AIA-Southwestern Oregon executive
director Don Kahle and webmaster Erik Bishoff have taken the wraps off the chapter’s
shiny new website. You can find it at www.aiaswo.com.
Improving AIA-SWO’s online
presence had been a chapter priority for the last few years. Don would
be the first to admit that the path to the unveiling of the new website was bumpy
at times. Among other things, attempts to link it with the national AIA
database proved frustratingly difficult.
So, Don and Erik have instead
rebuilt the AIA-SWO website upon a user-friendly WordPress platform. As reported
in the latest Thursday at Three
e-newsletter, this is more “stable and solid” than the static html engine that
powers the now obsolete www.aiaswo.org
site. The bottom line is a “superior look and feel,” along with “greatly
improved” usability.
As enumerated in the Thursday at Three news article, the
features of the new site that are notably improved include the following:
Featured news
items are
now
front-and-center on the index page slider. No more hunting through text
links for the latest news and events.
A new calendar feature
keeps members apprised of the latest chapter events, including updates
from AIA-SWO and DesignSpring. You’re now able to conveniently check out
what meetings, Lunch & Learns, and tours are taking place.
The Thursday at Three AIA-SWO weekly
newsletter will continue to be distributed to all members by email, butis also now archived to the
AIA-SWO website.
AIA-SWO members
can sign up for email notices that announce when new
information hits the website. This will be a great way to
know about updates
as they happen.
Have something
for sale? Looking for a job? Do you have an office to rent? Request a
posting on the AIA-SWO bulletin board.
Social media links—Twitter
and Facebook now; Pinterest
and LinkedIn soon to come—are featured prominently on the home page.
Most
importantly,
the new AIA-SWO website incorporates a direct feed from my blog! My latest
posts now appear simultaneously on both SW Oregon Architect and the
AIA-SWO website. I’m honored to have my blog featured so prominently.
At the moment, the old site at www.aiaswo.org remains live even though the new site at www.aiaswo.com is ready for primetime. Don and Erik will
soon consolidate the two such that the new site takes over the .org URL.
Don and Erik are justly proud of
their achievement. Check out the new and most definitely improved AIA-SWO
website yourself. I really like the changes and I think you will as well.
We all knew the day was coming. The City of Eugene has abandoned and shuttered its City Hall, the event passing with little fanfare or sadness. A victim of
institutional neglect and community indifference, the once celebrated building
suffered a protracted decline.(1) It now
sits vacant and forlorn, its fate all but sealed.
City of
Eugene administrators and politicians have pondered that fate for the better
part of the past two decades. Something needed (and still needs) to be done. While
the realities of City Hall’s physical shortcomings and the costs to remediate
them took precedence in the discussions, its critical role as a symbol of civic
government and community identity also figured prominently. The abandonment of
City Hall leaves Eugene wanting for a new building emblematic of its citizenry
and culture. It would be a shame if Eugene’s residents found themselves in
future years without a city hall they could readily identify and point to with
pride.
It’s
unlikely the now abandoned City Hall will ever be revived in a form that
adequately preserves the qualities that made it an important example of
mid-century public architecture.(2)
As for a completely new building worthy of serving as the visible seat of
municipal government for Eugene, I’m afraid the writing is on the wall. City
officials realized taxpayers would not support the estimated $174 million
boondoggle envisioned in 2008 by THA Architecture. The modestly scaled scenarios painted more recently by Rowell Brokaw Architects would do little to
adequately consolidate the city’s far-flung administrative functions or ensure
a structure befitting the civic stature that is associated with the institution
of city halls.
Not
surprisingly, there’s been plenty of community debate about what Eugene can
afford and deserves when it comes to a new city hall. Two individuals I know
well and greatly respect recently contributed their voices to the conversation,
both sharing their thoughts about converting the current Eugene Water & Electric Board (EWEB) headquarters into Eugene’s next City Hall.
Tom Santee wrote a guest commentary in the
August 19 edition of the Register-Guard
in which he championed the idea of adapting the EWEB headquarters as City Hall.
