Are you ready for a Challenge?

 

The Eugene Branch of the Cascadia Green Building Council is a volunteer collective of design professionals from various local architecture, landscape architecture, engineering, and planning firms. The organization is actively looking to partner with local leaders in the public, private and nonprofit sectors to raise awareness of the International Living Future Institute’s Living Building Challenge. 

 

The Challenge is the built environment's most rigorous performance standard. It calls for the creation of building projects at all scales that operate as cleanly, beautifully and efficiently as nature's architecture (see http://living-future.org/lbc). The Living Building Challenge is comprised of seven performance areas, or “petals.” These are: Place, Water, Energy, Health & Happiness, Materials, Equity and Beauty. The petals are further subdivided into a total of twenty imperatives, each of which focuses on a specific sphere of influence. 

 

The Eugene Branch of the Cascadia Green Building Council wants to help by talking about the Living Building Challenge and how this approach to a more sustainable built environment can be realized. 

 

Cascadia volunteers are happy to assist interested persons or organizations with a preliminary analysis of a potential project and discuss early planning considerations. Cascadia’s mission includes providing information and education relative to the strategies and ideals that are central to the Living Building Challenge. Because the organization is comprised of volunteers there are no costs to anyone who seeks assistance and wants to learn more. 

 

 

Interested in learning more about how you can plan for a more sustainable building and take green building to the next level? Contact Eugene branch member Peter Reppe by email at preppe@systemswestengineers.com or by phone at (541) 914-8560.

26th Annual AIA-SWO People's Choice Awards

 

Each year, the American Institute of Architects, Southwestern Oregon Chapter (AIA-SWO) in collaboration with the American Society of Landscape Architects, Willamette Valley Section of the Oregon (ASLA) hosts the People's Choice Awards for Architecture. As the 26th annual edition of the event, this year's People's Choice Awards program promises to be bigger and better than ever.

The intent of the People's Choice Awards is to educate and inspire our fellow citizens by showcasing architecture, interiors, landscape architecture, and planning projects created within the Southwestern Oregon Chapter area by AIA, ASLA, and AIAS members. The program illustrates to the public the role of the design professions in enhancing the built environment.

This year, AIA-SWO is exploring the use of a more effective online voting platform, which the program organizers hope will make the Awards more engaging to a wider variety of people. Voting will remain open for the month via both analog and online platforms. The show will be an excellent opportunity for local designers to showcase their best projects.

The Colleague's Choice Awards will again occur this year in an online format. AIA-SWO will count votes and recognize People’s and Colleagues’ Choice winners at an AIA-SWO Chapter meeting later in the year.

Participation Benefits
Entrants gain valuable public exposure and feedback from the community by entering the People’s Choice Awards. Your professional colleagues will also have the opportunity to vote on your entry as part of the Colleagues’ Choice Awards. AIA-SWO is in the process of securing a venue to display the entered projects throughout the month of October. AIA-SWO will post pictures and written descriptions of all the winners on the chapter website, and also seek to further publicize the Awards program through various local media outlets.

Intent to Enter: Save the Date!
Look for the Intent to Enter form in a couple of weeks. I’ll post a link to the AIA-SWO website with all the details.

Things about architecture that make you say “Hmmm . . .”

 

If architecture is the will of an epoch translated into space, is the architecture of an epoch whose time has passed no longer willful? 

 

Why do architects always wear black? 

 

How is it possible to run out of space? 

 

Is a gigantic, multi-million dollar, LEED-certified vacation home located in the middle of nowhere really “green?” 

 

Why do architects admire buildings so many other people despise? 

 

Why does the emperor wear no clothes? 

