Portland architect and blogger Lucas Gray is disturbed by a trend he’s noticed here.

While it’s common for architects to be inspired by one another’s designs, he said, some Portland projects designed by local firms are looking a bit too similar – to the point that they appear obviously copied. The worst part, Gray pointed out last month on his blog “Talkitect,” is that Portland architects seem to be copying designs in their own backyard.

“Our (architectural) community is very small, and everyone knows everyone else and what they’re working on,” he said.

The observation got Gray thinking about architectural copyright and the legal rights of the architects to protect their designs as intellectual property. If he noticed that one of his own designs was copied, Gray said he would potentially pursue legal action.

But according to Portland attorneys specializing in intellectual property law, cases involving architectural copyright are often hard to prove. Most involve architects who can attest that their drawings were used without their permission to create a nearly exact copy of a building design. Otherwise, the burden of proof becomes a lot hazier.

“There’s a fine line between being copied and influenced by,” said John Mansfield of Portland-based MansfieldLaw; he specializes in representing clients involved in commercial and intellectual property litigation. “How do you tell the difference? It’s a hard line to draw.”

Mansfield and other Portland attorneys advise clear agreements with clients where the architects retain ownership of their designs to avoid potential litigation. Architects also often are entitled to more damages in copyright infringement cases if they officially register designs through the U.S. Copyright Office, said Kevin Hayes, an attorney with Portland-based Klarquist Sparkman.

“If you’re registered, it’s a whole lot easier to enforce your rights,” he said.

Even without an official copyright registration, architects have a legal right to protect their designs as copyrighted material and can receive monetary compensation in federal court if their work has been stolen, Mansfield said. Often, the trickiest aspect of cases involving architectural copyright is proving that a design was copied intentionally, he said.

A few years ago, Mansfield was involved in an architectural copyright case where a builder hired an architect to design a particular project and later used those same plans without the architect’s permission to construct a building with only slight modifications to that original design.

“That was an easy one because they were clearly (making) a derivative work,” he said. “That stuff happens. There are not a huge number of cases, at least around here, but it certainly happens.”

This is why intellectual property attorneys advise architects to pay careful attention to their client contracts. Unless otherwise specified in a contract, architects retain ownership of their designs, including the drawings, even though the buildings produced with those plans are owned by their clients. The Architectural Works Copyright Protection Act, passed by Congress in 1990, defines this right, said Alicia Bell, an attorney with the Portland office of Miller Nash.

“The default rule under copyright law is the author of the work owns the work,” she said.

Mansfield said he advises architects to avoid work for hire contracts where architects essentially sign away the right to retain ownership of their designs.

“You should know you’re giving away what would otherwise be yours,” he said.

Another place for architects to be wary while signing contracts is if they are collaborating with another firm, Mansfield said.
“There’s nothing wrong with collaborating, but be sure you know who owns what,” he said.

In the long run, architects will be glad they worried about these details, Mansfield said. The average federal copyright infringement case can cost $100,000 in attorney fees alone, he said.

“It is so much easier and cheaper to address these issues before you get into a contract than to resolve them afterwards,” he said. “I’d much rather have people do it right and not have to do litigation.”

Jeff Myhre, president of Portland-based Myhre Group Architects, said his firm pays careful attention to contracts and has never been involved in an architectural copyright dispute.

“Myhre Group Architects have never given full rights to a client,” he said. “Architects generally don’t like that because we design a building and then you can build it wherever you want.”

Myhre acknowledged that one reason why projects in Portland could appear copied are similar demands from developers. Also, architects are following the same city building codes, he said.

“Most (of) the designs today are a response to the codes in place today, the market demands and tied to budgets and schedules,” he said. “Generally speaking, they’re all the same kit of parts.”

For this reason, only truly unique portions of a building design are protected under copyright law, Bell said.

“It doesn’t protect standard elements like gothic arches,” she said. “You’re going to have protection for anything that’s artistic or original.”

The court of public opinion may be the best way to expose architects who are copying others’ designs, Gray said. It’s why he wrote his recent blog post about architectural copyright with side-by-side renderings of projects he suspects were copied.

“These buildings aren’t exactly the same, but they are similar enough to at least catch my eye and other people’s eye that they’re strongly influenced,” Gray said. “Even if they’re not doing it consciously, they’re doing something wrong.”

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Plans for a new mixed-use development in the Burnside Bridgehead area last week gained unanimous approval from the Portland Design Commission.