Tom served as EWEB’s public relations professional during the late 1980s when
its current headquarters was designed and built.(3) He believes the highly visible landmark’s prime riverfront
location and iconic form are ideally suited for repurposing as the city’s
symbolic seat of government.(4) In last
Friday’s edition of his weekly column for the Register-Guard, AIA-SWO executive director Don Kahle countered (indirectly) Tom Santee’s enthusiasm for
consolidating city services in the EWEB building. Don’s principal objection to
Tom’s plan is that the EWEB headquarters isn’t where a city hall should be. In
Don’s mind, the building is literally and figuratively on the wrong side of the
tracks, outside of Eugene’s downtown core. He also believes that, while
attractive, the EWEB headquarters blocks views and access to the river.
What do
I think? With only mild reservations, I find myself in the camp of those who
advocate transforming the EWEB headquarters into Eugene’s next City Hall. If EWEB
is looking to relocate its administrative functions, I can’t think of a better and
more sustainable outcome for its current home than to extend its life in civic
service. By
virtue of its physical prominence, visibility, and architectural quality, the
dominant reading of the EWEB headquarters is of an important public facility. The
community-inspired master plan for the redevelopment of EWEB’s riverfront
property and Willamette River Greenway restrictions effectively would guarantee its
distinction as the only major building near downtown to be located so close to
the river. Its future within a park-like setting along the river’s edge is
assured. Contrary to Don’s assertions, the EWEB headquarters does not block
access to the riverfront but rather marks a point of access and extends the
urban grid to it. The headquarters is one of the few buildings in the city that
overtly acknowledge the river and its importance to Eugene. The
headquarters is admittedly smaller than necessary to house all of City Hall’s
functions. However, it could accommodate the majority of those associated with
citizen contact, providing one-stop convenience for as many services as
possible. Departments with less of a need for direct contact with patrons could
remain located elsewhere.(5) The EWEB
building already does feature generously proportioned public meeting
facilities, an attractive atrium, and convenient parking.
EWEB Headquarters viewed from Alton Baker Park across the Willamette River.
Some
functions might necessitate construction of new spaces. For example the
municipal court requires facilities tailored to security and other functional
demands associated with the judiciary; I imagine these would be difficult to
create from within the current fabric of the EWEB headquarters. Likewise, it
might be desirable to construct a grand new council chamber, perhaps similar in
character to the old one. Any new addition to the EWEB headquarters could occur
as an annex to the west, away from river, in keeping with the riverfront
redevelopment master plan.
Don’s
criticism of the EWEB headquarters being too far removed from the center of
downtown is valid. Yes, it will forever be separated from what should be our
community’s center of gravity by the Southern Pacific rail lines. Then again,
the nearby Federal Courthouse is similarly isolated from downtown by the
Franklin Boulevard/Mill Street approach to the Ferry Street Bridge. Eugene’s
downtown is lamentably diffuse but shouldn’t be circumscribed to exclude EWEB
or the Federal Courthouse. If anything, we should embrace connecting downtown
with the Willamette River and restoring historic ties between the city and the
waterway it was founded upon.
Like
Tom Santee, I believe converting the EWEB headquarters into Eugene’s new city
hall can be a win-win scenario. EWEB could entrust its prominent, uniquely
situated, structurally sound, and energy-efficient building to the City of Eugene
rather than to a private enterprise that might permanently remove it and its
riverfront prospect from the public realm. The City would secure an attractive
new home for itself at a considerable discount compared to the cost of constructing
equivalent space from scratch. Moreover, it would demonstrate its commitment to
sustainability by highly valuing the energy embodied in the original
construction of the EWEB headquarters. Rather than expending increasingly
scarce resources and funds on a new building, the City would walk the talk and
lead by example.
I
suspect I might be missing an important point here, a shortcoming which would bring
into question the very underpinning of this concept. I have not studied the
entire issue in detail. Perhaps Tom and I are mistaken and the idea of
converting the EWEB headquarters into City Hall is a terrible one.