  

*    *    *    *    *    *

 

I’m attracted to architects and writers about architecture who see the big picture, cut to the chase, and aren’t afraid to rethink how and why humans build. They recognize business as usual—our throw-away culture’s worship of profit, novelty, fashion, and technology for technology’s sake—is untenable and an impediment to achieving a true and lasting form of architecture, let alone one resilient enough to withstand what the future portends. Their ideas challenge the status quo. We need them precisely because they’re among the important few attempting to roust us out of our collective stupor. Mostly through their words alone, they have proven adept at disrupting our contentment and complacency with the way things are. 

This post’s somewhat flippant prologue notwithstanding, I introduce with all seriousness four of these current thinkers. They most definitely have made me say “hmmm” on more than one occasion. You might be familiar with one or more of them; if so, you probably already know why I regard them so highly. How they write and what they specifically write about may be all over the map, but they share in common an underlying and unmistakable wisdom about the underpinnings of architecture and its future in the service of humanity and our planet. 

Michael Mehaffy and Nikos Salingaros
Michael Mehaffy is an urbanist and design theorist, and a periodic visiting professor at five graduate universities in four countries and three disciplines (architecture, urban planning and philosophy). He is executive director of the Portland-based Sustasis Foundation, and editor of the Sustasis Press. Previously, Mehaffy was associated with the Prince of Wales’ Foundation for Building Community. 

Through his work with the Sustasis Foundation, Mehaffy has applied a broad outlook to the task of understanding our neighborhoods and cities. The foundation expressly seeks to facilitate inter-disciplinary collaborative research, education, policy and best practice, committed in the belief that our larger challenges cannot be "siloed" within disciplines. 

Nikos A. Salingaros is a mathematician and polymath known for his work on urban theory, architectural theory, complexity theory, and design philosophy. He has been a close collaborator with Christopher Alexander. 

Salingaros was the primary author for A Theory of Architecture, a collection of previously published papers that collectively describe a set of guidelines for design (Michael Mehaffy contributed to portions of the book). Salingaros appeals to scientific principles to link architectural and urban forms to human sensibilities. He argues good architecture, in all of its glory and complexity, is the product of relatively simple generative processes grounded in mathematics and science. 

A Theory of Architecture occupies a proud place on my bookshelf, but I’m looking forward to purchasing a new title co-authored by Mehaffy and Salingaros: Design for a Living Planet. The book is actually a collection of twenty essays by the authors that first appeared in Metropolis Magazine between September 2011 and December 2013; regardless, my understanding is the collective essays comprise a coherent thesis about design (I’ve read several of the essays independently). Their ideas will strike many as unconventional and radical but in my mind they’re eminently logical. The authors apply principles of fractal geometry, networks, self-organization, generative patterns, and dynamical systems to the tasks of understanding our world and designing for our place within it. 

Michael Mehaffy and Nikos Salingaros aspire to nothing less than a paradigm shift in architectural thinking, and that’s why I’m paying attention to them. You should too. 

Graham Brenton McKay
Graham McKay is a prolific freelance architectural writer who currently resides in Dubai (he’s a British expat). The blog Misfits Architecture is McKay’s forum for exercising his wickedly acerbic wit. He often wields his pointed pen at the foibles of the self-styled avant-garde and glitterati (Zaha Hadid and her associate Patrik Schumacher are favorite targets). With equal regularity, he also celebrates those misfits whose contribution to better performing buildings has not been fully appreciated (Douglas Haskell being his most recent honoree). 

Are you a misfit? McKay offers a definition: 

Have you ever thought Rem Koolhaas might just be another person? Or Harvard GSD may not be the centre of the Universe? Do you not love biennali or festivali, or even 'like' anything on ArchDaily?(1) Do you sense something's very wrong with architecture? 

We do too. Welcome. 

Food and shelter are both essential for human life but food is anything from a bowl of rice a day to some exquisite mouthful for a moment's pleasure. Junk food is somewhere in-between but so too is just the right amount of nutrition our bodies need. 

It's the same with shelter. We've got bread buildings that fill, cake buildings that thrill, and junk buildings that all they do is make us want more. 

