that time as a principal, a promotion she earned after helping the firm gain new work as projects focused on racial and social equity proliferated in Portland.

Four projects on which Robinson led design opened last year: two Multnomah County library branches in North Portland and Albina, in the center of Portland’s Black community; and two affordable housing projects — the 94-unit Albina One project for Albina Vision Trust, and the 187-unit T. Joyce Phillips (formerly known as Dekum Court) project for Home Forward in Concordia.

“There are so many different types of projects that I’ve worked on that I’m excited about,” she said. “My favorite things are ones that actually have an impact in the place where they’re built, no matter what sort of project they are.”

Robinson said she’s interested in designing libraries, affordable housing buildings, cultural institutions and community centers.

Robinson has also worked extensively with mass timber on several projects, including the First Tech Credit Union headquarters in Hillsboro and the Meyer Memorial Trust headquarters in North Portland. Mass timber is also a focal design element in the 26,000-square-foot Williams and Russell business hub, which she’s designing in partnership with LEVER and which will offer affordable office space and retail space on the long-vacant Hill Block property.

Robinson is also designing, with LEVER, the new Jefferson High School.

Former colleagues said Robinson has pushed forward local sourcing, working with tribal and community groups, and reaching out to disadvantaged, minority-, woman-, emerging small business and service-disabled veteran owned (DMWESB) companies.

“She’s an absolutely amazing person,” said Jonathan Heppner, a LEVER principal who first worked with Robinson at the firm now known as Works Architecture and then later at LEVER. “She is extremely committed to the local community. Her perspective brings a new lens to the way architecture can be practiced in Portland.”

Michelle Vo, a Hennebery Eddy Architects principal, said Robinson excelled at considering how buildings would be used.

“In my experience with��Chandra, I observed her to be very interested in understanding the needs expressed by stakeholders in her projects,” Vo stated in an email. “She demonstrated a commitment to tailoring design responses that addressed specific user requirements, whether it was through��architecture��or more of an artistic installation in the space.”

Robinson came somewhat late to architecture, starting at the Boston Architectural College at age 31. She later returned to the Portland area, where she had grown up in Rockwood.

Robinson’s professional experience in Portland has been peripatetic: She first joined Works Progress Architecture in 2010 before stints at Hennebery Eddy Architects and Hacker. The latter firm loaned Robinson to LEVER, with which she worked on the Meyer Memorial Trust headquarters.

It’s not unusual for architecture firms to let their employees work for other designers, Robinson said.

“We do that in Portland,” she said. “If projects are delayed or people need staff, it’s a good way to staff up your projects without having to vet and interview people, or if you are slow, not having to lose your employees.”

Robinson became invested in the Meyer Memorial Trust project and decided to stay at LEVER, where she gained experience working with mass timber and other advanced building materials.

Now, she’s starting afresh with Estudio �����dz����ٴDz���á�ھ�����, doing business as �����dz����ٴDz���á�ھ�����. The name reflects the English word “chromatography” and the Spanish translation, “cromatografía.” She retained the “h” in part because of her first name.

“I just really like the idea of having something that’s mixed up, and then being able to identify separate elements,” she said.

At �����dz����ٴDz���á�ھ�����, Robinson wants to work with interesting partners. She’s designing a farm-and-garden project in Gresham for the Feed’em Freedom Foundation with Anyeley Hallova’s development firm, �����é, that is focused on food sovereignty in the Black community. Robinson is working on the design with James Gantz, a former ZGF Architects principal who recently returned to Portland after a stint in Washington, D.C. For the new Jefferson High School, with design led by LEVER and Bora Architecture & Interiors, she is working on placemaking alongside Colloqate Design.

Robinson is pursuing another, still-confidential project with �����é, which is also the developer of the Williams and Russell business hub.

Robinson said she’s not looking for a business partner to join �����dz����ٴDz���á�ھ�����.

“I want it to be small because I want to collaborate with other small firms, right?” she said. “I want to work with other solo practitioners. I want to hire people on contracts where maybe the mix is different, the people who are working on different projects is different, and we’re not tied into a structure.”

Robinson identifies as a Black Latina. She quickly gained work as clients and developers sought to diversify their project teams in Portland. But one thing she does not want to do is be anybody’s token minority representation.