What
are your thoughts? What form should a new city hall for Eugene assume?
(1)The 1960 design by Stafford, Morin & Longwood was a
winner of a juried, two-stage design competition. Regardless, murmurs about
replacing the facility would begin all too soon as its deficiencies became
apparent. These deficiencies include its vulnerability to collapse in an
earthquake, and reliance upon an antiquated steam heating infrastructure, which
the Eugene Water & Electric Board terminated this summer.
(2)Otto Poticha is a fan of Eugene’s former City
Hall. "With its unpretentious look and courtyard design, the building” he
has said (it) "has a warm, friendly and inviting atmosphere... Our City
Hall is a very special and unique architectural achievement... It is unique in
the world as a city hall."
(3)WEGroup Architects & Planners designed theEWEB’s headquarters. The cost of construction totaled $23.8 million
in 1988. The headquarters is comprised of a four-story building with an open,
atrium-style lobby that is connected by a skywalk to a two-story building to
the north. EWEB’s plazaand fountain are well known to residents who walk or
bike along the riverbank path between the buildings and the river.
(4)City
Council member Mike Clark also is a
strong proponent in favor of converting the EWEB headquarters to become Eugene
City Hall.
(5)It
needn’t include the Eugene Police Department, which recently moved its offices
to a building on Country Club Road, across the river from downtown.
Visitors peruse the 2012 People's Choice Awards display at the Eugene Celebration, August 26, 2012 (my photo).
This
dispatch comes from the 2012 AIA-SWO People’s Choice Awards display in the
lobby of the Broadway Commerce Center during the Eugene Celebration. It’s the last day of the Celebration, the city’s quirky, something-for-everyone,
end-of-summer bash. As it has been for many years, the People’s Choice display
is a fixture at the Celebration.
This
year, the exhibit strived to be more than simply a beauty contest. AIA-SWO expanded it to shine a spotlight on the Ten Principles for Design Excellence,
which I featured in my post about the 2011 People’s Choice Awards.
Collectively, the principles provide a foundation for raising public
appreciation of the importance of good design.
Another
addition to the 2012 People’s Choice display was a presentation of the City of
Eugene’s 7 Pillars of Growth. The city manager
created the pillars with the help of a 70-member citizens’ committee called the
Community Resource Group. Public hearings, open houses and online surveys also
were used to gather public opinion during the city’s land analysis process, dubbed
Envision Eugene. Each of the seven
pillars is accompanied by strategies and tactics to achieve the objectives.
The 7 Pillars of Growth
are:
Provide ample economic
opportunities for all community members
Provide affordable housing
for all income levels
Plan for climate change
and energy uncertainty
Promote compact urban
development and efficient transportation options
Protect, repair, and
enhance neighborhood livability
Protect, restore, and
enhance natural resources
Provide for adaptable, flexible,
and collaborative implementation
How we grow and what we design and build in our
community contributes powerfully to our cultural identity and satisfaction as a
city and region. Design
excellence has the power to improve the character and economic viability of our
community and region. The decisions we make
today will have a lasting impact on our community.
Michael Fifield, FAIA, with a customer at the Architecture 5-Cents booth (my photo).
The
impetus to increase the public’s awareness and expectation for design
excellence came in part from Architects Building Community. ABC is a 501(c)3 non-profit
organization (and adjunct to AIA-SWO) dedicated to community outreach and well-informed public involvement in planning design excellence for our
communities and public spaces.(1)
Announcement
of this year’s winners of the People’s Choice Awards will take place at the
Friday, September 7 City Club of Eugene meeting. The Colleague’s Choice Awards
presentation will occur later at the monthly AIA-SWO chapter meeting on
Wednesday, September 19.
(1)I presently serve as a member of the ABC board of
directors. I’ll soon write another post further explaining the mission of
Architects Building Community.
Furman Hall, Oregon State University (all photos by me unless noted otherwise)
Each August, AIA-Southwestern Oregon moves its monthly meeting to Corvallis in the interest of engaging the chapter's mid-Willamette
Valley members. This year, the gathering also included our brethren further
north from AIA-Salem. All told, it was a sizable and diverse group, an
opportunity to revisit with old friends and also make new connections.
