From The Burnside Blog (Portland Spaces)...
Kevin Cavenaugh, one of Portland’s more consistently intriguing, bold designer-developers, came back from his year-long Harvard Loeb Fellowship in July (where he studied “urban planning principles, especially the regulatory framework that tends to dampen innovative ideas, and landscape architecture”) and hit the ground running.
A refresher: some of Cavenaugh’s more high-profile guerrilla projects prior to his Cambridge foray, included Box +One at 28th and SE Ankeny, the LEED-certified little infill-parcel-that-could that he turned into lovely live/work plus commercial space while interning with Fletcher Farr Ayotte, followed by the mixed-use Ode to Rose’s, the 5,500-square-foot home of Fife and TENpod at 44 & NE Fremont St., and the cadmium-red Rocket building (a Platinum LEED project) on East Burnside – a come-hither valentine for new development on the inner eastside.
You may also have heard murmurings about his 14 Parcels, an experimental high-density development he’s been planning in the hilly, mashup locale under 405, around Ross Island Way and 99W – Portland Architecture’s Brian Libby wrote about the nascent plan this last spring.
Cavenaugh’s RFP was as intriguingly guerrilla as they come:
1-WAY TICKET to PORTLAND. I am a Loeb Fellow at Harvard’s GSD seeking a few select graduating designers to DESIGN AND BUILD fourteen small parcels with me in downtown Portland, OR. The project will showcase the finest in contemporary urban architecture from the nation’s most promising young designers. Starting this summer, each participant will take full control over his/her development. I will help line up bank financing and construction services, but you ultimately you will need YOUR OWN MONEY to secure a loan. I will mentor you through the design and development process, but you will take on both the risks and rewards associated with your project.. THIS IS NOT A JOB!
On a site in Southwest Portland just south of downtown at the corner of Water Avenue and Arthur Street, an ideal location but with difficult hilly terrain, virtually no parking and limited access, Kevin is envisioning having built 14 different housing units – almost all of them by different designers. The details have changed a little bit over the few times we’ve talked and emailed, but I believe the latest would be to have Kevin design two himself, then divide the remaining 12 units equally between six Harvard Graduate School of Design students and six more established architects.
Let’s set the murmurings aside: the project’s happening. 14 Parcels will feature a cadre of established international designers from Central America, Scandanavia, Brazil, Austria, China and six recent Harvard Design School grads (the first is set to move here in January to begin work on his project). 14 Parcels will have Cavenaugh designing three parcels, with the remaining chunks split between an exceptional array of established and emerging design talents including, Pugh & Scarpa, Andrei Gheorghe+ Samina Azhar, Skylab Architecture, Mark Holmquist, SPBR Architects, Jimi Kallaos, Single Speed Design, Works Partnership Architecture, JDS Architects, Paul McKean, Douglas Wu. Architecture W, and Joachim + Linda Mendoza (with one illustrious space TBD)
Cavenaugh says hardest part has been the nuts and bolts, finding lenders who “get it.” He said the process with the City was smooth – because Development Services and the other bureaus, totally got it, regarding it as “a complicated courtyard development, a dirt condo or apartment build-out in 17 phases (with 17 sets of different permits).”
Learn more about Cavenaugh’s inspired (and hopefully infectious) madness at Pecha Kucha Night Vol V, presented by Project Cityscope, an idea-driven franchise of “Rising Stars” Works Partnership taking place this coming Tuesday, November 18 at The Plant (939 SE Alder Street). The event begins at 20:20 (8:20 PM) and is free, with donations highly encouraged.
You can also see projects, missives from Third Angle’s Ron Blessinger , Heather Hanrahan + Rodger Bridges of Nemo, artist Paige Saez and architect Aaron Whelton among others. The evening’s theme is discretion.
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