“What I’m not going to do is partner with a company that doesn’t have any diversity in their own firm — doesn’t have any Black leadership or women in leadership, and they’re trying to partner with someone who represents that so they can get a job,” she said. “I’m not doing that.”

Robinson does substantial volunteer work in the community for groups such as Architects Without Borders and Oregon Black Pioneers. She currently serves as chairwoman of the Portland Design Commission, which evaluates major building proposals.

She recently purchased a house in Netarts. She commutes into Portland for meetings and events when necessary, often using space at LEVER and staying with her mother in St. Johns.

Robinson hopes to do interesting work at �����dz����ٴDz���á�ھ�����, on her own terms.

“People are many things,” she said. “You’re not just one thing. But you also have to focus to get somewhere.”

The post Equity-focused architect launches �����dz����ٴDz���á�ھ����� appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

From its offices in Portland and Los Angeles, LEVER Architecture is focused on how it can leverage the specific qualities of a place, including climate, access to materials, community and the resources of specific sites, to deliver design excellence.

LEVER develops and tests next-generation building assemblies and sustainable tools through a research effort supported by more than $3 million in grant funding. Its approach to environmentally conscious design links building performance to spatial experience, and its projects often incorporate sustainable elements such as gardens, green roofs and solar arrays.

LEVER embraces the AIA 2030 Commitment for reaching net zero emissions and it has completed several LEED-certified Platinum and Gold buildings. It has designed 10 mass timber structures and more than 40 research studies as advocates for responsible forestry and sustainable wood construction.

Its studies involve a full-scale test of a 10-story resilient wood rocking wall on an earthquake simulator, and the development of a tool that will allow the AEC industry and the public to understand the land management practices behind wood products.

LEVER’s equity work includes designing libraries, schools and affordable housing that aim to repair social injustice and unlock opportunities for communities of color and other historically marginalized groups.

The post LEVER Architecture appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

A 335,000-square-foot redevelopment of Jefferson High School‘s buildings and campus in the Piedmont Conservation District is in the works.

The Portland Historic Landmarks Commission got its third look Monday on a proposal for alterations for the school at 5210 N. Kerby Ave.

The school is an approximately 13.56-acre site. The proposal includes the retention of the 1909 portion of the existing building and redevelopment of the remaining site.

“The proposal is essentially complete demolition and alteration of a number of the amenities on the site, including a number of the sports fields and parking and buildings, plazas and so on,” said Art Graves, a BDS staffer.

The existing track and field are to remain at their current location.

The project team includes Portland Public Schools, LEVER Architecture, Bora Architecture & Interiors, PLACE, and Colloqate Design of New Orleans.

Monday’s meeting was the project’s final design advice hearing meant to provide the project team with guidance. The first design advice hearing was held in November 2022, with a second hearing held in May.

The proposed restoration of the 1909 building has been scaled back from what was shown in previous design advice hearings due to project pricing issues and damaged historic materials that are not reparable, a commission memo states. The new building has been reduced to two stories and is shrunk on the south side, giving more space to athletic fields. The new building will relate to the 1909 building through material use with red brick, associated datums, window groupings and additional building symmetry.

Previously, the project was proposing a phased construction. The design has been reduced to be completed in one phase. Tennis courts have been added to the site, taking the place of some surface parking. A berm in front of the 1909 building will be removed to create a new public plaza.

Priorities for the 1909 renovation include seismic upgrades; replacing windows; repairing brick and mortar; repairing the roof; removing berms around the site; removing stairs on the north, east and west entries; establishing the main entry at the front entrance; and recreating a central hipped roof. Options for renovation include refurbishment only, adding a central hipped roof or adding a central hipped roof and articulation, depending on the budget.

The project team is proposing to demolish the 1928 gym, which sits in the middle of the school, as it conflicts with the new theater and gymnasium. The floor levels of the building do not match with the planned theater or new gymnasium, creating accessibility issues.

“It also needs to be seismically upgraded,” said Chandra Robinson, principal at LEVER Architecture, adding that it would be a big cost.

The new building will include the theater and gymnasium. The updated design includes more glazing with window groupings that relate better to the 1909 building, the addition of canopies and material changes at the entries with brick and metal panels, and activating the streetscape with landscape.

