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

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The largest affordable housing development to arrive in Multnomah County in the past half century is now open.

The Louisa Flowers is a 12-story, 240-unit mixed-use building operated by Home Forward in Lloyd, at 515 N.E. Holladay St. LEVER Architecture and LRS Architects designed the building to meet Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design gold standards. O’Neill/Walsh Community Builders, served as the project’s general contractor.

The building has 88 studio apartments, 109 one-bedroom apartments and 43 two-bedroom apartments; all are affordable units. Ground-floor space is occupied by on-site property management and retail shops.

Louisa Flowers and her husband Allen were two of the leaders of Portland’s small African-American community in the 1890s, according to Oregon Black Pioneers. After first operating a farm in the Lents area, Louisa purchased land in lower Albina and built four homes there – not far from the new building named for her.

“The process we undertook to name this building is different than the way we’ve approached it in the past,” Home Forward Executive Director Michael Buonocore said. “We took our time recognizing that the contributions of people of color and women in this city are often disregarded in the naming of our buildings, streets and landmarks.”

Buonocore expressed gratitude to the Oregon Black Pioneers and YWCA for assisting the process.

“Their history, their contributions to this city will not be lost, and we will all understand ourselves a little better as Portlanders for knowing about the Flowers family,” Buonocore said.

Crews in late 2017 broke ground on the building that has provided the local market the most new affordable units since the 286-unit Hollywood East building opened in 1969.

The $74 million project was funded through a mix of public and private sources. The single largest chunk was $28.7 million via federal low-income housing tax credits. An additional $18 million came from bond funding, and $5.1 million more came from the city of Portland.

The Jim Smith Garden open-air courtyard, named in honor of Home Forward’s former board chairman, highlights the ground floor and connects the building’s lobby, commercial spaces and the building’s north and south sides, via covered walkways.

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