Eugene/Architecture/Alphabet: A

Autzen Stadium (my photo)

This is the first of a series of blog posts I’ll introduce periodically, most often when I’m too busy (such as I am now) to compose an entry requiring more time than I can afford. The focus of each post will be a landmark building here in Eugene. Many of these will be familiar to most who live here but there are likely to be a few buildings that are less so. My selection criteria for each will be threefold:

1. The building must be of architectural interest, local importance, or historically significant.
2. The building must be extant so you or I can visit it in person.
3. Each building’s name will begin with a particular letter of the alphabet, and I must select one (and only one) for each of the twenty-six letters. This is easier said than done for some letters, whereas for other characters there is a surfeit of worthy candidates (so I’ll be discriminating and explain my choice in those instances).

To provide the back history and descriptions of each building, I’ll draw heavily upon available resources, such as Wikipedia, the 1983 book Style & Vernacular, and the National Register of Historic Places.

First up (surprise) is the letter A, for which Autzen Stadium is my selection.

Autzen at sunset (my photo)

Autzen Stadium

Autzen Stadium is the home of the University of Oregon Ducks football team. Completed in 1967 with an original capacity of just over 41,000 spectators, the seating bowl was built in nine short months within an economical landfill. The resulting building resembled a natural butte more than it did a building, which I always considered fitting within the geographic context of the southern Willamette Valley. The simple ramped circulation system avoided the mazelike confusion typical of many other college and professional venues. Skidmore, Owings & Merrill designed the facility and Gale M. Roberts Co. constructed Autzen Stadium for $2.3 million, undoubtedly a modest sum even for that time.

Surprisingly, the University and boosters seriously considered enclosing Autzen under a dome back in the mid-eighties, but a lack of funds killed that plan. In my opinion, Duck fans dodged a bullet since much of each gameday is uniquely shaped by the hour of the kickoff and the vagaries of fall weather (notwithstanding the fact, in stadium announcer Don Essig’s inimitable words, “it never rains in Autzen Stadium”). It can be blisteringly hot at the start of the home schedule (sitting on the north side of the stadium like I do) and numbingly cold by the end of the season, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.

In 2002, a $90 million south-side expansion designed by Ellerbe Beckett (now part of AECOM) increased the seating capacity to its current 54,000 and added luxury boxes. Regardless, Autzen Stadium remains small by the standards of bigtime college football. I’m always amazed by how compact and intimate it feels, which undoubtedly contributes to the intensity of the experience spectators enjoy.

In no small part due to its physical configuration, Autzen is notorious as one of the loudest and most intimidating (for visiting teams) stadiums in all of college football. J. Brady McCullough, a reporter for The Michigan Daily, famously dispatched the following account in the wake of a 2003 defeat suffered in Eugene by the Michigan Wolverines, at the time a perennial powerhouse:

"Sitting in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains, Oregon's Autzen Stadium is one of college football's hidden jewels. Before kickoff, Autzen is as peaceful as the Willamette River, which runs through Eugene just a few minutes from the stadium. After kickoff, the fans–even the alumni–forget who they are, where they come from and what their degree is in. The audience adopts a new collective identity for the next three-and-a-half hours: the 12th, 13th and 14th man. Autzen's 59,000 strong make the Big House collectively sound like a pathetic whimper. It's louder than any place I've ever been, and that includes "The Swamp" at Florida, "The Shoe" in Columbus, and "Death Valley" at Louisiana State. Autzen Stadium is where great teams go to die." 

As a green & yellow, dyed-in-the-wool Oregon alumnus and fan, I’m happy my Ducks’ home turf resides in Autzen Stadium. Its architecture is unique in all of college football. From the moment I first stepped inside during my UO college days, I knew it was a special place.

Glenwood Riverfront Development

Google Maps view of the northern portion of Glenwood. The 9.5-acre redevelopment site is highlighted in  yellow.

I’m writing for the second week in a row in response to recent news I read in The Register-Guard. My last blog post addressed the Eugene Emeralds baseball club and its need to build a new stadium. The Emeralds’ quest for a new stadium figures again this week, but this time as one of three proposals to redevelop 9.5 acres of riverfront land in Glenwood. As reported by Don Kahle in his Friday column in the R-G, the Springfield Economic Development Agency (SEDA) may decide as soon as next month to award the right to revitalize the property. The result, in a few short years, may herald a dynamic transformation of the entire Glenwood district. In Don’s words, this is indeed “big news.” 