The east and west ground-level frontages of the new building include additional pedestrian treatments when compared to previous DAR schemes: landscaping, clear glazing and extended canopies. However, due to interior programming, large blank walls at the street level persist. Commissioners agreed that the ground level could use more fine tuning. Moreland suggested adding some greenery or artwork, such as a mural. Commission Chair Andrew Smith asked about other ways to create transparency on the ground floor other than more windows, such as a bay with a storefront advertising the shows happenings in the theater. The design team said they are looking into this.

“Keep pursuing those other ways to break up a little bit of the monotony of the façades,” Smith said. “With that said, I think the current design direction of the addition, I find it to be incredibly compatible with the 1909 building.”

Modifications and adjustments include exceeding the height requirement of 75 feet to 82 feet for the 1909 building, exceeding the minimum setback requirement of a 1-foot setback for each 2 feet of building height across from the adjacent residential on the North Kerby and North Commercial frontages (changing from 23 feet to 29 feet, 8 inches on North Kerby Avenue and from 28 feet to 32 feet on North Commercial Avenue), to raise the fence height from 8 feet to 10 feet for the athletic fields, an adjustment to reduce bike stalls from 355 to 200, and a superblock modification to provide the required plaza area but exceed the 3-to-1 ratio for the plaza area to allow connectivity from North Kerby Avenue to North Commercial Avenue.

The Portland Bureau of Development Services values the project at $21 million.

The team plans to submit a Type II Historic Resource Review application in January.

The post Modernization in store for Portland school appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

Portland State University’s design for a new four-story School of Art + Design building has been�� unanimously approved by the Portland Design Commission.

The building, located at 1914 SW Park Ave., is a four-story structure with a two-story wing to the south. The project will bring PSU‘s art and design department into one building. Currently, the school operates at various campus sites. It is a project the school has been working on since 2014.

The project had a previous design advice request meeting in January.

The building is on a full block in the Central City Plan District and consists of 100,000 square feet of classrooms, studios, offices, galleries and supporting spaces. At the ground level, the design includes the main entry and art and design galleries on Broadway Avenue facing east, a front porch on the “Green Loop” on College Street facing north, a courtyard for events and display on Park Avenue facing west, and visual links to the Native American Student and Community Center on Jackson Street facing south. The proposal also includes development of the vacated portion of SW College Street into a linear park to accommodate the future Green Loop. Loading and service spaces are located on Jackson mid-block.

LEVER Architecture designed the project for PSU.

Thomas Robinson, founder and principal at LEVER Architecture, said this is an important site on the South Park Blocks.

“We see this project as a connector, almost as a bridge, where we’re really bringing all of the school of arts together,” Robinson said.

The design includes an outdoor work yard, lecture hall and events space, and galleries. The work yard was specifically requested by the students, Robinson said. It will have a secure gate on one side and can be opened for events or larger gatherings. The gate will be transparent whether it is closed or not and will be green, the same color as the building.

The design includes a mass timber building, which the team is working on with Timberlab. The exterior of the building will be green. The specific shade is yet to be determined by the design team. The commission expressed confidence that the design team will determine the right green shade.

Building materials include cross-laminated timber, profiled and flat metal panels, aluminum curtain wall system, aluminum windows and painted steel canopies. The gates at the courtyard will be painted steel frames with perforated infill panels. Curved corners at opaque areas of the facade lend variation to the vertically ribbed exterior cladding and are expressed at interior student commons spaces as curved walls and benches, a BDS staff report states.

A modification was proposed to increase the maximum allowed setbacks on SW Jackson Street from 12 feet for 75 percent of the block to 17 feet setback for 51 percent of block. Two adjustments were proposed as well: to allow loading off SW Jackson Street, which is considered a Major City Bikeway; and to provide one Modified A loading space rather than the required two spaces.

The commission supported the modification and adjustments.

Commission members were in support of the massing of the building, which scales down to the two-story wing, complementing the lower height of the adjacent Native American Student and Community Center.

The project is valued at about $21.2 million, according to BDS.

Swinerton is scheduled to break ground on construction next year. A grand opening is planned for 2026.

The post PSU’s new art + design building gets green light appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

Each year, the 91��Ƶ editorial staff compiles a list of the contractors, engineers and architects that are shaping skylines and redefining the industry through their outstanding work. This year’s Power Lists features 20 companies that are leading the AEC industry into 2023 (in no particular order).