Construction of the six-story building designed by Portland-based Myhre Group Architects and developed by Seattle office of Trinsic Residential Group could start as soon as March 2015, according to the project team. A general contractor has not yet been hired.

The development at 419 E. Burnside St. will have 153 residential units, three live-work units, ground-floor retail space, an eco-roof with shared and private rooftop terraces, below-grade parking for 50 motor vehicles and 240 long-term spots for bicycles. A ground-floor “bike lounge” will hold couches, lockers, bike repair tools and a foosball table. Also, an arcade over the sidewalk will run the length of Burnside Street; it was inspired by a 1932 photograph of a building with a prominent arcade that once stood on the project site.

The project was the only one to gain the commission’s approval during a meeting Thursday. Following a lengthy hearing for the Tess O’Brien Apartments in Northwest Portland, commissioners asked the FFA Architecture and Interiors design team to return on Dec. 18 with further revisions. Also, commissioners offered design advice for a new Hilton hotel in downtown Portland and a renovation of the former Oregon Casket Co. building in Old Town Chinatown.

Before approving the design for the 419 E. Burnside St. project, commissioners said they were pleased with revisions made since a previous hearing in September.

“This is the biggest jump I’ve ever seen with a project in a positive way,” Commissioner Ben Kaiser told the Myhre Group design team.

Commissioner David Wark praised the decision to include the ground-floor bike lounge.

“We haven’t seen that before,” he said. “This (project) has come light years. I think it’s sophisticated in many ways. (The arcade) does make a very unique first floor in our city.”

The idea behind the bike lounge is to perpetuate the message that the building is bike-friendly and supports car-free living, Myhre Group principal Bob Boileau said.

“You can’t call it a man cave; it’s a bike cave,” he said. “It’s going to be a visible area that we want to publicize.”

While commissioners reacted positively overall to the Myhre Group design, they expressed a few lingering reservations with FFA Architecture’s design for the Tess O’Brien Apartments. The design team returned Thursday with revisions in response to Design Commission feedback given at a hearing last month.

Plans for the Tess O’Brien Apartments call for two six-story buildings with a total of 126 residential units. A large courtyard proposed between the two buildings would contain outdoor seating areas, stormwater planters and bike storage.

Several commissioners criticized the design for using too many different materials on the facade, including brick, precast stone window headers and stucco sidewalls. Commissioner Jeff Simpson said he preferred a previous design that didn’t include stucco.

“The earlier version is a lot clearer,” he said.

After design review hearings for the Tess O’ Brien Apartments and 419 E. Burnside St. project commissioners offered design advice for the planned Hilton hotel and Oregon Casket Co. building renovation.

Atlanta-based HC Architecture is designing the Hilton Curio, a new 16-story, 300-room hotel on a half-block site at Southwest Second Avenue between Jefferson and Columbia streets. The planned amenities include a ground-floor market and restaurant, second-floor conference spaces and a rooftop restaurant and lounge with outdoor terraces.

Portland-based SERA Architects‘ design for a renovation to the 117-year-old Oregon Casket Co. building at 403 N.W. Fifth Ave. includes exterior alternations, a penthouse addition and new five-story wing north of the existing building. Mike Menashe of Oregon Casket LLC bought the property 13 years ago and plans to rename the finished product the Whidden & Lewis Building in honor of its original architects.

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The Burnside Bridgehead – a four-acre, four-block chunk of property purchased by the Portland Development Commission for $11 million in several deals between 1998 and 2006 – originally was going to be developed by now-defunct Opus Northwest. When it was unable to get large-scale development off the ground, the PDC opted to let several other developers pursue it in smaller increments. One of those projects could finally get a green light next week.

The Portland Bureau of Development Services has recommended approval for Myhre Group Architects‘ design of a six-story, mixed-use building at 419 E. Burnside St. for Seattle-based Trinsic Residential Group. Plans call for 157 residential units, two live-work units, ground-floor commercial space and rooftop terraces.

Also, the development will hold 50 residential parking spaces – including 11 tandem spaces – and 12 spaces for the adjacent building, according to a BDS staff report.

At a Design Commission meeting on Sept. 4, the developer and commissioners discussed moving the proposed location of a garage gate from Northeast Grand Avenue to Couch Street. The commissioners believe an entrance on Couch Street would be better suited for in-and-out vehicle traffic, because Grand Avenue has been identified in a Central Eastside design plan as a street best suited for pedestrian-friendly retail.

