The "Why can't we have buildings like THIS in Portland" Thread

[cab]

http://www.archdaily.com/city/vancouver

Vancouver BC always blows my mind. The city atmosphere always seems very Portlandish, but man does their architecture destroy what we are doing here. Even the most basic of building mixes it up. I guess for the US, PDX does an ok job, but our architects don't seem to be able to compete with what is going on in Vancouver? We seem to be stuck in a box of modernism. I've always hoped we'd create a new Pacific NW form tied to our incredible environment, but that seems neutered by the education process. We seem to prefer to copy hot trends rather than create a true new form guided by the actual region we live in. I'd love to see a building guided by winter rain and summer sun with a Douglas fir as as inspiration.

[ZigzagMan]

Originally Posted by cab

http://www.archdaily.com/city/vancouver

Vancouver BC always blows my mind. The city atmosphere always seems very Portlandish, but man does their architecture destroy what we are doing here. Even the most basic of building mixes it up. I guess for the US, PDX does an ok job, but our architects don't seem to be able to compete with what is going on in Vancouver? We seem to be stuck in a box of modernism. I've always hoped we'd create a new Pacific NW form tied to our incredible environment, but that seems neutered by the education process. We seem to prefer to copy hot trends rather than create a true new form guided by the actual region we live in. I'd love to see a building guided by winter rain and summer sun with a Douglas fir as as inspiration.

This ^^^

[65MAX]

Originally Posted by Sioux612

Vancouver's second 60+ floor tower:


{Trump Tower Vancouver}

This was never built. The proposal is for a Ritz Carlton dating back to 2005, and died in 2009. There was a "rumor" that Trump was going to resurrect it 3 years ago, but that was just speculation that turned out to be unfounded.

[cityscapes]

Originally Posted by 65MAX

This was never built. The proposal is for a Ritz Carlton dating back to 2005, and died in 2009. There was a "rumor" that Trump was going to resurrect it 3 years ago, but that was just speculation that turned out to be unfounded.

Umm, it was definitely built. I took these in November as it was nearing completion.

[65MAX]

Wow, I was literally there in downtown Vancouver last weekend and did not see this. My mistake. It's amazing that this just kinda blends into the sea of high rises.

[maccoinnich]

Sometimes it's easy to take the "grass is always greener" view. Vancouver has an incredible skyline when seen at a distance. I'm really looking forward to a long weekend there next month. That said, many of the towers in the city are utter dreck when seen up close. The typical high rise there seems to use a very cheap looking window wall system, similar to what waas installed at the Benson or the Civic. Very few have the nice curtain walls systems used on buildings like the Cosmopolitan, Park Avenue West or Twelve West. And in terms of street activity the Pearl beats False Creek hands down.

[maccoinnich]

Interesting comment about Vancouver in a article about the Portland Design Commission. Julie Livingston states much more eloquently what I was alluding to in my comment above:

“Portland is about an intimate scale. I’ve had so many visitors come and marvel at the small-scale nature of our blocks. You don’t find that in every city,” he said.

That’s why Livingston say the design commission is so important.

“There are a lot of people who scratch their heads and say, as a city, why do we do this? But you can visit other really great urban cities and see what happens when we don’t do this,” she said.

Livingston noted that Vancouver, British Columbia doesn’t have similar requirements and the downtown has suffered.

“If you walk along most of the streets in that city, it’s parking garage access right next to big empty lobbies next to service corridors that lead to alleys right next to parking garages,” she said. “They never really paid attention to what lives inside those spaces.”

[Tykendo]

Grew up in PDX, and visited Vancouver. Lets not mix up intimate with building height. Portland has plenty of stubby blocks that are brutal, and nothing but walls, and Vancouver's tallest structures have beautiful open plazas next to them. It's about ground level activity and cleanliness that make a downtown great. Lots of retail, and restaurant activity make a downtown great, as well as great design integrated into it. Height limits are good in certain areas, but great design is the most important element. Portland needs more of that, and less restriction on how tall something is. Portland has way too much stubby bland design that has nothing to do with intimate.

[ZigzagMan]

Originally Posted by Tykendo

Grew up in PDX, and visited Vancouver. Lets not mix up intimate with building height. Portland has plenty of stubby blocks that are brutal, and nothing but walls, and Vancouver's tallest structures have beautiful open plazas next to them. It's about ground level activity and cleanliness that make a downtown great. Lots of retail, and restaurant activity make a downtown great, as well as great design integrated into it. Height limits are good in certain areas, but great design is the most important element. Portland needs more of that, and less restriction on how tall something is. Portland has way too much stubby bland design that has nothing to do with intimate.

This ^^^^

[Derek]

Originally Posted by Tykendo

Grew up in PDX, and visited Vancouver. Lets not mix up intimate with building height. Portland has plenty of stubby blocks that are brutal, and nothing but walls, and Vancouver's tallest structures have beautiful open plazas next to them. It's about ground level activity and cleanliness that make a downtown great. Lots of retail, and restaurant activity make a downtown great, as well as great design integrated into it. Height limits are good in certain areas, but great design is the most important element. Portland needs more of that, and less restriction on how tall something is. Portland has way too much stubby bland design that has nothing to do with intimate.