GBD Architects

GBD Architects is behind some of Portland’s most recent mega-projects. Highlights include Block 216, a 35-story giant rising out of the city’s downtown; the eight-acre RiverPlace master plan development near the South Waterfront District; and the 30-story RiverPlace tower. The firm’s most recent large-scale work is a proposed 22-story tower in the Pearl District.

Andersen Construction

Andersen Construction has served as the contractor for several of Portland’s recent tall multifamily developments. Projects include Alta Art Tower, a 21-story, 314-unit mixed-use tower; the Sutton (previously “Fremont Place”), a 17-story apartment building; and the Alamo Manhattan Blocks that include a 23-story mixed-use tower and a six-story mixed-use building.

LEVER Architecture

LEVER Architecture is one of Portland’s leading architecture firms in mass timber with projects such as Albina Yard and Redfox Commons. Now it is turning this early innovation into a maturing excellence. The firm hit a significant milestone in 2022 when Portland’s Design Commission approved Sandy Pine, a planned 12-story mass-timber tower. If built, Sandy Pine will be the city’s tallest timber development.

ZGF Architects

As the largest architecture firm in Portland, ZGF Architects has taken on some of the city’s most high-profile projects. Recent highlights include the ongoing $1.95 billion Portland International Airport Main Terminal Core project that features a nine-acre timber roof as well as the PAE Living Building – poised to be the world’s largest commercial living building.

Carleton Hart Architecture

Carleton Hart Architecture is one of Portland’s most prominent firms for designing affordable housing developments. It is a cornerstone of the firm’s mission-driven focus. Projects in recent years have included Nesika Illahee, Mamook Tokatee and Red Rock Creek Commons. One of the firm’s most recent endeavors consists of the complete renovation of the Joyce Hotel in downtown Portland into permanent supportive housing.

PAE Engineers

PAE Engineers is the “brain” behind the recently completed PAE Living Building, which is slated to be the world’s largest living commercial building. Sustainable systems designed by PAE allow the four-story building in Portland to be primarily independent of any city systems. PAE also provided mechanical, electrical, fire protection and technology system design and engineering for the University of Oregon’s modernized Hayward Field, which recently hosted the World Track and Field Championships.

KPFF

KPFF is the engineering firm behind some of Oregon’s largest commercial projects – and more. Work includes Block 216, Oregon State University’s Gladys Valley Marine Studies Building (91��Ƶ Project of the Year 2021), Portland International Airport’s (PDX) Concourse E extension, and the PAE Living Building.

Howard S. Wright

Howard S. Wright is the general contractor behind the largest building in Portland since the U.S. Bancorp Tower – Block 216. At 844,117 square feet, the project will likely become the largest Portland building of its era. It will house 158,000 square feet of office space, a five-star Ritz-Carlton hotel with 215 rooms, and 138 residences.

Walsh ��DzԲ��ٰ��ܳ��پ��Dz���

Walsh Construction is the general contractor for many sustainable and complex projects and myriad affordable housing developments. The contractor recently constructed the four-story PAE Living Building, which required that every item be thoroughly researched and approved against a list containing the “worst in class” materials, chemicals and elements concerning human health and the ecosystem. More than 2,700 materials were vetted for the project.

LMC Construction��

Affordable housing has become a cornerstone of the Portland-metro development market. Many general contractors tackle such projects, but LMC Construction is behind most. More than two-thirds of the contractors’ work is building affordable homes. Projects include Red Rock Creek Commons, Nesika Illahee and Cathedral Village Apartments.

Hoffman Skanska JV

Hoffman-Skanska is the joint venture contractor formed to partly undertake the $2 billion modernization of Portland International Airport. At the heart of this endeavor is the $1.95 billion main terminal project that involves a new nine-acre, mostly cross-laminated-timber roof structure. The entire roof will weigh about 18 million pounds. A self-propelled modular transporter capable of carrying a submarine is being used to move each section into position. Officials anticipate the roof being fully installed soon and the entire terminal updated in 2025.

Kiewit

Kiewit Corp. is known for tackling projects that would be described as large, massive, and complex. All three terms represent the general contractor’s current undertaking with the Abernethy Bridge project that spans the Willamette River. The venture involves drilling more than 200 feet into the earth below the water to place new bridge foundations capable of withstanding a significant seismic event. It is the first major interstate freeway construction project in Oregon in nearly 45 years.

