September AIA-SWO Chapter Meeting Recap

David's House Traumatic Brain Injury Residence by 2Form Architecture - 1st Place, Public/Institutional Architecture, 2008 People's Choice Awards

The September 2008 AIA-SWO chapter meeting featured our annual Awards Gala, showcasing the results of our Craftsmanship and People’s Choice awards programs. If you weren’t there, you missed a great event. Gerlinger Hall Lounge on the University of Oregon campus provided a decorous backdrop for the stately proceedings, enjoyed by the 50 AIA-SWO members and guests in attendance.

AIA150 Scholarships
The evening’s first point of order was to bestow the AIA150 Scholarship for Community Activism to two students nominated by faculty at the University of Oregon’s School of Architecture and Allied Arts. The scholarships were established by our chapter’s AIA150 committee, part of the national celebration of the American Institute of Architects 150th anniversary in 2007. The committee was pleased to award the scholarships to two students destined to become leaders of our profession:

• Erik Churchill, Graduate Student in Architecture and Business Administration, M. Arch. and M.B.A. Candidate (2010): Erik is one of the student founders and presently the elected Director of the DesignBridge, a student-run design-build organization. He has outstanding leadership abilities and excels in both the Architecture and Business Graduate Programs. In addition to Erik's service and academic achievements, his design studio work is outstanding. Professor Earl Moursund comments on Erik’s performance: “Thoughtful, inventive, searching; jumping over the obvious to explore possibilities, dramatic consequences, really plunged into the nature of each of the project components, with most interesting results…”

• Daniele Cohen B.Arch. candidate (2011): Daniele is a member of the Robert D. Clark Honors College and holds a 3.67 GPA. His ARCH 383 Professor, Dee Etzwiller, comments in her review of his studio work: “You are a strong student who is passionate about architecture. You worked very hard on your design, developing it on all scales up to the end. Your design process is smooth and thoughtful. You have a strong design sense and keen interest in form, materials, structures, etc.” He is the newly elected Outreach Director for New Projects by the student-run DesignBridge Organization. The Outreach Director works with a team of students “incubating” projects, grant writing and finding professional sponsors who can mentor, provide materials and equipment, and recruits design/build firms to offer summer internships. It is unusual that a second-year undergraduate gains the confidence of so many students. In his short time at Oregon, Daniele has demonstrated great potential as a designer, scholar, and as a caring, contributing member of the community.
  

Congratulations Erik and Daniele!

AIA150 Committee Chair Eric Gunderson presents the AIA150 scholarships to Daniele Cohen and Erik Churchill

Craftsmanship Awards
We too often fail to publicly acknowledge the men and women in the construction industry that have demonstrated truly superior craftsmanship and execution of the buildings we design. The biennial AIA-SWO Craftsmanship Awards program is an excellent vehicle for demonstrating our appreciation for their efforts, without which our projects cannot succeed. For the September 2008 AIA-SWO chapter meeting, we were privileged to recognize nine worthy nominees:

• Shadowbrook General Contracting
• Gary Engle, Master Carpenter
• Tofflemoyer Masonry
• John Wright, Vik Construction
• Mark Bruer
• Jim Sutherland, J.B. Electric
• Nick Russo, Renaissance Remodel & Restoration
• Pat Shields, Shieldworks
• Essex Construction

The following individuals were further singled out as the recipients of 2008 AIA-SWO Craftsmanship Awards for the outstanding displays of skill evident in their completed projects:

• Nick Russo, Renaissance Remodel & Restoration
• Pat Shields, Shieldworks
• John Wright, Vik Construction

AIA-SWO President Jody Heady, AIA presents John Wright of Vik Construction with his 2008 Craftsmanship Award

Congratulations are due to all of the Craftsmanship Award nominees. More importantly, we thank them for the care, focus, and attention that are evident in their work, for doing their best to help realize the vision of our architectural dreams.

People’s Choice Awards
The AIA-SWO People’s Choice Awards is our annual public outreach event held at the Eugene Celebration. The purpose is to present the recent work of architects and landscape architects, and to encourage the public to critically engage the built environment. The emphasis is not on winning but on sharing and honoring all the work undertaken to make buildings and landscapes important and meaningful in our daily lives. Here is the list of the winners, who are also featured in the Wednesday, September 24, 2008 edition of the Eugene Register-Guard. Congratulations to this year's People's Choice selections!

• Commercial Landscape 1st Place: Paradise Springs Wedding & Events Garden - Schirmer & Associates

• Commercial Landscape 2nd Place: Sequential Biofuel Retail Fueling Station - Habitats Inc.