All misfits wants is a nutritious architecture that does the shelter thing well, makes us feel good because it is good for us, doesn't cost the earth or cost us the earth. If that makes us misfits then so be it. 

I’ve included Misfits Architecture on my blog roll ever since I discovered it a few years ago. Reading what Graham McKay has to say is a surefire way to keep one’s ego in check and outlook in the proper perspective. 

Witold Rybczynski
Witold Rybczynski is an award-winning author, architect, and professor. He’s written about architecture and urban design extensively for a wide variety of print and online magazines, including The Atlantic Monthly, The New Yorker, and Slate.com. He’s also authored twenty books, mostly about architecture but also on such disparate topics as the evolution of the seven-day week (Waiting for the Weekend) and the history of the screwdriver and the screw (One Good Turn). 

My personal library includes three of Rybczynski’s titles:

• The Most Beautiful House in the World (1989)
• The Biography of a Building: How Robert Sainsbury and Norman Foster Built a Great Museum (2011)
• How Architecture Works: A Humanist's Toolkit (2013)

A common thread that shines through every Rybczynski book or article is his writing skill and ability to impart his personal thoughts on the subject at hand. I like to think part of the reason for this is because, like me, he hails from Canada, which former Prime Minister McKenzie King characterized as a country “without enough history and too much geography.” These facts instill a peculiar way of looking at the world, one that favors wistful observation and reflection (my wife thinks I’m particularly prone to navel-gazing). 

What I like most about Rybczynski’s blog (which like Misfits Architecture appears in my blog list at right) is how pithy and yet how insightful each entry is. His posts are wonderfully varied and yet consistent in their questioning and probing of what constitutes good architecture.

*    *    *    *    *    *

I’m thankful to have discovered clear-headed architectural thinkers, whose writings are variously serious, original, entertaining, provocative, and/or enlightening. As I get older, I’m finding it easier to recognize important ideas when I read them. I do sense an increasing accord amongst those whose work I admire most. The harmonics of this chorus—at first hearing seemingly random and dissonant—is quickly emerging as a self-organizing body of thought. Hmmm . . . indeed.
 

(1)   Ironically, ArchDaily is another staple on my blog roll.

      

Building as Landscape

 

I haven’t frequently showcased the projects of Robertson/Sherwood/Architects, the firm I work for, on my blog. This is partly due to my reticence for tooting our own horn. I started SW Oregon Architect primarily as a means to share news relevant to AIA–Southwestern Oregon members during my tenure on the chapter's board of directors. Since then, I’ve continued to mostly write on topics of broad interest to the modest readership I’ve garnered since I began blogging in 2008. 

 

There have been a few exceptions. I dedicated a series of posts to a case study of our design for the VA Roseburg Healthcare System Community Living Center. Likewise, I chronicled the genesis, design processes, and construction of the University of Oregon’s Student Recreation Center Expansion, the Eugene Public Library and the Lane Community College Downtown Campus. In each instance, I believed it was worth describing the challenges the design problems posed, sharing our approach to addressing those challenges, and celebrating the projects’ noteworthy achievements. 

Approach to the building's entrance.

 

With this post I’m featuring RSA’s recently completed Lone Rock Resources office building in Roseburg. I do so not because it breaks new ground architecturally or because it will have an outsized impact upon the community of which it is a part. Instead, the relatively small project is simply a fine example of our work and a vindication of our approach to architecture. 

 

Lone Rock Resources is a family-owned timber company with a proud past and forward-looking future. The company responsibly manages more than 128,000 acres of forest lands for the long term. Lone Rock has championed sustainable forestry practices ever since Fred and Frances Sohn set up shop on the banks of the South Umpqua River in Roseburg in 1950. Today, the culture the Sohn family established through investment in people, research, equipment, and technology remains integral to the company’s success. Lone Rock Resources is a quintessential forestry company for the 21st century. 

View looking toward the GIS/Mapping/Survey wing.