The subject of the August meeting was
the recently completed remodeling of Education Hall on the Oregon State
University campus. Rechristened as Furman Hall(1), the project posed numerous
challenges for its team of architects, engineers, and builders. We were most
fortunate to have three key members of this team on hand to explain how these
challenges were met:
Originally
built in 1902 to a design by prominent Albany architect Charles H. Burggraf, the structure was first named Agriculture
Hall and later remodeled during the 1930s when it became Education Hall. Its
history was tumultuous, including two fires during its tenure as the home of
the Chemistry Department.(2) Through the ensuing decades, the interior of
building would be subjected to repeated minor remodeling as needs changed.
Eventually, it became clear to the university that Education Hall required a major
upgrading to meet contemporary pedagogic and life safety standards.
OSU’s
project brief included complete restoration of the building’s Romanesque-revival
exterior in keeping with the comprehensive historic preservation plan that is
mandated by its location within the campus’ National Historic District.(3) The
mandate would necessitate gutting the interior and the almost complete removal
and replacement of the original exterior envelope. This in turn led to numerous
surprises for the project team, not the least of which were significant
structural issues.(4) At the same time, the facility needed to comply with a
State of Oregon directive to achieve LEED Silver equivalent standards.
OSU Project Manager Larrie Easterly describes one of the benches created from sandstone blocks salvaged from the building's original skin.
As recounted
by Troy, Matt, and Larrie, the project would become a major success story and a
showcase for the merits of the Construction Manager/General Contractor (CM/GC)
project delivery process. Their presentation emphasized the necessity of
teamwork and a mutual willingness to always undertake what was in the best interest
of the project.
Conveniently
for the benefit our group, the trio enumerated the various trials,
tribulations, and features of the job by addressing a series of predetermined
questions:
What were the cost
implications of the decision to preserve, upgrade, and reuse rather than
replacing the building? Fortis Construction determined upgrading
the existing building at $320 per square foot would be less costly than
entirely replacing it. Fortis also deemed reuse the more sustainable choice
versus building from scratch. Fortis salvaged, repurposed, or otherwise diverted from the landfill all demolished or removed materials.
What special
techniques were used to repair and upgrade structural systems while maintaining
the historic integrity of the building exterior? Meeting the requirements of the
Historic District necessitated a laser survey of the original exterior
stonework to ensure its accurate replication with the new work. A total of 1.5
million points was located with exactitude by the laser equipment. The seismic
upgrade was a hybrid system involving insertion of new lateral-force resisting
elements and reinforcement of the existing structure.
Furman Hall after the removal of its original stone cladding (photo courtesy of FFA Architecture & Interiors, Inc.)
What was the process
for replacement of the exterior wall system? The team documented the existing
historic conditions before removing the exterior stonework.(5) Fortis
Construction inserted new shear walls and new wall framing with insulation and
sheathing to back up the limestone veneer. The windows are new (aluminum-clad
wood) with profiles that match the original sashes. Other new elements exactly
match the appearance of the building as it was during the 1930s following the
series of renovations during that decade.
How did the special
needs of 21st century education influence the interior design while having
limited impact on the exterior portions of the building? FFA designed the interior renovation
to meet the 21st century needs of the College of Education. Key features include
improved openness and connectivity to encourage better communication and
interaction. FFA removed existing walls and inserted an atrium connecting all
floors, which is topped with skylights bringing natural light deep into the
building. Interior glass walls help further bring natural light deep into each
floor.
Interior atrium of the remodeled Furman Hall.
What efforts were
taken to include sustainable materials and systems in the solution?As much of the existing structure possible
was saved and re-used. New insulated glass skylights and windows replaced old,
leaky units. The new windows are operable, allowing natural ventilation. Energy-efficient heating and ventilating systems,
lighting systems and controls, and low-flow plumbing fixtures were also
installed.
