Yard | 200' | 21 floors | Complete

[pdxf]

Nice! I really love the transition from solid to glass as the building rises. We'll see if the vertical strip of green actually becomes reality though -- seems like these fancy renderings with green all over everything never actually work out.

[Derek]

Anybody notice the crazy monkey van that somehow pops up all over Portland in the 3rd picture?


I had realized I hadn't seen it in a few months, and then I took a trip to the coast one weekend, and it was heading the opposite direction in the Coast Range.



Anyways, I absolutely love that project. It's sleek, edgy and sexy. It looks like it could be a catalyst for development in the area.

[maccoinnich]

Originally Posted by tworivers

On a side note, can anyone closer to the world of architecture explain to me why all firms don't produce renderings like this? Why WOULDN'T you want to produce such realistic-looking renderings showing the project couched in its surroundings? Is it a cost issue? A talent/skill issue? Do most architects not do this because they know that their designs are bad?

Cost. Producing renders like these is an extremely time consuming process, and as a result, many firms will specifically exclude photo realistic renders from their basic design services. (Skylab being an exception to this - I know they like to do this very early on in their design process). Clients may or may not wish to pay to have this done. It may be smart for them to pay if they have to do fundraising, or want to do marketing for the building. But for many buildings, there's simply little need to go to the expense.

[urbanlife]

Originally Posted by 65MAX

Very few projects that I can say this about.....

Love it!!

I have to agree, I am really excited about this building, though now I am worried it won't get built or somewhere along the line there will be a design change to a boring box with stripped down materials.

Though I would love to see more buildings like this along the East Burnside area to develop a new modern skyline and urban district for the city.

[tworivers]

maccoinnich: Cost. Producing renders like these is an extremely time consuming process, and as a result, many firms will specifically exclude photo realistic renders from their basic design services. (Skylab being an exception to this - I know they like to do this very early on in their design process). Clients may or may not wish to pay to have this done. It may be smart for them to pay if they have to do fundraising, or want to do marketing for the building. But for many buildings, there's simply little need to go to the expense.

Thanks!

I thought this project would be a divisive one and, so far, nothing but enthusiasm.

[bvpcvm]

Originally Posted by tworivers

Thanks!

I thought this project would be a divisive one and, so far, nothing but enthusiasm.

well... I like it up above, but your comment about it seeming like an "island" seems right on the money. It looks to me like there's a moat around it. We all hate the Wells Fargo Center for that; why would we approve of essentially the same thing here?

[maccoinnich]

Found the complete Design Review Request file via google. Full floor plans, elevations, sections, glazing details etc. Warning: 90MB PDF. [link]

[zilfondel]

Wow. That is amazingly bold - hope they build it. Have to dig through the PDF file and go over the details sometime, but I don't have any complaints - if there is one area to go crazy with radical designs in Portland, this would definitely be it. NIMBY shouldn't be an issue, either.

I'm not sure what software skylab uses, they are all on Mac's, not PC's. Archicad or something, but I don't know if that does renderings too.

[pdxtraveler]

LOVE it!

[Derek]

I fail to see any "moat". I see ground floor retail on the street level, albeit with a very small set of stairs at either end. There are multiple instances of this in The Pearl and it works perfectly well there. It doesn't compare to the awkward, sunken retail stores (or lack thereof) at the Wells Fargo Center at all.

[2oh1]

I love it. I worry that what we'll get will look nothing like the renders, of course, as that is so often the case. But then again, these renders are so well done and so detailed not to mention realistic that my hopes are a bit higher.

I don't see so much of a Wells Fargo moat effect here (haaaaaaaaaate that about Wells Fargo). This one is more of a highrise stacked on a squat building. It does give the highrise a bit of a fortress-like effect, but in this case I don't mind - mostly due to the challenges of the location. This is a challenging piece of land to work with. I have to say, I'm impressed by so much of what I see here. This will be a transformative piece for the neighborhood.

Originally Posted by tworivers

I'm still a bit baffled by the second building on that little strip of land across the street they incorporate into the design.

[zilfondel]

That little building is a totally separate project. Apparently has nothing to do with this tower, according to the design review PDF.

[bvpcvm]

Originally Posted by Derek

I fail to see any "moat". I see ground floor retail on the street level, albeit with a very small set of stairs at either end. There are multiple instances of this in The Pearl and it works perfectly well there. It doesn't compare to the awkward, sunken retail stores (or lack thereof) at the Wells Fargo Center at all.

I definitely see a moat between this building and the bridge. What is this, if not a moat:



I can't really see how it integrates with whichever street is directly to the east or with the north, but what I can see doesn't look like very much of it's even accessible. I guess the east side has some retail, and an entrance, but they've hidden it behind this pavilion that won't even be built as part of this project, so who knows? The north side has stairs along it, but it looks like they're stairs along the parking levels - again, they hid it with trees, so it's really hard to say. The west side has some active use, but that's down below the bridge; it may some day be an active area, but the place pedestrians are right now is up above, and this building mostly avoids them. I love the tower though.

