New Moyer tower’s design is ‘simple, elegant’
by Alison Ryan
01/23/2007
First Fox Tower. Then the underground parking garage at Park Block 5. With the announcement of Park Avenue West, set to rise at neighboring Park Block 4, comes a third downtown core addition to the city’s built environment by TVA Architects Inc. and developer Tom Moyer.
The 35-story tower being developed by Moyer’s TMT Development Co. will mix retail – double-height space on the lowest floors – with office space and condominiums. And that mix, said Robert Thompson, design principal at TVA, informed a design that nods to the unique purpose of each use.
“The goal was looking at how you take multiple uses, each having a different function, and finding ways to stitch together structurally a composition where they all tie together,” he said.
Tying what will be inside the building to what – eventually – will be outside was a goal as well. TVA is part of the team working on South Park Block 5, the urban green space that will ultimately top the also TVA-designed underground parking garage.
“We wanted the tower itself, in a subtle way, to respond to a number of the design features in the park,” Thompson said, “primarily a significant water feature we’re proposing.”
The link is made primarily on the park-facing south façade, where two canted surfaces will lock over each other in a flared, sculptural element. Practically, said Monty Hill, a TVA associate, the element creates additional corners for maximum office and condominium views. But it also, he said, adds another exterior dynamic.
“You get the sense of some kinetic energy,” he said, “with the two pieces kind of wrapped around one another.”
Distinctive design, said Vanessa Sturgeon, TMT president, was the idea.
“The design is meant to create a landmark in downtown Portland,” she said, “and add something significant and different to the skyline.”
Height will factor, too. The 410-foot tower will be one of the city’s tallest, and the design – especially the south side canting – emphasizes that, Thompson said.
“That element acts as a piece which accentuates the verticality of the overall tower,” he said.
The “simple, elegant, sophisticated” tower, Thompson said, will also mark a western expansion of downtown retail. The district “really moves in an east-west direction, from the river or Pioneer Place, through Pioneer Square and the Nordstrom block,” he said. “With the continuation of the development in the West End, this is the logical step.”
The tower, expected to begin construction in fall 2007, is anticipated to include about 280,000 square feet of office space, three floors of retail, 85 housing units and 350 underground parking spots.
Design, Hill said, has its own role in tenant attraction.
“The sculptural quality will help give it a unique identity,” Hill said. “That translates to marketability for the project.”
The team has been working with the city on preparing for pre-application, Thompson said, and hopes to take the project before the Portland Design Commission within the next 60 days.
TVA is also investigating design and planning options for another potential TMT tower, tentatively called Broadway Tower, at the corner of Southwest Broadway and Columbia Street.
Sturgeon said that TMT, whose longstanding relationship with TVA Architects also includes the firm’s design of the company’s Fox Tower, is pleased with both the design and its potential impact on downtown.
“We believe in Portland, and we believe in downtown Portland especially,” she said. “We always want to do what’s right in the way of design.”
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