 

Working for good people and having the right team are the key ingredients of any successful project. We genuinely enjoyed working with Lone Rock’s management team, who made certain we thoroughly understood the company’s history, culture, and vision for the future of the timber industry in Oregon. The project was also blessed to have Harmon Construction of Coos Bay as the general contractor. For our part, we entrusted the primary design responsibility for Lone Rock’s new headquarters to RSA associate Scott Stolarczyk.  

Scott Stolarczyk, AIA, CDT, GGP, LEED AP BD+C

 

Scott is one of our firm’s most talented architects. He’s also the office’s go-to resource for all things related to sustainable design, LEED and Green Globes certification, and integrated, whole-building design practices. In addition to Lone Rock’s facility, Scott designed the Regional Health & Educational Center for Planned Parenthood, the Giustina Resources office building, several branches for LibertyBank, the Veneta Municipal Pool, and a variety of food services facilities for the University of Oregon Housing Department (check out our website for images of these projects). Scott was eminently suited for the Lone Rock project because of his unique skill set, past experience, and ability to work effectively with a like-minded and amenable client. 

View within the "Watershed" courtyard.

 

We consider every one of our design commissions a unique opportunity and work with each of our clients to arrive at creative solutions that exceed expectations. For Lone Rock, Scott wanted to ensure his design for the new company’s new offices was truly expressive of the company’s ethos. Beyond Lone Rock’s commitment to sustainably managing the lands they control, this meant creating attractive, clearly organized, and highly functional workspaces to empower the company’s greatest resource: its employees. This also meant honoring Fred Sohn’s legacy: his passion for innovation, belief in the importance of investing for the future, and respect for the environment. 

 

Floor Plan (click to enlarge)

 

The functional program for Lone Rock’s new building was straightforward: Provide suitable accommodations and support for its management, sales, accounting, and engineering staff, as well as a home base for the more-transient foresters (who spend much of their time in the field). Create a functionally and energy-efficient facility that consolidates a disparate and dispersed assortment of existing offices within approximately 11,000 square feet of space. Wrap it in an attractive package Fred Sohn would have liked. 

 

We learned that Lone Rock’s employees are characteristically humble, certainly not inclined toward favoring fancy digs. The foresters in particular expressed some discomfiture at the prospect of working within a precious or extravagant new building. Accordingly, Scott purposely designed it as a low-slung, modestly scaled structure nestled down the slope from and parallel to Old Hwy 99. Views toward the hills across the South Umpqua River to the west and up the slope across the highway to the east would also shape the plan, as would the inclusion of two interior courtyards. Scott’s emphasis upon access to views and daylight would become a key shaper of his design, rather than any desire to create an architectural statement. Instead, the form of Lone Rock’s new office building would largely appear to merge with the sloping profile of its site and become part of the landscape. 
 

"Watershed" Courtyard.

 

Furthering the building as landscape concept, Scott imagined the building as an analog for the Umpqua River watershed. The sloping roofs became abstractions of the hills flanking the river, while the courtyards represented the valley, its floor traced by the path of the waterway. Toward this end, Scott’s efforts were enhanced considerably by David Dougherty, ASLA, principal of DLA Landscape Architects. David detailed the courtyards to incorporate paving, native plantings, water features, and patterning that allude to the real landscape without appearing hokey. The courtyards provide visual oases, as well as access to light and fresh air. 

 

Of course, showcasing natural wood in the design was a given. Scott clad the building with a rainscreen system utilizing a combination of Western Red Cedar horizontal siding (treated with a clear alkyd oil finish) and vertical accent siding (featuring a fire-charred finish). Additionally, Scott incorporated large peeled-wood columns to support the larger roof overhangs. He worked with wood’s inherent properties to maximize the aesthetic effect of its natural beauty and warmth. The prominent display of wood, which continues inside, helps express what Lone Rock Resources is about. It symbolizes the company’s respect for a renewable and sustainable resource that has meant so much to western Oregon’s identity and economy. 