• Multi-Family Housing 1st Place: The Watershed - Solarc Architecture & Engineering

• Multi-Family Housing 2nd Place: Crescent Village East - Rowell Brokaw Architects

• Public/Institutional 1st Place: David’s House Traumatic Brain Injury Residence - 2Form Architecture

• Public/Institutional 2nd Place: A New Synagogue for Temple Beth Israel - TBG Architects & Planners

• Residential Landscape 1st Place: Deep Shade to Dappled Light - Stangeland & Associates

• Residential Landscape 2nd Place: Terraces at the Pavilion - Schlesinger & Associates

La Perla Pizzeria Napoletana - Nir Pearlson, Architect

• Commercial 1st Place: La Perla Pizzeria Napoletana - Nir Pearlson

• Commercial 2nd Place: Planet Improvement Center – Bring Recycling - TBG Architects & Planners

• Residential 1 st Place: McKenzie River Residence - Nir Pearlson

• Residential 2nd Place: Rogers Residence - Willard C. Dixon

The winner of out ballot raffle and the recipient of a $250 gift certificate to The Green Store is Esther Foss of Eugene. Congratulations Esther!

Colleague's Choice Results
The “Colleague’s Choice” vote is an ancillary event to the People’s Choice program and meant to be a fun way for our AIA-SWO and ASLA members to weigh in on the question of which of their peers’ projects were most worthy of recognition. In addition, the AIA-SWO and ASLA voters were encouraged to provide their comments about the projects. Accompanying the list below of the colleagues’ choices is a sampling of their comments:

• Commercial Landscape: SeQuential Biofuel Retail Fueling Station
  Transforms a utilitarian, functional building into something more meaningful.
  The green roof appears to work! It is prominent because of the shed roof form.
  When I drive by I admire how good the roof looks
  Good demonstration piece for the public

• Multi-Family Housing: The Royal
  Well styled urban building both inside and out
  Project’s scope and mixed-use in downtown setting is attractive
  Underserved need, well-designed space, simplicity of plan; though a little trendy
  Because it really changes Springfield
  
  

• Public/Institutional: West Eugene Wetlands Environmental Education Center
  Ambitious project goals
  Synthesized
  Right on!
  Nice integration into the site. Good use of a vegetated roof.
  Transparent and open.
  Clearly well-thought out. Beautiful board!
  
  
• Residential Landscape: Brannock Garden
  Multiple layers with depth; opening the backyard to the front.
  Not ordinary in its approach to elements, such as fire pit, retaining wall, etc.
  Beautiful water feature, strong art component.
  Clean, efficient use of materials; built forms complement/integrate w/natural components.
  Elegant incorporation of built and natural landscapes.
  Art, simplicity, materiality.

• Commercial Architecture: La Perla
  Great use of materials and color; daring and appropriate
  Great new identity and memorable image
  Fresh, simple, bold
  Excellent creation of an open dining area w/focus on the pizza oven!
  Visually energetic, draws you in from the street yet is connected & part of the streetscape
  
  
• Single-Family Residential: McKenzie River Residence
  Beautifully tucked into the landscape
  A modern gem
  Ordered, minimal, rich materials
  A beautiful house on an awesome site
  Compact but appears very spacious
  Simplicity of form, honesty and articulation of materials
  
  

All AIA-SWO and ASLA members who submitted their Colleague’s Choice ballots were instantly eligible for a raffle prize drawing. The prize – a $150 gift certificate to The Green Store – was awarded to Lindsay Smith of Satre Associates. Congratulations Lindsay!

People’s Choice Exhibit Schedule
The boards of the winning 2008 entries will be on display at the Midtown Arts Center (1590 Willamette Street in Eugene) during the month of October. Following that, all of the 2008 People’s Choice boards will be moved to the Corvallis Public Library, where they will be viewable through November.

Register-Guard Special Insert
As mentioned above, look for the special Register-Guard insert inside the Wednesday, September 24th edition of the paper. Also, you will be able to find an expanded, full-color online version of the insert at the Register-Guard’s web site at http://adserver1.harvestadsdepot.com/reggrdeugene/ss/085248/.

Acknowledgements
I would be remiss if I did not thank the members of the Craftsmanship Awards and People’s Choice Awards committees for generously offering their time and energies toward the success of both programs. We couldn’t have done it without them:

• Craftsmanship Award Committee Members
  Jody Heady
  Jean Duffett
  Scott Stolarczyk
  
• People’s Choice Committee Members
  Kurt Albrecht
  Janna Alley
  Sara Bergsund
  Jenna Fribley
  Shawn Jenkins
  Anita Van Asperdt
  Barbara Harris
  Matt Koehler
  Lana Sadler
  Paul Dustrud
  . . . plus all the AIA-SWO and ASLA members who staffed the exhibit (thank you!)
  

