Skylab tower a ‘breakthrough’ for the city
A 27-story high-rise planned to neighbor the Crystal Ballroom pushes the limits of both design and development
POSTED: 06:00 AM PDT Monday, September 24, 2007
BY ALISON RYAN
The 27-story tower proposed at Southwest 13th Avenue and East Burnside is by far the largest project that Skylab Design Group – known for design of the Doug Fir, East, and the mixed-use building on Southwest Alder Street that holds the firm’s studio and principal Jeff Kovel’s residence – has ever taken on.
At ground level, a glassy retail space faces Burnside, with entry for the proposed offices and condos happening in a wood-screened “lounge” on Southwest 13th. Living and working entry would share the façade on 13th with the automated parking system entry, conceived as a finished, highly designed space. Above, offices would take up floors three through eight, with condos and a rooftop recreation spot topping out the tower. Total proposed height is 300 feet.
Big for Skylab. Big for Burnside. Big for a 5,000-square foot site. And big for Portland at large, with the potential to roll out a handful of design and development precedents for the city.
First, there’s the building itself. Designs Kovel showed the Portland Design Commission during an advice session Thursday took cues from the urban natural.
“Do I want to live in an urban building, or do I want to live in a house?” said Kovel, who’s also co-developing the project. “One of our goals is to break it down and not make that an either/or.”
That either/or stepped away – far away – from glass box form. Bark patterns, Kovel said, inspired intricate forms within the larger overall composition, with a series of pushed out window bays and punched in balconies forming the faceted glass façade.
“What you’re essentially getting is a skin being created with equally elements protruding and elements sunk in,” he said.
Second, there’s the automated parking system. Installation of such a system – which uses a mechanical lift to store and retrieve cars in underground slots – would be a first in Portland.
Plans call for drivers to enter an auto court on Southwest 13th, pull onto the lift, and exit the car, which would then drop down and be tucked away for storage.
The Portland Department of Transportation, said PDOT engineer Kurt Krueger, is working on how – and how well – the system would work, especially as residents wait to pull onto the two lifts.
“We don’t want that sidewalk blocked on a repetitive daily basis as we reach peak hours,” he said.
Third, the location. The site, against East Burnside to the north, sits at the terminus of Southwest Stark Street – a corridor that’s seen fervent development and design within the last year. Zimmer Gunsul Frasca’s building will pop onto the street between Jake’s and American Apparel. Gerding Edlen acquired the former Club PDX building at Burnside and Southwest 12th.
The renovated Ace Hotel opened. Living Room Theatres opened. Improvements are ahead for the Pietro Belluschi-designed Federal Reserve building at Southwest Ninth and Stark. Talks with the McMenamins to get the air rights from the Crystal Ballroom also mark the way to a potential phase two: a restaurant on the roof of the Crystal “that would marry to our architecture, not to the historic,” Kovel said.
Finally, the tower has a tiny footprint. The proposed building rises 300 feet – up to 325 feet is allowed on the site – from a 50-by-100-foot lot. Despite developers putting “point tower” labels on the Benson and other projects in town, commissioners said, the tall, slim form hasn’t really been used in the city.
“It’s a breakthrough,” Commissioner Lloyd Lindley said.
A breakthrough, but one that still has far to go with all its potential precedents. Skylab’s working with a larger, experience-heavy team that includes Myhre Group Architects, KPFF, Glumac, Kittleson & Associates and marketing firm Vertical Living Group.
How the design, automated parking and other strides might play out is still ahead, too.
“We have a lot of work to do to understand how we might achieve this financially and technically,” Kovel said.
Commissioners said the project is exciting, and fascinating, in what it proposes. The five members who offered advice last week said they support the early effort.
“This is a radical step forward, and one that will pay dividends in the long run,” Commissioner Jeff Stuhr said.
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