The slopes of the building's roof planes echo those of the hills behind them.

 

Scott complemented the expressive Western Red Cedar by cladding portions of the building with a stone masonry veneer. The cool grey color of the “Black Forest Mica” cultured stone by Coronado Stone Products harmonizes perfectly with the warm red tones of the wood. 

 

The interior design likewise features a harmonious blending of materials, of which wood is again prominently featured. The plan combines private enclosed offices with open workstations in flexible groupings, arranged as required to support changing needs. Pervasive throughout the interiors are the omnipresent views to the exterior, either outwardly toward the picturesque surrounding landscape or inwardly to the Zen-like courtyards. 

 

Conference Room.

 

Shareholders' Meeting Room.

 

Overall, Scott’s design exemplifies RSA’s belief that every project is one-of-a-kind. Working with Lone Rock Resources provided us with the opportunity to develop a design solution we believe is beautiful, inspiring, and unique to the company, a true representation of its heritage and guiding beliefs.  We’re confident we have provided Lone Rock with the first-rate workplace it was looking for, and we’re proud of our effort. 

 

*    *    *    *    *    *

 

In addition to Scott, David Dougherty, and Harmon Construction, the other contributors to the success of the Lone Rock Resources project include the following:  

• Hobach-Lewin Engineers (structural design)
• Systems West Engineers (M/E/P design)
• Pinnacle Western, Inc. (project management, civil engineering)

I took the photographs featured here during the June 9 Roseburg Area Chamber of Commerce “Business After Hours” grand opening celebration for Lone Rock’s new building. In my opinion, the limitations of my smart phone's camera and my amateurish skills have failed to adequately capture (particularly for the interior shots) how satisfying the completed design is. We eventually hope to commission professional photography to do it proper justice.

 

Bases for Organization of the Environment

Maison de Rueil, by Édouard Manet (1882)

The following brief piece by Bill Kleinsasser demonstrates how broadly he viewed the architect’s responsibilities. His emphasis upon the interconnectedness of systems resonates now more than ever as we increasingly grasp how complex and expansive the processes and consequences of environmental design are. Only the gender bias (“man’s pattern-making,” “man’s awareness,” “his frames of reference,” and “his capabilities”) expressed in Bill’s writing betrays how old this passage is. Read on: 
 

 

Activity Support

The simplest and most familiar basis for organizing and shaping the physical environment is support for human activities. This basis involves accommodation of purpose and has both operational and experiential aspects. Changes in people, changes in activities, changes in institutions, the consequent desirability of loose fit and open-endedness, on the one hand, and exacting standards of performance on the other, reflect that this basis for organization involves activity families or families of use. These families imply varying amounts of specificity regarding configuration and equipment. 

 

Respect for Existing Systems

Outside of the institutions of man our physical surroundings belong to everyone and to no one. Because of this we can conceive of our physical environment as being extensive and continuous, both in terms of scales of existence or involvement and in terms of the interactions of systems. This accounts for this most fundamental basis for organizing the environment: respect for and sensitivity about existing systems. We need to make new systems that manifest the interdependence of life, recognizing that the physical surroundings we make both affect and are affected by other systems. This directs our attention to symbiotic and commensalistic relationships, as well as niches, dominance, and hierarchies. 

 

Maintaining the Ability to Make New Patterns / Heightening Awareness

Within and in addition to the first two bases for environmental organization and configuration are two more: maintenance of the physical and psychological vitality of man’s pattern-making capabilities and heightening of man’s awareness, expansion of the number of and meaning of his frames of reference and views of reality. The first is a matter of nourishing his capabilities; the second a matter of adding to or intensifying them. The first indicates the need for certain kinds of environmental characteristics and configurations; the second suggests precision and order. The first produces stimulation; the second poetic impact.

 
WK/1969