Design on Display

I’ve just returned home from this year’s AIA-SWO People’s Choice Awards display at the Eugene Celebration. From what I saw, it was an unqualified success. Not only did we showcase more entrants (36) than in any previous year, but from all accounts there was a steady flow of people very much interested in the exhibit throughout the entire weekend. As a means to deliver our message about the benefits of design excellence and what design professionals provide to enhance the built environment, the People’s Choice program is priceless and the very best kind of publicity. My thanks to everyone involved with the People’s Choice organizing committee: Kurt, Barbara, Jenna, Shawn, Sara, Anita, Janna, and Matt (did I forget anyone?). I’d also like to thank all of the AIA-SWO and ASLA members who volunteered their time to staff the exhibit during the Celebration. We couldn’t have done it without you.

The results of the public’s voting (as well as the “colleague’s choice” balloting) will be presented at the September chapter meeting, which is this year’s awards banquet (recognizing both the People’s Choice winners and the recipients of the 2008 AIA-SWO Craftsmanship Awards). All of the People’s Choice entrants will be on display at the banquet, so if you missed seeing the display during the Celebration at the Oveissi & Company store you can catch it at Gerlinger Hall on the University of Oregon campus this Wednesday evening. The People’s Choice boards will also be displayed at the Corvallis Public Library in November so that our neighbors up north in the heart of the valley get an opportunity to see the best work of our membership as well.


Speaking of Oveissi & Company, many thanks to Kaz Oveissi for his hospitality. His store is the perfect venue for the People’s Choice exhibit during the Eugene Celebration, ideally sited and commodious (with beautiful rugs as a backdrop for the projects). Thanks too, to all of our other People’s Choice display sponsors: Central Print & Reprographics, The Green Store, and The Eugene Weekly.

See you all at the AIA-SWO Awards Banquet this coming Wednesday, September 17th!

Monthly Meeting Sponsorship

The American Institute of Architects – Southwestern Oregon Chapter (AIA-SWO) offers a chapter meeting sponsorship program as a means for companies to feature their services and products of interest to our membership. For the sponsor, the benefits would include:

• Recognition on all meeting notification materials distributed to every AIA-SWO professional, associate, and affiliate member in advance of the selected meeting.
• Identification as a sponsor on the annual Program Calendar posted as a printable pdf file on the AIA-SWO chapter website.
• Exclusive access to AIA-SWO members who attend the chapter meeting, including the opportunity to present products/services with a tabletop display during the social hour preceding the dinner and program.
• The opportunity to address the assembled group for up to 5 minutes following dinner and prior to start of the evening’s program. Upon advance request, AIA-SWO can furnish a digital projector and screen for the sponsor’s presentation.
• First rights to future chapter meeting sponsorship opportunities.

The cost of sponsorship would be proportionate to the number of members who attend the selected meeting, with a per capita rate of $17.00 or a maximum of $300, whichever is less. Typically, attendance at the chapter meetings has averaged between 20 and 30 persons. Unless noted otherwise, the AIA-SWO meetings take place at The Actors Cabaret, located in downtown Eugene at 996 Willamette Street, on the third Wednesday of each month. Social hour begins at 5:30, dinner at 6:30, and the program at 7:00.

If you are a vendor interested in sponsoring one of our chapter meetings, contact me via e-mail at rnishimura@robertsonsherwood.com or by phone at (541) 342-8077. Opportunities remain available for our chapter meetings throughout 2009.

AIA-SWO Chapter Program Change

The October AIA-SWO chapter meeting program was originally scheduled to be a discussion about the Eugene riverfront and more specifically, the Eugene Water & Electric Board property that will be redeveloped once EWEB’s new facilities in west Eugene are completed. However, our chapter is presently working on plans with both EWEB and the City of Eugene to jointly conduct a public design charette early in 2009 that will factor prominently in how a new riverfront district might take shape. For this reason, we will defer this subject for a chapter meeting that will occur sometime shortly after the results of the charette are available for review. Instead, I’m pleased to announce that October’s meeting (10/15/08) will feature a presentation by City of Eugene planners Terri Harding and Patricia Thomas about the City’s Infill Compatibility Standards (ICS) and Opportunity Siting (OS) projects.

The purpose of the ICS and OS projects can be generally described as protecting existing neighborhood character while integrating infill development in a way that fosters a sense of community. OS specifically focuses on identifying sites and outlining the design parameters for infill multiple-family housing. Both projects were initiated by City Council to address concerns raised by residents about the kind of development occurring in their neighborhoods. These have become high profile projects with the Planning Commission and recommendations will be going forward to the Commission and the City Council in the next several months.

