Quote:
Originally Posted by Rob Nob
Sounds like you have some experience with the landmarks commission. They want everything to look like an historic building in this district. The proportions, height, scale, opening sizes and rhythms are all based on historic buildings in the district. The irony is that will hold this district back; there needs to be more height to make most new buildings pencil and they aren't going to allow anything taller than what is there already.
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I disagree with the statement that for a district to stand out, it has to have large, tall iconic buildings. That is not necessarily the goal - the goal for a city should be to have a cohesive fabric that serves the population of the city well, with clean and efficient structures.
If you have ever visited, say Amsterdam or Berlin, those cities have undergone massive urban redevelopment schemes, with many midrise buildings that can redefine and reinvigorate urban spaces through cutting-edge design.
Potsdamer Platz is a sort of good example in Berlin, although it has a couple of taller buildings. In Amsterdam, the waterfront redevelopment has resulted in a large number of cutting edge, yet midrise structures. Javakade (Java island) is comprised mostly of 4-6 story residential structures.
That being said, this building does look like a fabric building; but for a firm that specializes in that type of design... why would they deviate from what they know? Unless a designer or design firm is looking to rebrand, the projects they design will of course be similar to each other, as there are limitations to design development. In other words, institutional inertia due to budge constraints. There are, of course, firms that specialize in pushing the boundaries, but I don't think Portland's permitting process and fiscally conservative developers supports that kind of environment.