Pearl District News

[BrG]

Originally Posted by zilfondel

Wow, white brick + flashing + wood-framed windows. Very nice - you don't see wood framed windows in midrise projects very often.

...or is that wood? I guess it could be stained vinyl or something. Anyone know for sure?

Those look like Innotech windows. Innotech makes a type of higher quality vinyl window that has an exterior color finishing option at an added (pretty significant) cost.

Innotech are installed on Grays Landing in SOWA in Brown and Orange...and also The Pinnacle condo tower in silvery grey...to look like metal.

They are a high quality window and often difficult to get specified on housing projects due to cost. They regularly suffer a 'Value Engineering' cut when the contractor proposes ways to cut construction costs to the building owner.

At the very least, the color often gets cut, then the window quality comes next. Nice to see this project make it to construction with something other than the standard integrated colors of vinyl....white, creamy almond or light grey !

[pdxpearl]

It looks like a floral/furniture/accessory/coffee shop is slated to open in the old Cloud 7 cafe on Jamison Park.

http://www.cdexd.com

[Sioux612]

Does anyone know when this project breaks ground? IIRC I thought I heard "mid-summer".

A rendering for Abigail Apartments, an affordable and market-rate apartment building in development, will be the Pearl District's seventh affordable housing apartment.
Courtesy of BRIDGE Housing

[2oh1]

What the heck happened there, design wise? Oof. On the left, there's the brick with what looks like an almost too minimal design until you notice the yellow or white panes that don't match the design or even fit any pattern. And then, on the right... what the hell is THAT? It looks like bad student housing from the 60s got a facelift. Yikes. Thank god they took the time to lasso the trees. That totally makes the whole thing look like less of a fustercluck.

[tworivers]

What the heck happened there, design wise? Oof. On the left, there's the brick with what looks like an almost too minimal design until you notice the yellow or white panes that don't match the design or even fit any pattern. And then, on the right... what the hell is THAT? It looks like bad student housing from the 60s got a facelift. Yikes. Thank god they took the time to lasso the trees. That totally makes the whole thing look like less of a fustercluck.

Funny, it looks potentially nice to me (nothing special, mind you) -- could go wither way depending on quality of materials and attention to detail. Tough to tell with more impressionistic renderings like this. Any use of color in Portland is always welcome and the contrast between the two halves could be pleasing.

[Derek]

I don't think it looks bad either. It's not spectacular, but it's not bad.

[2oh1]

The left doesn't look bad, but the right half looks like a mess to me.

[tworivers]

Definitely respect your passion, 2oh1. And I do see what you're saying, it's just hard to tell from this sort of rendering.

A few things jumped out at me immediately that I liked and that I think softened my skepticism: use of color; what looks like a glass curtain wall for the street level on the brick side; no flying roof; it has some quirk (rather than "bad student housing from the 60s got a facelift" I'd say "decent quality European social housing from the 60's gets a 21st century Portland facelift"); I don't know, maybe someone cares a little bit about what they're designing...

Of course, it could just as easily end up looking like crap, too.

[zilfondel]

Actually, it shares many similarities in facade detailing and scale to contemporary Western European social housing models. Particularly in France and the Netherlands (not bad models).

The composition is more American than European, and the trend of breaking masses down into separate pieces and changing facade materials are also very prevalent in America.

Now, lets just hope it doesn't get VE'd.

[2oh1]

I don't mind the changing facades. I just hate the Soviet era gray plus college dorm-like white panels. I think the right half is hideous - but it'll be great for the neighborhood, so I really hope it gets built, ASAP!

[bvpcvm]

Sorry to be that guy, but gray != "soviet era". There are plenty of buildings with grey facades in pdx; is the new ohsu building suddenly "soviet"? The north facade of the henry, is that "soviet"? The elliot tower? No. Gray can look fantastic in the right context.

[tworivers]

Gray can look fantastic in the right context.

Spoken like a true Portlander.

[i2m]

This may be good for the neighborhood although it remains unfortunate. It is hideous. It is a building although it is a far cry from good architecture.

The trend towards treating buildings like this as if they were separate buildings built by different people may be well intentioned although over time it will seem like someone who couldn't dress themselves.....

[2oh1]

Originally Posted by bvpcvm

Gray can look fantastic in the right context.

Agreed. But this is not that context. The right half of this building is just horizontal slabs of dark gray with slab panels of white, which will probably really be light gray. Whatever attractiveness you guys are seeing... wow... I'm just not seeing it. I'm trying, but the more I look, the more of a mess I see. The left wing, while not exciting, looks fine. The glass section separating the left and right halves of the building is probably quite nice. But, wow, the right half... it looks so cheap and bizarre to me. What's the deal with the third shade of gray along a vertical strip of what I assume is a stairwell between the two oddly angled sections that make up the right half? Did they run out of paint?

To me, the right section looks cheap and drab. And it looks like they tried to hide the cheapness by slapping up vertical white panels. The splashes of color from the balconies are a nice touch though. That right half looks like a dorm for a clown school. An unaccredited clown school. In Russia. There, I said it. LOL!

The brick section is fine. The glass section is nice. I don't get the gray half of this one at all.

[2oh1]

Originally Posted by i2m

This may be good for the neighborhood although it remains unfortunate. It is hideous. It is a building although it is a far cry from good architecture.

100000000000000000000000000% THIS.

Originally Posted by i2m

The trend towards treating buildings like this as if they were separate buildings built by different people may be well intentioned although over time it will seem like someone who couldn't dress themselves.....

This too. It can be done well, but it wasn't done well here.

[philopdx]

ArtHouse:





The Parker:




Courtyard Marriott:

[cab]

Arthouse, using the same materials used in Airport bathrooms. Is this a new Architecture form....Toiletism? Its going to be interesting to see how cheap the industry can go. I hear cow crap bricks are on sale right now....think of the possibilities!.

[rsbear]

Originally Posted by cab

Arthouse, using the same materials used in Airport bathrooms. Is this a new Architecture form....Toiletism? Its going to be interesting to see how cheap the industry can go. I hear cow crap bricks are on sale right now....think of the possibilities!.

You may spend a great deal more time in airport bathrooms than I, but I don't see the connection between the two.

I do like the building, however, based upon the pictures others have posted.

[maccoinnich]

Originally Posted by cab

Arthouse, using the same materials used in Airport bathrooms. Is this a new Architecture form....Toiletism? Its going to be interesting to see how cheap the industry can go. I hear cow crap bricks are on sale right now....think of the possibilities!.

Senator Craig?

[cab]

Travel is tough on the stomach And that would have been a good one 4 years ago maccoinnich. In all seriousness, its shed material. I guess its harder to compromise architecture value having seen what other places are doing with architecture. You cant just like something because its not your standard brown bricks. Lets be honest, the material is tin crap better used in industrial bathrooms. Anyone want to bet a drink that in 3 years the siding will have to be redone do to water damage?