Two task teams have been at work since late last year to define these projects and propose solutions to what residents find to be ugly or invasive infill development that have negative impacts on existing neighborhoods. Toward that end, the ICS task team is working on identifying characteristics that define each neighborhood and the aspects of new development that have had a deleterious effect. The OS task team has been developing a process to work with neighborhoods to identify appropriate sites for denser development and a methodology to assure that developments are better designed to fit well into existing neighborhoods.

Why present this to our membership? AIA-SWO members will be interested in the integration of urban design issues into a conversation that involves residents and businesses and affects developers and their architects. The OS and ICS task teams and City staff welcome a discussion with AIA-SWO members to learn from architects' perspectives on these issues and ideas for solutions while the projects are in early-enough phases to benefit from the input.

Check out the following web links for more information about the Infill Compatibility Standards and Opportunity Siting projects:

www.eugene-or.gov/infill

www.eugene-or.gov/oppsiting

While October’s program may be changing, this month’s program remains the same. Don’t miss our special Craftsmanship & People’s Choice Awards Gala on September 17th at Gerlinger Hall on the University of Oregon campus. Every few years, the AIA-SWO honors those builders who have contributed through their efforts to the realization of projects that exhibit an outstanding level craftsmanship or have otherwise have helped mightily to produce highly successful built spaces. The award winners are selected from among candidates nominated by AIA-SWO members. Mark your calendars for this very special event, which will also feature the announcement of the annual People’s Choice Design Awards winning projects. See you there!

19th Annual AIA-SWO People’s Choice Awards

Each year, the AIA/SWO sponsors the People’s Choice Awards, showcasing the design work of our membership. This program spotlights design excellence and demonstrates to the public what the architecture profession provides to enhance the built environment. The public is asked to vote for their favorite designs in several categories during the Eugene Celebration, occurring September 12 - September 14, 2008. The votes will be counted and winners announced at the September Chapter Meeting. The winners will also be announced in the AIA/SWO Register-Guard Insert to be published later in September.

Participation Benefits:

• The public is provided with the opportunity to view your firm’s individual projects.


• The picture and written description of the individual category winners are published in the AIA/SWO Register Guard Insert. A full-color version of the Register Guard Insert will also be posted on the Register Guard website for three additional months (through 12/31/08).
  
• Boards will be displayed at Oveissi & Co. during the Eugene Celebration and at the Midtown Arts Center the week following. AIA/SWO is also pursuing other opportunities to display the boards throughout the month of September at different locations in Eugene. In addition, the exhibit will move to the Corvallis Public Library in November.


• The picture and written description of all the winners will be posted on the AIA/SWO website.


• The winners will be celebrated at the September AIA/SWO Chapter meeting and dinner.

Eligibility:

• For architecture and interiors, the entrant must be an architect, associate, or allied member of AIA/SWO. Landscape architecture projects may be submitted by AIA/SWO and ASLA members.


• The entrant must have primary design responsibility.


• Projects must be completed within the last (2) years.


• Projects may be located anywhere in the world.


• Projects cannot have been submitted any previous year.

Submission Requirements:

• Each project submitted requires a separate entry form.


• Intent to Enter forms are due September 6, 2008.


• Entry fee for firms with 5 or fewer employees: $75 per submission (1), payable to AIA-Southwestern Oregon.


• Entry fee for firms with more than 5 employees: $135 per submission (1), payable to AIA-Southwestern Oregon.


• One rigid display board for each project entered. The board may not exceed 30”x 40” and must be capable of being stable and supported by easels provided by AIA/SWO.


• Each submission must recognize all participants involved in the design process.
• In addition to the project boards, entrants must provide a compact disk containing one digital photograph (JPEG or PDF) and a brief written description of the project (Microsoft Word or PDF). CDs will be accepted at the time of presentation board delivery.

Bring your submission(s) to the venue at Oveissi & Co, located at 1 East Broadway, by 2 pm on Friday, September 12.

Award categories:

• Single-Family Residential


• Multi-family Housing


• Commercial Public/Institutional


• Interiors


• Residential Landscape


• Multi-family Landscape


• Commercial/Public/Institutional Landscape

Actual categories will be determined by the number of entries.

The Intent to Enter Form is available for downloading at the AIA/SWO web site.

If you have any questions regarding this year’s People’s Choice Award entry process, contact:

Shawn Jenkins
PIVOT Architecture
72 West Broadway
Eugene, Oregon 97401
541-942-7291
541-342-1535 Fax
sjenkins@pivotarchitecture.com

(1) If you purchased space in the AIASWO Register Guard Insert the entrance fee or a portion of the fee will be waived depending upon the amount of space purchased.