Relocating the garage entrance changed the building’s overall orientation, which now features a primary residential entrance on Grand Avenue and a continuous arcade along East Burnside Street.

The Design Commission will meet Dec. 4 to review the staff report and hear testimony from the applicant and any concerned citizens. The commission will then be able to adopt, modify or reject the proposed development.

Meanwhile, construction of a $58 million, 21-story tower at Block 67 is under way. The project team – Guardian Real Estate Services and Hood River-based Key Development Corp., Skylab Architecture and Andersen Construction – put together a development that will include 20,000 square feet of commercial space, 284 apartments and 200 parking spaces.

Andersen Construction began site work in October, and Brad Nile, a project executive with the contractor, said vertical construction will begin in January and require approximately 22 months.

Also, Key Development is planning to develop Block 76W, a small piece of land on the west side of the Couch Street couplet, with a two- to three-story commercial building that will mirror the larger tower.

Developers of a 10-story, mixed-use project on Block 75 – 111 N.E. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. – on Nov. 18 submitted permit applications to the BDS. The Design Commission in August approved Works Partnership Architecture‘s design that calls for ground-floor retail space, office space on the second through fourth floors and 75 apartments on levels five through 10.

The project development team includes representatives of Beam Development and Urban Development Partners as well as Carrie Strickland and William Neburka, both principals at Works Partnership Architecture.

Expectations are for Beaverton-based Yorke & Curtis General Contractors to finish the project in time for a May 2016 opening.

The Fair-Haired Dumbbell, two six-story buildings connected by sky bridges, is the first speculative office complex proposed for development at the Burnside Bridgehead. Guerrilla Development owner Kevin Cavenaugh, designed the buildings with a Florentine pattern wrap to resemble gift boxes.

Guerrilla Development collaborated with Fundrise to raise more than $5 million from 1,200 accredited investors to pay for the project, according to Katie Brotherton with Norris, Beggs & Simpson.

Carter Beyl, a broker at Norris, Beggs & Simpson, said the building “epitomizes the tech pilgrimage to Portland,” with its open space, timber-frame construction, expansive wood floors and robotic, stacked parking system.

Crews are expected to break ground in the second quarter of 2015 and finish by the end of the year, according to Brotherton.

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With a substantial backlog of projects awaiting Portland Design Commission approval, some industry professionals say the city’s design review process needs to be streamlined.

Most importantly, they say, it needs to happen quicker. Too often, by the time a project goes before the Design Commission, it’s so far along that extensive revisions can be a significant setback, said Paddy Tillett, a ZGF Architects principal and Portland Urban Design Panel member.

“These reviews are happening much too late in the process,” he said. “If design review happens too late, it becomes a critique of what has been designed rather than how to create a good design.”

Tillett and other Urban Design Panel members believe it’s important that the city have a public design review process to shape development, but worry that it’s becoming too cumbersome. The panel members, including representatives of the American Institute of Architects, the American Planning Association and the American Society of Landscape Architects, want to alleviate this by becoming intermediary advisers in the process.

A City Club of Portland Friday Forum – “” – on Friday will address the issue. Current and former Design Commission members will address ways to improve design review and better involve the public. Speakers will include Design Commission Chairwoman Guenevere Millius, president of Parachute Strategies; and past design commissioners Michael McCulloch, a Portland architect, and John Russell, founder of Russell Development Co. Randy Gragg, director of the University of Oregon’s John Yeon Center for Architectural Studies, will moderate the discussion.

“It occurred to me that this is a matter of civic importance that we understand what the Design Commission does and why it is important,” Tillett said. “Design review is something a lot of people outside of the design community don’t know about, yet they have opinions … about how our city looks.”

The Urban Design Panel, meanwhile, aims to enhance the quality of Portland’s urban environment and support efforts by city staffers and the Design Commission to raise design awareness, he said.

Panel members recently of them becoming voluntary resources for architects seeking early feedback on designs. This would help identify problems that could potentially drag out the city design review process, said Bob Boileau, a Myhre Group Architects principal and Urban Design Panel member.

“We’re going to get plans sooner (than the Design Commission),” he said. “If there’s anything we can do to speed up the process, (we will).”

Millius said she is appreciative of the panel’s willingness to offer early feedback on designs, but also aware of potential pitfalls. She is worried that architects will assume that a positive critique from the Urban Design Panel will spell an equally favorable response from the Design Commission. Another drawback is that seeking out feedback from the Urban Design Panel is voluntary.