The City of Springfield has long eyed Glenwood for its untapped potential. The fact Glenwood has laid fallow for so long is remarkable given its prime location between Eugene and Springfield, proximity to I-5, situation along the already established EmX BRT corridor, not to mention its immediate adjacency to and scenic promise of the Willamette River. SEDA purchased the subject development property—currently occupied by the Ramsey-Waite Co. dealership—a few years ago, using funds generated by the Glenwood Urban Renewal District. The site provides a direct connection between the recently improved Franklin Boulevard and the river, a central aspect of SEDA’s vision of a vibrant, mixed-use precinct for the northern portion of Glenwood. The City will rely upon additional renewal district funding to pay for continued improvements to public infrastructure associated with future developments throughout this zone.

 

In January of this year, the SEDA board expected to discuss a proposal it received for the site from a comprehensive development team, but the City Attorney’s Office raised concerns regarding whether entering exclusive negotiations outside of a public and competitive procurement process would be permissible. Since then, two additional teams have expressed interest. All three parties— Glenwood Development LLC, LOCALIS partners, and the Eugene Emeralds/Elmore Sports Group—seek an expedited proposal review and selection process because of the timeframe associated with Opportunity Zone investor funding(1); accordingly, the City staff identified a path forward, enabling selection of a developer outside of the conventional process and timeline of drafting and releasing an RFQ or RFP.

 

Don outlined the highlights of the Glenwood Development LLC proposal in his column, the planning for which appears to be the furthest along among the three tenders and presumably was the proposal SEDA was prepared to discuss in January. These highlights include a 378-room, 19-story hotel and associated 55,000 sf conference center, 500+ units of housing (including more than 100 affordable/workforce units developed in partnership with Homes for Good), retail and entertainment venues, and an 800-space CLT-framed parking structure. As Don wrote, the scope and scale of the Glenwood Development LLC proposal does indeed reflect “soaring ambition.” The Glenwood Development LLC team includes Lufti Thabet, Greg Vik, Joel Andersen, and Allen Lonstron. The designers are LRS Architects, Satre Group, and Branch Engineering, and Andersen Construction with Vik Construction would be the general contractors.

 

Instead of limiting their proposal to the initially available 9.5-acre site, the LOCALIS partners’ plan encompasses roughly 39 acres of riverfront land. Their project would feature a mix of medium and high-density housing, office and commercial space, retail and restaurants, parking, hotel and meeting center, sports venues, and park improvements. Notably, the sports venues would include a soccer stadium that would allow Lane United FC to step up to the USL League One tier of professional play.(2) Dave Galas, founder and managing director of Lane United FC, is a member of the LOCALIS team. LOCALIS partners’ team further includes Matt Koehler of Cameron McCarthy Landscape Architecture & Planning and Fui-Sung Yi of Morphosis Architects (with the potential for additional examples of Morphosis’ provocative architecture in our community).

 

Unsurprisingly, the proposal by the Eugene Emeralds/Elmore Sports Group centers around a new stadium designed to conform with Major League Baseball’s facilities standards for its High-A minor league affiliates; however, unlike the Glenwood Development LLC and LOCALIS partners plans, the Emeralds’ proposal does not initially promise additional components accommodating other uses.

 

The agenda for last Monday’s SEDA meeting provided the SEDA board members with basic summary information from all three proposers, as well as the topics and requested action for each of SEDA’s two sessions scheduled for the month of April. Here’s what on tap for those two meetings:

 

APRIL 12 REGULAR SESSION PRESENTATIONS

Agenda Topics

• 90-120 Minutes - Presentations provided to the SEDA Board. Each group is provided 30 minutes for a virtual presentation highlighting information provided by the team in their submittal.
• Brief deliberations might occur to inform requested actions.

Requested Action

• Provide staff with any follow-up questions or requests for additional information from the proposing groups.
• Alternatively, the Board might make a selection based on what is presented in this session and direct staff to negotiate exclusively with preferred development group.

 

APRIL 26

Agenda Topics

• The Board might deliberate to select a preferred development group for exclusive negotiation.

Requested Action

• Direct staff to negotiate exclusively with selected development group.
• The Board might choose not to exclusively negotiate with any currently interested party. In this case, the Board might direct staff to reinitiate a formal Request for Qualification process.

