new one for the Pearl...
Machine Works building
A bold strong look for a Pearl building
Thursday, February 01, 2007
Fred Leeson
Surprise. The next new building in the Pearl District won't have a single brick.
Or any condos.
Developer Albert Solheim has won approval for a nine-story building at 1123 N.W. 14th Ave. that will include a fitness center and three stories of parking, capped by four stories for offices.
Called the Machine Works after a one-story building it will replace, the bold-looking structure is intended to reflect the Pearl's industrial history. The only real perspiration, though, will probably be confined to the LA Fitness outlet Solheim has signed to a long-term lease.
The building's exterior flexes a muscular mix of poured concrete, glass, anodized aluminum and zinc panels. "The rawness of the product is what we thought would be appropriate," Tamio Fukuyama, a Group Mackenzie architect, says of the concrete.
While cranes still represent the Pearl's legendary condo growth, "that wave is subsiding," Solheim says. The four floors of office space, as yet unleased, may make it possible for some condo dwellers to both live and work in the neighborhood.
Appropriately, perhaps, the three floors of parking will back up to Interstate 405. Developers are finding it more economical to include parking as part of the structure, rather than dig deep underground.
The Machine Works' recreational and office uses and its materials earned praise from the Portland Design Commission, which voted 6-1 in favor of the plan Jan. 18. Chairman Michael McCulloch said he was pleased to see the Pearl won't be "all condos and people selling coffee to each other."
Commission member Lloyd Lindley likes the variety of materials. "Brick buildings are a huge tradition in this city," he said. "It's hard to get away from that. It's going to be a nice addition to the district."
Of course, it wouldn't be the Pearl if there weren't something arty. Solheim's building is the first, according to city building officials, to earn a modest bonus in size by including public art. Who creates the art, what it looks like and where it goes will be determined by the Regional Arts & Culture Council, not the developer, architect or design commission.
"We don't have much control," Fukuyama told the design panel. "But this is something we are committed to doing. It will be something in concert with the building."
The design commission originally took issue with the slick glass envelope wrapping the four office floors. Some members said the top looked too much like something in a suburban office park.
Fukuyama modified the design so it has modestly recessed window bands and horizontal metal mullions tiered to enhance a feeling of motion. "Our goal was to make it an urban office building and not Beaverton," said Kristin Ford, a design team member.
"I'm still not excited about the upper four levels, but that's just me," said McCulloch, who cast the dissenting vote.
Still, it will be unlike anything else in the Pearl. As commission member Jeff Stuhr said, "It takes us beyond the ubiquitous box."
Fred Leeson: 503-294-5946;
fredleeson@news.oregonian.com
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