Pearl’s newest mixed-use space pulls inspiration from industry
Daily Journal of Commerce
by Alison Ryan
08/21/2007
As the Pearl District presses westward, architects are putting the language of industrial buildings to work in new mixed-use projects within the district’s northwest fringe.
The Portland Design Commission last week saw plans for a new office and retail building for the Pearl District’s 14th Avenue, a corridor where industry now neighbors commerce and office. The neighborhood’s Safeway is rising along the street. Small commercial spaces line the road. And the five-story building that’s being proposed for the half-block site between Northwest 14th and 15th avenues and Overton Street would sit on a spot that’s now home to a Penske truck rental facility.
Design, said architect Steve Fosler, had to mix the intended use – ground-floor retail with office above – and the heavy, solidly constructed industrial character of existing buildings. But modern office expectations, he said, are “not necessarily consistent with an industrial building type with punched windows and solid walls.”
The solution is a modern office within an industrial façade. Heavy masonry is paired with the stretches of vertical glass that will let light into the offices. Clipped corners house retail entrances and open up the sidewalk for pedestrian traffic. Detailing like the mesh screen on exposed stairways and retail exteriors inspired by loading docks pulls in ideas from industry.
“What we really have is a hybrid building,” Fosler said.
The building exists in a new realm, said commissioner Jeff Stuhr, with the use of industrial architecture and materials for an office space. The mix, he said, is a design that’s both humble and intriguing.
“It’s trying to be just kind of a background building,” he said.
The design review session Thursday was the project’s second appearance before the commission. In a design advice request in May, commissioners asked the design team to consider flexibility for future building uses, more clarity in the building patterning, and a design that responded to the industrial feel of the district.
The staff report for the project didn’t support approval, with Bureau of Development Services planner Tim Heron asking for more design development of areas like the building’s central bays and clipped corners, as well as additional information on lighting and signs.
Commissioners said the project is close to approval. Members asked to see refinement on details like the façade window patterning, the cornice, retail signs and the building corners. Several commissioners also said the lower rise building felt a little “suburban” in spots.
“You run the risk of having a building that looks like a suburban office park,” commissioner Gwen Millius said.
The project is expected to be back before the commission Sept. 6.
“Every time this project moves forward, it evolves to a better place,” Heron said.
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