TVA Architects

TVA Architects is one of Oregon’s most high-profile firms, and few others have placed as large a stamp on the state. Projects include Park Avenue West, Fox Tower, and the University of Oregon’s basketball palace – Matthew Knight Arena. Most recently, the firm designed the Sutton (previously called “Fremont Tower”) – a 17-story residential tower under construction on the banks of the Willamette River.

R&H Construction

R&H Construction is building some of Portland’s largest multifamily developments. Projects include Freewell, Saltwood South and Tiller Terrace – a six-story, a 214-unit development in the Goose Hollow neighborhood. Recently, R&H broke ground on Splash Apartments – the first phase of the five-acre Pop Blocks development.

David Evans Enterprises

Oregon’s largest engineering firm, David Evans and Associates, has worked on a wide range of notable projects in the state. Recent highlights include the Newberg-Dundee Bypass, in which the firm designed two new bridges and seven support structures. DEA’s work on the Oneonta Tunnel rehabilitation project also earned . The 2017 Eagle Creek Fire severely damaged the tunnel and rendered it unusable until DEA’s work allowed it to reopen in spring 2021.

Harper Houf Peterson Righellis

Regarding transportation infrastructure improvements in Oregon, Harper Houf Peterson Righellis is one of the key players. The firm is behind the Clackamas Regional Center improvements, which involved widening a bridge that spans Interstate 205 at Sunnyside Road, as well as the Willamette Falls Drive streetscape improvements project that topped the transportation category for the 2022 ACEC Oregon Engineering Excellence Awards.

��Mortenson��

Mortenson is a general contractor with a long reputation in Oregon for building challenging and unique projects. Recently, the contractor has undertaken a significant renovation of the Multnomah County Behavioral Health Resource Center – a 116-year-old building in downtown Portland.

SERA Architects

SERA Architects has worked on some of Portland’s largest multifamily developments in recent years. Projects include Freewell, the Saltwoods, Tiller Terrace and more. Most recently, SERA drew up Slabtown Savier, a two-building multifamily project under construction in Northwest Portland.

BORA Architects

BORA Architects is behind several notable projects in Oregon, including the Cosmopolitan – a 28-story residential tower in Portland’s Pearl District and the Phil and Penny Knight Campus for Accelerating Scientific Impact on the University of Oregon’s Eugene campus. One of the firm’s most recent undertakings is the modernization of Lincoln High School in Portland; It is one of the first high-rise schools west of the Mississippi River.

Swinerton��

Swinerton is a leading general contractor for mass-timber innovation in Oregon. Recent projects include the Wingspan Event and Conference Center in Hillsboro, Steeplejack Brewing in Portland, and Oregon State University-Cascades’ Edward J. Ray Hall in Bend.

Clarification: An earlier version of this story implied an incorrect association for Swinerton to the Beaverton Public Safety Center project. Swinerton was the mass-timber subcontractor for the project.

The post 91��Ƶ Power List 2023 appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

Portland State University has selected LEVER Architecture to design a new $77 million home for the School of Art + Design.

The building will be located along the South Park Blocks between College and Jackson streets. It will have approximately 80,000 square feet of classrooms, studios for sculpture, printmaking, textile arts, photography and videography, and graphic design labs.

Oregon legislators in 2021 approved $50 million for the project and PSU is seeking $27 million more. So far, $1.84 million in philanthropic support has been committed to the project.

LEVER Architecture was one of 11 firms vying for the project. The selection process included meetings with faculty as well as listening sessions with students.

“Portland State is thrilled to be working with LEVER on this important new building for our campus,” PSU President Stephen Percy stated. “The new home for the School of Art + Design will serve as a beacon for the important role our creative community plays in the Portland region, and for the arts that add so much to the daily lives of our students and employees.”

The new building will bring the entire School of Art + Design under one roof; currently it operates at multiple sites on campus.

LEVER Architecture principal Chandra Robinson has a bachelor’s degree in geology and physics from PSU. During childhood she lived on the campus while her mother attended classes there.

“My experience at PSU was formative, instilling in me an appreciation not only for art, but a true love for Portland,” Robinson stated. “I loved the vibrant community of students at PSU, and working with today’s PSU community to create an arts and design center that serves as a new model for equity in the arts, and that uplifts the school and Portland is exactly the kind of project that motivates my work as an architect.”