100% agree.

[Sioux612]

Originally Posted by Tykendo

Grew up in PDX, and visited Vancouver. Lets not mix up intimate with building height. Portland has plenty of stubby blocks that are brutal, and nothing but walls, and Vancouver's tallest structures have beautiful open plazas next to them. It's about ground level activity and cleanliness that make a downtown great. Lots of retail, and restaurant activity make a downtown great, as well as great design integrated into it. Height limits are good in certain areas, but great design is the most important element. Portland needs more of that, and less restriction on how tall something is. Portland has way too much stubby bland design that has nothing to do with intimate.

*460' cap
*Groups (neighbors) challenge/stall EVERY project to the city

Huge roadblocks. Weston tried to bring an unlimited height for point towers that went nowhere.

[maccoinnich]

Who is arguing against tall buildings in this thread?

[2oh1]

Other than in parts of Old Town, I'd love to see height limits removed in and around downtown. Or, at the very least, I'd love to see height limits removed in exchange for adding affordable housing - even if the affordable housing isn't part of the building in question. For example, part of the deal that made it possible to build Sky3 was building The Jeffrey further down the block (The Jeffrey was built as low income housing to replace the loss of housing when Jefferson West would be torn down to build Sky3, but the great recession put Sky3 on hold for a few years. I was surprised that Sky3 ended up having some affordable housing too).

[Sioux612]

Central Eastside/Burnside?

[urbanlife]

Originally Posted by Sioux612

Central Eastside/Burnside?

What building is that and where was it proposed? It looks really familiar, I would love to see some architecture like this in Portland. I am still waiting to see someone build a vertical farm in the central Eastside industrial.

[Derek]

It looks like it was designed by the Borg.

[cab]

And yet Vancouver, BC continues to be one of the most livable cities in the world. Vancouver streetscape is on another level compared to Portland. Wider sidewalks, separate bike lanes, liberal use of street pavers, better use of street trees (they actually plant natural conifer trees so the DT doesn't look dead in the winter). The fact is Vancouver has done a much better job then PDX in pretty much all areas. Its not a slight at Portland, but we need to get off our high horse a bit. Just compare the job Vancouver as done on its waterfront to what we have. Our claim to fame is a dirt field next to a 4-5 lane dead retail street. They have miles of waterfront without any auto infrastructure next to it.

[urbanlife]

Originally Posted by cab

And yet Vancouver, BC continues to be one of the most livable cities in the world. Vancouver streetscape is on another level compared to Portland. Wider sidewalks, separate bike lanes, liberal use of street pavers, better use of street trees (they actually plant natural conifer trees so the DT doesn't look dead in the winter). The fact is Vancouver has done a much better job then PDX in pretty much all areas. Its not a slight at Portland, but we need to get off our high horse a bit. Just compare the job Vancouver as done on its waterfront to what we have. Our claim to fame is a dirt field next to a 4-5 lane dead retail street. They have miles of waterfront without any auto infrastructure next to it.

Thanks to a number of years with a very stale city council and mayor, I feel like the city has really fallen behind on where it should be today. I get that you can't force developers to develop buildings just for the sake of needing more living units, but there is so much we should have been doing to continue forward with all the things that have made Portland such a great city.

I am really hoping the people in Portland come out and vote this year to put in a new crop of city council members that have a much stronger vision for the city.

[ZigzagMan]

Originally Posted by cab

And yet Vancouver, BC continues to be one of the most livable cities in the world. Vancouver streetscape is on another level compared to Portland. Wider sidewalks, separate bike lanes, liberal use of street pavers, better use of street trees (they actually plant natural conifer trees so the DT doesn't look dead in the winter). The fact is Vancouver has done a much better job then PDX in pretty much all areas. Its not a slight at Portland, but we need to get off our high horse a bit. Just compare the job Vancouver as done on its waterfront to what we have. Our claim to fame is a dirt field next to a 4-5 lane dead retail street. They have miles of waterfront without any auto infrastructure next to it.

I agree our waterfront is pretty bad

[2oh1]

Originally Posted by urbanlife

Thanks to a number of years with a very stale city council and mayor, I feel like the city has really fallen behind on where it should be today. I get that you can't force developers to develop buildings just for the sake of needing more living units, but there is so much we should have been doing to continue forward with all the things that have made Portland such a great city.

Sigh.

THIS.

People are freaking out about a housing crisis. In 2016? Anybody who was paying attention knew this was on the way a decade ago. Portland lacks leadership these days, partly because, as you suggested, we have a stale city council. I wonder if Portland would be better served with a strong mayor system? ...then again, I watched the mayoral debate tonight and was left feeling pessimistic. Portland so desperately needs leadership. Where's the next Vera Katz?