I'm not sure what you're saying when you say there are multiple instances of "this" in the Pearl; there's nothing like what I'm talking about, that's for sure.

[maccoinnich]

I would agree that there's nothing exactly like this in the Pearl; on the other hand, I can't think of a site this complicated in the Pearl either. This building has to deal with a bridge significantly above grade on its south side, and a 2 story difference in grade between its east and west sides.

It took a while to get my head around the plans, but this is what's happening at street level, as I read it:

• West side (NE 2nd): Grade is at Level 1, with commercial space fronting all of the street, except for 32' taken up by the entry / exit to the parking structure. Levels 2-4 above have parking on them. Level 5 is the ecoroof.
• North side (Couch Plaza / vacated NE Couch): Grade rises from Level 1 at NE 2nd to Level 3 at NE Third. At Level 1, there is the corner of the commercial space, and the main entrance to the residential portion of building, including a leasing office. Bike storage also fronts the plaza.
• South side (NE 3rd): Grade is (mostly) at Level 3, which has commercial space fronting NE 3rd, along with one loading bay. These take up Levels 3-5. At Level 5, there is also the entry via a covered walkway to 6,700 commercial of space at the base of the tower. It doesn't specify what this would be used for, but I imagine it would make a fantastic bar/restaurant space.
• South Side (E Burnside): The deck of the Burnside Bridge is roughly level with Level 4, which does have parking fronting the bridge. Below the bridge is the skatepark. That might be the moat you're seeing? Along this elevation, they've asked for an exemption to the ground floor window standards, so that the building elevation can become park of the skatepark. (A reasonable request, in my view.)

Complexity of the site aside, this isn't much different than BOORA's North Point Tower: retail/active uses at the ground, with parking in a podium above, and a tower rising from that. I'd say it's very different to the Wells Fargo Tower, which I don't think the Portland Zoning Code would ever allow to built again, irrespective of height.

[bvpcvm]

This is a complex site, and there's nothing like it in the Pearl. I guess I just always assumed that where we have a gap between the building and the bridge - I thought it would be a typical sidewalk, with retail frontage. Instead, it's a big gap facing a parking garage. It's a tough site, and I'd love to see this built, but I had hoped for something more integrated with the pedestrian environment.

[Derek]

I'm not talking about the site in general, I'm referring to the small set of stairs leading to the retail storefronts on the west side of the building (at ground level). There are a few buildings that are similar in The Pearl (at ground level), with stairs leading up to retail storefronts. I had originally assumed this was the "moat" you were referring to.


What are you going to do on the side with the bridge? There's an existing skatepark there, you can't really do much on that side of the building anyways. You can see in the first rendering that the building actually interacts with the skatepark, there is a skater on the ramp. Beyond that area, to the north, is a grassy hill. It doesn't connect to the street anyways.

[davehogan]

This is a great choice of site for a unique building that really just can't effectively connect to the street on all sides. It looks better than what I expected at this location. I'm fine with it.

[philopdx]

It looks like it connects with the street grid where it can. The only moat-ish part is the space between the bridge and the building, and I don't think it's possible to structurally connect the two.

[NJD]

It was done before, yes, the bridge was originally designed that way, but I doubt it could happen now for one simple reason: money. The engineering and city rigamarole alone would add up quickly now that we have things like seismic code. The benefits are also few to connect to an automobile created dead zone (look across the street at the poor Templeton Building!).

I would love, love to see this part reconnected from bridge to fontage, but I don't see it penciling out. On another note, it would really darken the skatepark, so, there's that...

historic photos, images too large:
vintage portland 1939
vintage portland 1939
vintage portland 1940
vintage portland 1935

[zilfondel]

Originally Posted by bvpcvm

This is a complex site, and there's nothing like it in the Pearl. I guess I just always assumed that where we have a gap between the building and the bridge - I thought it would be a typical sidewalk, with retail frontage. Instead, it's a big gap facing a parking garage. It's a tough site, and I'd love to see this built, but I had hoped for something more integrated with the pedestrian environment.

I don't think it would be realistically possible to bridge the gap (pardon the pun) between the Southern elevation and the Burnside bridge, because you would have to either:

1) build the building directly adjacent to the bridge and cantilever a sidewalk out to the bridge
2) hang some sort of structural members from the bridge to the building.

From my experience being under the Burnside bridge, the skate park extends far enough out from under the bridge so as to require any new building to be built a bit farther away from the bridge.

In either case, it would require modifying the bridge, which would require extensive planning and money, likely from Multnomah County.


In any case, I think that Skylab is trying to leave the skate park alone.