Design work for the School of Art + Design building will begin this spring. Construction is slated to start in 2023, and the building is expected to open in fall 2025.

The post Portland firm chosen to design PSU building appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

Portland projects and firms were well-represented at the recent 2021 American Architecture Awards.

More than 130 buildings from a list of over 400 received the award, which recognizes the best new architecture designed and constructed by American architects and by international architects with offices in the United States. It is described as the nation’s highest public award for new architecture and urban planning.

The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design, along with The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies presented the awards.

Oregon’s winners are:

Affordable Housing: The Louisa Flowers

LRS Architects and LEVER Architecture designed the 12-story affordable, multifamily housing for Home Forward. The building was completed in 2019 and was constructed by O’Neill/Walsh Community builders. With 240 apartments available, The Louisa Flowers is the largest, single affordable housing building constructed in Portland in 50 years.

Institutional: Oregon Conservation Center

Designed by LEVER Architecture, the Oregon Conservation Center renovation and expansion in 2019 completely reimagined the building. The exterior was replaced with steel cladding, as well as Juniper wood cladding and cedar decks that were sustainably harvested from the Nature Conservancy’s conservation sites.

Restoration and Renovation: The Portland Building

Built in 1982 as city administrative offices, The Portland Building is an award-winning icon on the National Register of Historic Places. However, it faced structural problems and needed exterior and operational system repairs. DLR Group completed renovation and restoration of the 400,000-square-foot, 15-story building, which included new exterior cladding and a seismic upgrade.

Schools and Universities: The Phil and Penny Knight Campus for Accelerating Scientific Impact, University of Oregon

Ennead Architects, based in New York, designed the two L-shaped towers for the Phil and Penny Knight Campus for Accelerating Scientific Impact. The 166,000-square-foot structure is adorned with a glass curtain wall, while the inside uses cross-laminated timber in places as a connection to the surrounding environment. Bora Architecture & Interiors also worked as the architect of record for the project.

Private Homes:

• William Kaven Architecture – Royal
• Scott|Edwards Architecture – Slabtown 4

The post Oregon buildings, firms land on national awards list appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

A bold design for a 12-story, 271-unit residential building on Southeast Sandy Boulevard drew a largely positive initial reception from the Portland Design Commission on Thursday.

The podium and tower concept from developer SolTerra Capital Inc., with a design by LEVER Architecture, would be constructed from cross-laminated timber at 900 S.E. Sandy Blvd. The building would rise to 124 feet, just below the 125-foot height limit for the property with bonuses.

The project team plans to incorporate rent-restricted inclusionary housing units, Bureau of Development Services planner Staci Monroe said during Thursday’s design advice hearing.

SolTerra’s move to develop a large-scale residential building on Sandy Boulevard comes as developers increasingly target the thoroughfare with projects: Security Properties is tackling the Pop Blocks and Guerrilla Development is pursuing several small-scale commercial projects. The Troy Laundry building is located nearby.

LEVER on Thursday presented commissioners with early schematic drawings for SolTerra’s building. The V-shaped design takes advantage of the lines from Sandy Boulevard, which slices diagonally across east Portland’s street grid.

“Sandy was originally a Native American path that connects the Willamette and Columbia (rivers), and it breaks the grid of Portland,” said Thomas Robinson, founding principal at LEVER. “We think the building could reinforce that path with its shape and how it works in context.”

The design’s treatment of its context with Sandy Boulevard is excellent, Commission Chairwoman Julie Livingston said.

“This is thrilling,” she said. “It’s like a meta-response to guidelines.”

Commissioner Jessica Molinar questioned whether the project’s orientation could be changed to have the tower along Southeast Ninth Avenue. Robinson said LEVER considered many massing strategies before settling on the one presented Thursday.

“I feel pretty strongly that the orientation that we have is the right one, but I respect what you’re saying,” he said.

Commissioners praised LEVER’s overall approach.

“I think it’s a really strong design, and the neighborhood could handle a really strong design,” Commissioner Don Vallaster said. “Along Sandy, there’s been a tradition of that.”

The property, unusually, has five sides. It’s bounded by Southeast Pine, Sandy and Oak streets, and Southeast Ninth and 10th avenues. Because of the way Sandy Boulevard cuts diagonally, the site is just less than a full block, totaling 39,584 square feet.