“Are only the really talented (teams) going to bring their projects to the Urban Design Panel?” Millius asked. “You just hope that teams that need the most help would seek it.”

City staffers report being busier than ever handling requests for design approval, leading to a backlog, she said. Design commissioners also have been asked to review increasingly large and complex projects featuring new materials or construction methods.

“We have much more developed design guidelines and much more things to consider,” Millius said. “We’re engaged in a sort of deeper conversation for better or worse.”

Urban Design Panel member John Spencer, of Spencer Consultants, served on the Design Commission in the 1990s. He said the current commission could save time by limiting their critiques to how a project can meet city design guidelines.

“Now the (design advice request) process has gotten more and more detailed,” he said. “You have to ask yourself: Are we getting better projects than we were? It’s certainly taking more time and money.”

The Design Commission recently started using a timer to limit architects’ presentations to 20 minutes, and that has already helped accelerate reviews, Millius said. She also tries to focus the discussion if it veers off topic.

The idea is to ensure that meetings don’t drag on so long that commissioners aren’t able to offer valuable feedback.

“It’s hard to maintain your focus and your ability to care about anybody’s feelings except your own to go home,” Millius said. “We’re constantly thinking about how we can we deliver the same quality review with less time.”

Following the City Club discussion, the Urban Design Panel plans to host a workshop with past and present Design Commission members to discuss possible next steps toward process refinement.

“We hope that as a consequence of that City Club conversation we may have a meeting subsequently about how (design commissioners) might change their process to respond to the circumstances they have today,” Tillett said.

If you go

What: “Portland Architecture: How Good is Good Enough?”

When: Friday, from 12:15 to 1:15 p.m. (doors open at 11:30 a.m.)

Where: The Sentinel hotel, 614 S.W. 11th Ave., Portland

More information: 503-228-7231, or

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I’ve sat through my fair share of Portland Design Commission meetings. If I were to describe them in a word, it would be “long.”

At the most recent meeting I attended, the commission even started using a timer to keep project presentations by architects and developers to 20 minutes.

But it’s not just the meetings. The backlog of projects waiting to go before the commission is long too, according to city planners.

Portland Urban Design Panel members want to help alleviate this by becoming intermediary advisers in the design review process. The panel includes representatives of the American Institute of Architects, the American Planning Association and the American Society of Landscape Architects. The group aims to enhance the quality of Portland’s urban environment and support efforts by city staffers and the Design Commission to raise design awareness.

At a recent Design Commission meeting, panel members told commissioners they’d like to serve as a voluntary resource to architects seeking early feedback on their designs. This would help identify problems that could potentially drag out the city design review process, panel member Paddy Tillett, a ZGF Architects principal, told the commission.

“It could save a lot of time if we can get those issues out of the way right away,” he said.

Too often, by the time a project goes before the Design Commission it’s so far along that it can be set back if architects have to make extensive revisions, said panel member Bob Boileau, a Myhre Group Architects principal.

“Seeing the projects sooner, we’re untangling the mess that’s happening,” he told the commission. “If it happens sooner, we think changes will be a lot easier.”

Design commissioners were intrigued by the idea.

“I really appreciate you putting something together that can help us; that’s really fantastic,” Commissioner David Keltner said. “More touches early are great. I think that’s a big problem. There’s a big time lag. We’re limited by the number of projects we can handle. That’s why it takes so much time.”

Commission Chairwoman Guenevere Millius agreed.

“I see the value of getting more eyes on projects,” she said. “This could be a breeding ground for future (design) commissioners. I think we need to have a bigger conversation on how we engage more people in Portland in design review.”

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Myhre Group Architects‘ Ray Yancey and Jeff Reynoldson are relieved to see the 150-unit Waterford Grand senior housing complex on Goodpasture Island in Eugene nearing completion.

Yancey, a principal, and Reynoldson, a project architect, have worked on the $24 million project with Portland-based developer BPM Senior Living since 2007. At several points, the project drew land use appeals citing environmental concerns about the eight-acre site’s proximity to the Willamette River. Also, the design became a moving target as the economy faltered and demands for senior housing shifted.

“Just as we were putting the initial concepts on that, the economy tanked,” Yancey said. “As the economy changed, the client asked us to reconsider the (residents).”

BPM originally conceived the project as an independent living facility, but changed plans to include memory care units and assisted living units to respond to market demand. Myhre Group designers were then tasked with creating a building that was similar to the development planned initially, because it had already received approval from the city of Eugene, Yancey said.