How was the
building's structural system upgraded and did these upgrades bring the
structure up to current seismic code standards? The design team introduced new CMU
shear walls at each of the four corners of the building at all floors. New foundations
were required at the shear walls, tied to the perimeter of the existing
concrete floor structure and roof structure framing. Also added was new plywood
sheathing over the entire existing roof area.
The restoration included the exact duplication of the original stone facade's features (including lintel stones left in place after a 1930s remodel added a second main building entrance, eliminating a window and obviating the need for the lintel).
What were the most
difficult tasks (planning, design, and construction) that challenged the
project team and were there any unique or break-through technical solutions or
management approaches that can be employed on other similar projects? The technical challenges associated
with removal of the exterior envelope while maintaining the stability of the
structure for the rehabilitation were significant. These were complicated by the
funding limitations, which required documentation of the exterior and
structural upgrades separate from the interior package. Additionally, achieving
consensus with the user group proved difficult—translating big ideas into a
specific program for the College of Education.
The Furman Hall project took 14 months
to complete from start of construction through its completion in January 2012.
The end result is a historically accurate exterior restoration of Education
Hall as it stood during the 1930s (deemed by FFA as its most definitive
configuration) and a thoroughly modern and efficient interior remodel.(6)
Without a doubt, the team of FFA, Fortis, and OSU has injected new energy into
a beloved campus landmark, extending its useful life for many decades to come.
The project is a sterling example of how older buildings can successfully be
adapted for contemporary use while preserving a worthy heritage.
Big thanks to Troy, Matt, and Larrie for
sharing their experience with us. Thanks too to John Evans and his firm Pillar Consulting Group, Inc. for sponsoring the evening’s presentation.
(1)The building is a monument to Joyce Collin Furman,
who grew up in Lebanon, Oregon and received her degree in math education at OSU.
She became a well-known Oregon philanthropist and strong advocate for homeless
youth. To honor her memory, Joyce’s husband, William A. Furman, made the lead
gift for the project on behalf of the Joyce N. Furman Memorial Trust.
(2)The fires would leave the wooden roof structure
charred but structurally sound.
(3)The National Park Service designated
the historic core of Oregon State University as a National Historic District in
2009. One major reason that OSU’s historic district now finds itself on the
register is the campus plan upon which it was based, created in 1909 by famed
architect John C. Olmsted of the Boston-based Olmsted Brothers landscape
architecture firm. OSU
is Oregon’s only public or private college or university so represented on the
register.
(4)As the building was opened up, the
team discovered much of the structure was not as it seemed. The extent of the
fire damage was revealed. Beams failed to actually bear on columns or other
supports. And the roof sagged as much as four inches in some places.
(5)The original stone used for the
exterior skin was a combination of diorite for the base and sandstone above.
The team determined that the diorite base was sound but that the soft sandstone
was too compromised to be retained as part of the completed remodel. In its
place, FFA selected limestone, which is harder. The stone mason, Columbia Stone, did a remarkable job of replicating the appearance of the original
sandstone blocks.
(6)Some, like Steven Semes in his book The Future of the Past, argue that
preservation or mere replication of an historic façade while gutting a building’s
interior is superficial and violates the original design’s integrity. I suspect
I will address this issue in a forthcoming blog post.
Mars Curiosity Rover (image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)
I watched NASA TV last Monday
with countless others around the globe while mission staff breathlessly checked
off the entry, descent, and landing sequence for the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover Curiosity. NASA
assigned control of the remarkably precise plunge (dubbed “seven minutes of
terror”) through the Martian atmosphere and landing within Gale Crater to MSL’s
onboard computers. Due to the lengthy communication delay between Earth and
Mars, no direct human control of the craft was possible. What I witnessed was a
truly astonishing technological triumph.
Curiosity’s spectacularly successful
landing rekindled my childhood sense of awe and wonder about space exploration.
NASA’s accomplishment stands as a testament to the power of human imagination,
creativity, persistence, and will.