The proposed building would loom large, at approximately 250,000 square feet, including 18,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space. A slight taper of the mass, as well as the shape, will reduce the apparent size, said Jonathan Heppner, a LEVER architect who was promoted to principal in June.

The program also calls for live-work units on the ground floor. Commissioner Sam Rodriguez said pedestrian activation will be critical for the project, and he warned that live-work units can be tough to pull off.

“They have to really be functional so they don’t become a dark space that’s not going to activate the ground floor,” he said.

The building would have two floors of underground parking, with at least 0.5 spaces per resident, Robinson said.

The post A timber wedge for Southeast Portland appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

The winning proposal to develop Portland’s Williams-Russell block calls for affordable rental and ownership housing, low-cost retail and office space, and a central plaza and garden.

How the project team gets there is perhaps as interesting as the development itself. The effort is led by Black-owned firms, including an experienced local developer who recently went out on her own.

The project team is largely composed of firms based in North and Northeast Portland. They will answer to a newly created nonprofit corporation made up of local community leaders, most of whom are Black.

All the $71 million project must do is offer restorative justice to a Black community torn apart by decades of displacement, gentrification and neglect, provide affordable housing in an increasingly expensive urban environment, and reactivate a keystone block that was left vacant for decades by the same organizations whose wrongs are now being righted.

Enter Anyeley Hallova, who is coordinating the project team.

Hallova, founder of Adre, is leading the project alongside two affordable housing developers – Community Development Partners and Portland Community Reinvestment Initiatives. Many of the principals involved have worked with each other before, but it is Hallova who must bring them all together.

According to her admirers, she’s uniquely suited to that task.

“She’s kind of masterful at coalescing disparate groups of people and galvanizing people around a vision,” said Tom Cody, managing partner at Project^. “She’s an incredibly good manager and coordinator, and she’ll bring those skills to something so collaborative and vision-based.”

Hallova founded Adre last year after 12 years as a partner at Project^. There, she earned a reputation for socially driven development projects, often with sustainable elements such as cross-laminated timber construction and strict energy performance goals. Hallova led development of the Meyer Memorial Trust headquarters project, and was part of the team that delivered the Oregon Conservation Center for The Nature Conservancy.

The Williams-Russell project, also known as the Hill Block development, is part of Hallova’s mission to develop projects that benefit the wider community.

“I specifically started this company with mission-oriented projects in mind,” she said.

Hallova is quick to deflect attention to other project team members – housing developers CDP and PCRI, Colas Construction, LEVER Architecture and Hood Design Studio. Only Hood Design Studio – a Black-owned landscape architecture firm in Oakland, California – is not based in North-Northeast Portland. That means most of the project team is within walking distance of each other’s offices, and they share a sense of place.

“This is also our community, too,” Hallova said.

The vision for the development is set out in the project team’s response to a request for proposals from Prosper Portland and the project working group. The Adre-led team is proposing affordable rental and ownership housing, office and commercial space, and a public plaza and garden.

The project team’s plan calls for a five-story, 94-unit multifamily building. Rents would be restricted to levels affordable at 30 percent to 80 percent of area median income. The project team is also looking into state funding for a possible early education center on the building’s ground floor.

Separately, 22 for-sale homes would be available in attached one-, two- and three-bedroom configurations. Homebuyers would be required to complete education and counseling.

The housing developers plan to seek out persons who were displaced by the construction of Interstate 5 and what is now a sprawling Legacy Health campus.

“The goal of the preference policy is really trying to reach out to the community that was impacted by the local policy,” said Jessica Woodruff, director of development for Community Development Partners.

Gap financing from the Portland Housing Bureau and affordable-housing tax credits are expected to help finance the project, Woodruff said.

The commercial building would comprise approximately 41,000 square feet, conceptualized as a “communal office,” Hallova said. The building would function as a business incubator, with workforce training also possibly included.

“What’s great about this project is that we can create a beautiful new building, Class-A office space, but figure out a way to have affordable rents,” Hallova said.

The aim is to “create an ecosystem” for emerging businesses – particularly those owned by people of color and other historically marginalized groups, Hallova said.

“We see this not just as a place for established businesses to be in, but for new businesses to incubate and grow,” she said.

A measure of restorative justice is being sought for the Black community in North-Northeast Portland, where 171 families – 74 percent of whom were Black – were displaced by urban renewal projects in the early 1970s. Those projects were led by the Portland Development Commission (now Prosper Portland) and Emanuel Hospital (now Legacy Health), according to a Prosper Portland history.