“Our challenge was to redesign the building and the project, and stay within the tentative planned unit development that had already been determined,” he said.

As a result, the design shifted from four stories to three, but with the same footprint and about the same number of units, Yancey said. The 120,000-square-foot building will have 64 memory care units, 64 assisted living units and 22 independent living units. The primarily one-bedroom and studio apartments will flank a central lobby and amenities including a pool, exercise rooms, a dining room, a salon, a kitchen and a bistro.

Crews with Eugene-based Chambers Construction broke ground on the project this past June; work is scheduled to finish in August.

The project stalled for about three years during the height of the recession while the developer pursued federal funding through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Yancey said. Ultimately, BPM officials decided to go with conventional financing.

Then the project’s future was threatened by appeals to the Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals, Yancey said. Many of the concerns focused on the development’s potential environmental impact on the previously undeveloped riverfront site off of Alexander Loop on Goodpasture Island, he said.

Working on the site was a challenge that involved establishing a three-acre setback from the river that will be preserved as a natural area, Reynoldson said. The proximity of Waterford Grand to the river meant the complex also had to be raised several feet to reduce the risk of damage from flooding.

A wrought iron fence will prevent people from entering this part of the property, where invasive plants will be removed and native species will be planted, Reynoldson said.

“It’s going to be very open, but it will prevent anybody from going onto the protected area,” he said.

Residents will be able to take advantage of the view from a path along the river that also meets a city requirement to provide access for emergency vehicles along the back side of the Waterford Grand building, Reynoldson said.

“Everything is built to be geared toward the river, having nice places to stop (and) a nice relaxing atmosphere,” he said.

The site’s prime location along the Willamette River makes the extra hurdles during the design and development process worth the effort, said Michael Baugh, BPM director of construction and facilities management.

“It was a long process, but it’s going to be a beautiful property,” he said.

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Creston Homes is planning to start construction next month on a 71-unit apartment project at Southeast 20th Avenue and Morrison Street in the Buckman neighborhood. In contrast to the company’s project it started recently near the Hollywood Theatre, the Buckman Court Apartments will be a small, infill effort.

Creston Homes project manager David Mullens said that although the market for apartments is thriving, the company is being cautious. That kind of approach makes sense, brokers say, in light of the economic collapse in the last few years.

Several of Creston Homes’ projects in the past few years – such as one at 1516 N.E. Hancock St. in the Irvington neighborhood – have simply added small pockets of density. The firm seems to have a steady stream of projects, and vacancy in the local apartment market is below 3 percent; however, Mullens chose his words carefully.

“There are some niche opportunities that have come up, but I am not ready to say that now is the time to go and build apartments,” he said. “We’re trying to do what we do and do it quietly.”

One of Mullens’ concerns is that the apartment market looks so good that it will be overbuilt by the time many new projects open. Brokers, however, say that scenario likely won’t occur.

“The concern of overbuilding is being able to have rents be viable (to cover project cost) by the time a product comes on the market,” principal broker Beth DuPont said. But “there really is a lack of strong inventory coming on the market.”

That doesn’t mean that market growth won’t make an impact, Vice President Robert Black said.

“There are a lot of proposed infill sites going through permitting on the east side. None are significant enough in size to cause an oversupply; they may just keep rental growth at bay,” Black said. “Right now rents are growing really fast.”

Creston Homes likes small parcels ready for redevelopment, Mullens said. The Hollywood Apartments are being built on a long-vacant site, and the Buckman Court Apartments will replace two duplexes and a recording studio. Neighbors are glad to see new construction, he said.

“There was a prior development attempt on the site by the prior owner, but he ran into the economic times,” Mullens said. “There are thousands of projects like that all over Portland.”

The market being targeted by Creston Homes is one that will absorb mostly one-bedroom and studio apartments approximately 300 to 500 square feet. Comparable units will be in the new Buckman Court Apartments.

“The term ‘workforce housing’ has been used over and over again,” Mullens said. “This kind of fills that gap for people that are either in health care or service positions around town. They just don’t want a big place to live.”

DuPont said that Portland’s east side is likely to gain more of these small apartments.

“I think there’s always a place in the market for a smaller infill apartment project that’s a little more recession-proof,” she said.

Creston Homes is in the process of securing demolition and construction permits for the Buckman Court Apartments project. If everything goes according to schedule, Mullens expects construction to start in late January 2012 and last for 12 to 14 months. He said Creston has some other projects in the pipeline; however, he wouldn’t discuss them.

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