By AIA announces the best of Portland architecture at awards ceremony.
The American Institute of Architects announced its annual winners and runners up Thursday. In a ceremony at Revolution Hall in Southeast Portland, judges revealed their picks of best buildings designed or completed by Oregon firms in the last year.
Portland Mayor Charlie Hales chose some of the more high profile buildings that are coming to define new Portland. Park Avenue West, the 30-story tower of apartments and class A office space behind the downtown Nordstrom, received his Large Urban Project nod. TVA Architects got the plaudits but the building is a classic example of old Portland at work, coming out of the Tom Moyer legacy and built by Hoffman Construction.
His Neighborhood Scale Project win went to Karuna Properties at One North by Holst Architecture. This creative office space next to New Seasons on North Williams Avenue has a large commons area with risers and exposed stairways for serendipitous collaboration. Its anchor tenant is the creative agency Instrument.
Honorable mentions for small and large Neighborhood Scale Project respectively went to the Kerns Micro House by Fieldwork and Slate by Works Progress Architecture.
ZGF Architects’ Rocky Mountain Institute Innovation Center won the futuristic 2030 award.
The jury is usually comprised of non-Portlanders. This year the trio from AIA Boston were given more time to meet the public and explain their picks.
Their Small project award went to the Portland-cute Red House by Waechter Architecture, a 1910 farmhouse-style building located in Southeast Portland, with thick walls and recessed windows.
LEVER Architecture’s Albina Yard received a citation, with recognition for Reworks the Owner /Contractor, for their design input.
Waechter also picked up plaudits for Sawtooth, its industrial-chic block of eight apartments in Lake Oswego, Oakley House and Pavilion House.
Everyone’s cross-laminated timber darling Framework picked up a two plaudit for Works Progress Architecture (W.PA), including one for craftsmanship.
W.PA also won was honored for Slate, its brand new mixed-used project at the East end of the Burnside Bridge, suggesting that in design circles it will not be in the shadow of Skylab’s YARD for long.
Creative Agency Swift radically remodeled an industrial building in Slabtown in Northwest Portland, making it its agency headquarters (more sawtooth roofs) and putting a firm with great Portland name recognition, Beebe Skidmore Architects , on the map.
Project^ acting as Project Developer, was also recognized for the Swift building. (Project^ is also involved with Framework.)
The 2016 Jury
Mariana Ibanez
Founder and Principal at Ibanez Kim Studio
Associate Professor at Harvard University Graduate School of Design
Mariana Ibanez is an architect in Argentina, and Associate Professor at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design, where she is part of the Responsive Environments and Artifacts Lab. She received her M.Arch from the Architectural Association in London, before joining the offices of Arup Advanced Geometry Unit and Zaha Hadid Architects. In 2012 she co-founded Ibanez Kim, a design practice based in Cambridge and Philadelphia that engages the fields of material performance, spatial interaction, and robotics within architecture and urbanism.
Tim Love
Founding Principal at Utile Architecture & Planning Design
Associate Professor at Northeastern University School of Architecture
Love is the founding principal of Utile, a 50-person Boston-based architecture and planning firm. His primary focus is the relationship between individual works of architecture and the larger city. Love and his collaborators are also known for their award-winning public realm initiatives, including the Boston Complete Streets Guidelines and the Boston Harbor Islands Pavilion on the Rose Kennedy Greenway. Love is a tenured Associate Professor at the Northeastern University School of Architecture where he teaches urban design theory and graduate-level research studios.
Elizabeth Whittaker, AIA
Founder & Principal at Merge Architects
Elizabeth Whittaker is the founder and principal of Merge Architects, a Boston-based design firm that innovates through making. She was a recipient of the 2015 AIA Young Architects Award, and Merge Architects was honored with the 2014 Design Vanguard Award from Architectural Record and the 2015 Emerging Voices Award from the Architectural League of New York. Elizabeth currently holds a faculty position as Associate Professor in Practice at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design, and she is working on a variety of projects in Boston, Detroit, and Zhuhai, China.
FULL RESULTS: 2016 AIA Portland Recognitions
Mayor’s Awards:
Mayor’s Honorable Mention (Neighborhood Scale Project)
Kerns Micro House: Fieldwork Design and Architecture
Mayor’s Award (Neighborhood Scale Project)
Karuna at One North: Holst Architecture
Mayor’s Honorable Mention (Large Urban Project)
Slate: Works Progress Architecture
Mayor’s Award (Large Urban Project)
Park Avenue West: TVA Architecture
*Significant Design Contribution Award (nominated by the architect)
Park Avenue West: Hoffman Construction (General Contractor)
2030 Award:
Rocky Mountain Institute Innovation Center: ZGF Architects
Jury Awards:
Citation Award (Small Project):
Red House: Waechter Architecture
Citation Award
Albina Yard: LEVER Architecture
*Significant Design Contribution Award (nominated by the architect)
Albina Yard: Reworks, Owner /Contractor
Citation Award
Basecamp Townhomes: Hacker
Citation Award
Cosmopolitan Condominiums: Bora
Citation Award
Sawtooth: Waechter Architecture
Citation Award
Karuna at One North: Holst Architecture
Merit Award (Small Project)
Oakley House: Waechter Architecture
Merit Award (Small Project)
Pavilion House: Waechter Architecture
Merit Award
Framework: Works Progress Architecture
Merit Award
Open School East: Holst Architecture
Merit Award
Lakeside at Black Butte Ranch: Hacker
Craftsmanship Award
Framework: Works Progress Architecture
Honor Award
Slate: Works Progress Architecture
Honor Award
Swift + POSSIBLE Agency Headquarters: Beebe Skidmore Architects