The Hill Block site held a commercial center for the surrounding Black community during the mid-20th century before it was condemned and demolished. In the decades since, the 1.7-acre block has sat empty.

In 2017, Prosper Portland officials rediscovered a 1980 deed provision requiring Legacy to develop the site. That kick-started discussions on what should be done with the block.

Prosper Portland continues to provide support to the project working group and the project team. Legacy has agreed to convey the property to the Williams-Russell Community Development Corporation at no cost. The CDC will serve as the project team’s client.

“The powers that be have recognized this historic injustice and are giving the land back to the community and supported development on the site,” Hallova said.

The firms involved with the project are keen to right past wrongs.

The project team is “dedicated and poised to honor and represent those individuals that had land, property and generational wealth-building opportunities taken away from them when the development of the hospital and the interstate corridor occurred in the areas,” said Kymberly Horner, executive director of PCRI. “It is our mission and our goal to try to restore those injustices that occurred, and that is why we put our name in the ring to develop the site to honor the past and secure the future for those individuals and families to have a place to come back to and call home.”

The project team is aiming to create a model for restorative-justice development not just in Portland, but in other American cities where Black neighborhoods were displaced.

“If you came to the city of Portland to visit, you might want to come and visit and learn the history,” Hallova said.

The post Restorative justice project coming together appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

LEVER Architecture‘s next design for a mass-timber building in Portland is planned for the site of a closed post office in the Northwest District.

Design commissioners got their first look Thursday at the four-story, 40,000-square-foot proposal. It would use mass timber and brick in a contemporary office building for Thesis, a local marketing and creative services agency.

Commissioners said they liked the design presented by LEVER principal Thomas Robinson.

“The architecture response and the landscape response are both sensitively thought out,” Commissioner Brian McCarter said.

However, commissioners warned Robinson that he could not expect a requested modification to minimum standards for floor area ratio (FAR). The proposed building would have a 1.2:1 ratio – below the minimum 1.5:1 ratio. The zoning regulation ensures a minimum density for projects built within the Central City.

“Minimum FAR is something Design Commission has fought hard for,” Chairwoman Julie Livingston said. “It’s asking a lot to ask for a modification on minimum FAR. That’s probably an uphill struggle.”

Reaching the minimum with the current design would require a site adjustment, the project team and commissioners said.

“Find a way to redefine the site and get to the floor area ratio,” Livingston told the design team.

Lango Hansen is on board as landscape architect. Patrick Kessi’s PHK Development is the project’s developer.

Initial plans also proposed a one-story office building on the property at 1706 N.W. 24th Ave. However, Robinson said the project team may prefer to place food carts there, potentially with an eye toward adding a larger building on that portion of the site in the future.

Commissioners said the property might be better served with food carts than a one-story building that is not meant for the long term.

“The one-story building on Thurman (Street) seems like a lot of money for very little gain,” Livingston said. “If the real plan is to do real development at a time that has not been identified, then stick to something that is easy to take away.”

McCarter agreed.

“I lean towards the food cart solution, which leaves the option to build a more substantial building in the future,” he said.

Thursday’s meeting was a design advice hearing meant to provide initial guidance. The project could proceed to a Type II design review, which would be overseen by Bureau of Development Services staff.

Also on Thursday:

Sizable project on track

Design commissioners appeared to be on the verge of approving Modera Main Street, a 17-story, 434,720-square-foot apartment building planned for Goose Hollow.

Commissioners did not vote on the Mill Creek Residential Trust proposal, and it is scheduled to return Sept. 2. Several commissioners said the latest designs from Ankrom Moisan Architects had made progress on reducing a dead zone on Main Street, relocating mechanical ventilation and other issues.

“I think they were very responsive,” Commissioner Don Vallaster said.

Livingston said she would vote no on the project because it still does not meet design guidelines. Portions of the Main Street frontage appear destined to be storage, she said.

“I so hope that when this building is constructed I am proved wrong,” she said.

Livingston was the only commissioner who still opposed the project design in a straw poll. Four other commissioners said the project would earn their vote of approval at a future meeting.

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly described developer Patrick Kessi’s role in the office project.

The post Project’s possible ‘uphill struggle’ identified appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.