As a child of the space age, I grew up
believing humankind’s potential was limitless. My faith in our ability to do
wondrous things was richly rewarded when Apollo 11 landed on the Moon
in July of 1969. I recall my wide-eyed amazement as a true miracle of modern
science unfolded before me in grainy black-and-white television images. The
experience encouraged me to think big, look beyond the horizon, and ponder
life’s greatest questions.
Today, many criticize the use of
limited public funds on programs that are literally out of this world. Regardless
of the benefits to space science, how could policy-makers rationalize risking $2.5
billion to send a robot to a small, dusty, red planet 93 million miles away?
Wouldn’t this money have been better spent solving problems here at home? This
question is particularly resonant during this time of economic uncertainty. Why
Mars when millions of our neighbors are in need of work, food, and housing?
No amount of prosperity will entirely justify
any expenditure on space exploration. There will always exist needs that trump
others. Money isn’t the point. What is relevant is our innate desire to invest
human energy and potential in the exploration of the unknown, in pursuits that
enlist the power of our imaginations.
Astrophysicist, Portland resident, and fellow
blogger Ethan Siegel
recently attempted to capture in words what may seem ineffable—a cogent rationale for space exploration:
“ Space
is something that we are not only a part of, but that encompasses and affects
all of us. Learning about the grandest scales of our live—about the things that
are larger than us and will go on relatively unaffected by whatever we do—that
has value! And it might not have a value that I can put a price tag on, but in
terms of unifying everyone, from people in my city to people in a foreign
country to people or intelligences on other planets or in other galaxies, space
exploration is something that is the great equalizer. And the knowledge,
beauty, and understanding that we get from it is something that one person,
group, or nation doesn’t get to keep to itself; what we learn about the universe
can be, should be, and if we do our jobs right, will be equally available to
everyone, everywhere. This is where our entire world came from, and this is the
abyss our entire world will eventually return to. And learning about that,
exploring that, and gaining even a small understanding of that, has the ability
to give us a perspective that we can never gain just by looking insularly
around our little blue rock.”
This perspective is applicable to everything
we as earthlings engage with. We cannot afford to maintain our anthropocentric
worldview and hope to survive as a species. I’m enthusiastic about missions
like the Mars Science Laboratory because they capture the attention and
imagination of a wide audience, one primed for recalibration.
So what does my enthusiasm for the
exploration of Mars have to do with architecture? A lot actually.
Like space exploration, great architecture
has the power to awaken our curiosity, point to the transcendent, and open our
minds to worlds of possibility. As Ethan Siegel suggests with space
exploration, great architecture speaks to things larger than we are. Like the
universe itself, great architecture is beautiful and complex. It helps us
understand who we are and where we come from.
Great architecture is almost never the
product of small-mindedness and expedience. It is only rarely the outcome of linear,
reductive thinking. Great architecture demands an investment of both real and
intellectual capital that may seem outsized compared to its immediate payback. Its
true return may only be recognized many generations after its achievement.
Great architecture is often the result of
openness to the new and the unknown, as well as a childlike capacity to wonder.
It presumes humility as an a priori
condition to the experience of awe and wonder. Great architecture engages the
curious mind and commands reflection.
The capacity to wonder is critical to our
advancement as a civilization. So too is curiosity because it is the fuel for
creativity and inspiration. Without them, our world might not be filled with
the innovations and conceptions that command our respect and reverence.
I believe space scientists and talented architects
have much in common. At their most sublime, their work inspires awe, wonder,
and curiosity. Everyone is richer for their efforts. Curiosity’s creators dared to dream big. It would not surprise me
at all to soon hear news from Mars that will more than repay their faith and
investment in the intrepid rover.
If architects are to remain relevant in the
decades to come, they’ll need to likewise think big, look over the immediate horizon,
and consider what it means fundamentally to dwell upon the earth. It will be their
responsibility to wonder and explore, if not the larger universe, the smaller
ones closer to home they can control. Like space scientists, they will need to enlist
and exercise human curiosity for the sake of a future that can be better for
theirs and future generations.