SEDA expects the proposers’ presentations on April 12 to address a variety of concerns, including vision and concept, the estimated costs, market and financial feasibility, general experience, and experience with public-private partnerships.

 

If I have the time, I may log in to one or both of SEDA’s April board meetings via Zoom.

 

SEDA regards Glenwood as integral to the larger metro economy. The location of the initial redevelopment site along the Willamette River is central to SEDA’s vision, which includes river-oriented development with public access to the riverfront and green fingers extending back to the community. The proposed design infrastructure will foster compact urban forms interconnected by a network of walkable streets and inviting open spaces.

 

Glenwood is primed and ready for a transformative and catalyzing project. The interest expressed by all three proposers bodes well for its future. The groundwork the City of Springfield laid down is clearly bearing fruit, and it’s exciting to see.

 

 

(1)  Opportunity Zones are an incentive program resulting from the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, enacted by the U.S. Congress. These zones are intended to encourage investments in low-income communities towards development and business through Opportunity Funds. Opportunity Funds encourage investment in them by allowing investors to reduce their tax burden from capital gains.

 

(2)  If LOCALIS partners realizes its vision, my assumption is Lane United won’t be calling Civic Park its home, which would be interesting given how much Dave Galas has invested in making Civic Park a reality with the goal of making it Lane United’s home field.

 

Field of Dreams

A Eugene Emeralds game at PK Park (my photo)

I was aware Major League Baseball elevated the minor league Eugene Emeralds to High-A affiliate status this past off-season, specifically to become the San Francisco Giants affiliate for that level of play, the third-highest tier in minor league baseball. Beginning next month, the Ems and five other teams from the now-defunct Northwest League will play a 132-game schedule (66 home games) under the banner of the High-A West League. What I was not aware of until seeing Saturday’s edition of The Register-Guard was that the Emeralds must consider building a new stadium because of the move up to High-A. 

The Eugene Emeralds’ home for the past decade has been the University of Oregon’s PK Park. This arrangement has been satisfactory primarily because the now-defunct Northwest League’s short-season calendar did not overlap with the schedule for the Oregon Ducks baseball team. College baseball typically concludes in May, while the short season of the Northwest League did not begin until early June. So, for as long as the Ems will continue to lease use of PK Park, they will also share the facility with the Ducks for the first month of the minor league High-A season. Logistically, sharing PK Park with the Ducks is far from ideal, particularly since the University will first and foremost prioritize the needs of its student-athletes and baseball program. Accordingly, the Ducks’ scheduling of games, practice time, and use of practice facilities will always take precedence. 

Major League Baseball recently released new facilities standards its minor league affiliates must comply with. For clubs who already own established stadiums, fulfilling the new guidelines may not be prohibitively onerous, but they compound the stadium dilemma for the Ems. PK Park’s seating capacity is 4,000, which does conform with the minimum requirements for High-A; however, PK Park does not match some of the other new minor league facility specifications, which include the following: 

• Home team and separate visitor’s team clubhouses greater than 1,000 square feet in area.
• Food preparation and dining areas for both home and visiting clubhouses.
• High performance field lighting.
• Higher minimum standards for player training facilities.
• Separate spaces for female umpires and coaches.

So even if continued use of PK Park was a realistic option—and my sense is both the University of Oregon and the Emeralds believe it is not—the Ems would incur the cost of substantial upgrades the Ducks otherwise do not have a need for. The ballclub has until the 2025 season to develop a new stadium complying with the High-A requirements, or risk relocation to another market. 

Eugene Emeralds general manager Allan Benavides envisions the would-be new stadium as a community resource, much more than just the Emeralds home venue. For example, he imagines hosting high school baseball games, nonprofit events, concerts, and more. In his words, he “would love for it to be the community front porch.” 

Benavides says the team has looked at various possible locations in Eugene and Springfield. He wants the new ballpark to be “embedded in the community” much like the beloved, old Civic Stadium was, but there is no going back there as it has been reincarnated as the very different Civic Park (which the Eugene Civic Alliance likewise envisions attracting a wide variety of community events). Few other suitable sites meeting the necessary and desirable criteria immediately come to mind. An ideal site would occupy a central location, have amenable neighbors, offer adequate space to accommodate both the stadium and the requisite parking, and provide convenient access to public transportation. Perhaps the Lane County Fairgrounds? A site in Glenwood? 

If the Emeralds are unable to build their new home, losing the team would be a blow. The nostalgic fan in me says Eugene can’t afford to allow this to happen, that not being able to enjoy minor league baseball here would diminish part of what makes Eugene, Eugene. The problem is I don’t know how a new stadium might be funded. A High-A ballpark meeting the mandated new facility standards could easily cost upwards of $40 million. Would local taxpayers support dipping into their pocketbooks to pay for one? As desirable as having a hometown team to cheer on may be, I suspect it would be a hard sell. The economic benefits are difficult to quantify. Jobs generated by the construction of a new stadium would be for a short period rather than lasting. Ongoing employment directly attributable to operation of the team would mostly be part-time, low-level positions. There are less-tangible benefits we cannot overlook, such as how much having a minor league baseball franchise contributes to Eugene’s appeal as a place to live and work. Overall though, the recent track record of publicly funded sports venues has not been stellar. Seldom has there been a positive return on such investments. 

Photo by Jose Francisco Morales on Unsplash

There is just something about attending a minor league baseball game that envelops you in a shared atmosphere redolent of tradition. It helps that minor league ball seems more genuine than the game at the major league level. It’s baseball for everybody, affordable and family friendly. It’s about hotdogs, peanuts, and crackerjack, silly mascots, the Beer Batter promotions, rooting for the home team, and the seventh inning stretch. It’s about spending warm summer nights watching future stars pursue their big-league dreams. For many, the memories formed at the ballpark are priceless and lasting. It would be a shame if future generations in Eugene are unable to experience the magic of America’s pastime firsthand.

Undesignated Spaces

 

Photo by David Emrich on Unsplash

I am grateful when my free time is in short supply to be able to draw content for a blog post from SYNTHESIS, the textbook self-published by my college professor, the late Bill Kleinsasser (1929-2010). The following passage reprises many of the themes found throughout SYNTHESIS, including the importance of establishing opportunities for people, the ways architects should anticipate how buildings are used and experienced, and the virtues of “precisely ambiguous” spaces and places. Not everything we design should be so specific and precise in their conception that contingency and serendipity are unimaginable. Read on.

Opportunity for Spontaneity

Many important opportunities are established in built places by the inclusion and development of spaces for unspecified use. Until this century, architects usually sought them to extend and enrich the places they made. It is possible and desirable to develop these spaces just as carefully and just as deliberately as those intended for specified use. The clear definition and configuration of such spaces can produce long-lasting, often magical results.

Edge spaces, leftover spaces, and in-between spaces offer rich potential in terms of undesignated-ness. Linking spaces, large and small, and sometimes whole buildings, offer the same potentiality.

Undesignated spaces often: 

• Provide opportunity for retreat and withdrawal
• Provide opportunity for spontaneous interaction
• Provide spatial clarification by defining adjacent spaces (establishing articulation between them)
• Provide transition from space to space
• Provide an opportunity to pause (they are not for something or for someone to the same degree that other spaces are, so one may be in an undesignated space without invading or feeling forced to do something)
• Provide adaptability (since they have no set purpose, they are often available for unexpected purposes)
• Provide opportunity for detached participation (sometimes we need to be able to experience things first from a distance, so that we may decide how much we wish to commit to them)
• Provide opportunity to either join adjacent spaces or separate them

But “in-betweens” and “leftovers” can also be places that, because of their connective and unspecified nature, engage the imagination and nourish the soul. “In-betweens” may increase the complexity of places and allow them to be responsive to two sets of conditions at once.

Bay windows, sunny places, and layers may be useful as undesignated spaces

Balconies are almost always useful as undesignated spaces . . . and they almost always are magical.

Porches may be successful undesignated places, and they may become an important element in the texture of an entire community. 

Piazza dei Signori, Verona, Italy (photo by Didier Descouens, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons) 

Undesignated spaces are unnecessary at the scale of neighborhoods and cities as well as houses. 

Bridges may be developed as “in-between” spaces at the city scale.

Edges of water and edges of streets as undesignated spaces.

Some places have relics of the past that may be developed as extremely evocative and accessible undesignated spaces.

There is a general need in our physical surroundings for a better balance between designated spaces (opportunity for specified uses) and undesignated spaces (opportunity for unspecified uses).