5 MLK | 200' | 17 Floors | Complete

[urbanlife]

Originally Posted by maccoinnich

Whether the architects are based out of Chicago or Portland, they are working with the same set of constraints. In this case the site has a lot of FAR available (12:1), that the developer clearly wants to make use of. For that much FAR, the height limit (200') is relatively low. There isn't an architect in the world who can take those two numbers and come up with a point tower.

That is true, the height and FAR doesn't pan out to tall point towers for that area. Honestly, with how bad the Yard turned out (though the extra windows were a little bit of an improvement,) I don't mind seeing a bunch of bulky buildings in that area to fill in around the Yard.

[PDX City-State]

I mostly like this building. It's always nice to have some height, but point towers don't make sense for most types of buildings. For office, users want bigger floors, and for apartments, the amount of rent you'll be able to charge in the Central Eastside probably wouldn't justify building a point tower for a rental.

As someone who has had an office in the neighborhood going on six years: right now the Central Eastside needs critical mass to support the growth of the neighborhood. That means more office space, more apartments and more people to buy lunch at restaurants, pay for drinks at bars, and add the numbers that will make this more of a 24-hour neighborhood. This building--along with the Slate, the Yard, and the other buildings in the neighborhood being built are conceived--are doing that. I grew up in Portland, and remember going to La Luna (Now the office building that houses Biwa) to see rock shows. The Central Eastside back then was a total dump. East Burnside was one of the shadier streets in Portland. It's so nice to see a real neighborhood emerging--one one that feels more Portland than the Pearl ever has.

[maccoinnich]

[MOPIdaho]

The Yard looks great in this rendering.

[maccoinnich]

Good one

[TarheelBoy]

Originally Posted by PDX City-State

It's so nice to see a real neighborhood emerging--one one that feels more Portland than the Pearl ever has.

"more Portland" is highly subjective. The Fishels building feels Portland to me - this tank feels like Fort Worth. I can't believe they came up with something uglier than Yard.

[innovativethinking]

This is just one massive block of brick that has no beauty to it whatsoever

[Innovativetinkling]

It should be taller with more glass. What a disgrace.

[zilfondel]

Uh, wow. Talk about density! I like it. Needs some work, particularly in the transition zones and lack of interest in the upper floors, but could be great. What kind of materials are they going for in the facade? The fins are the same color as the facade. Can't all be brick.

[cailes]

The renderings don't do a great job of showing it, but looks like this is mostly glass and the rick (or whatever) serves to break it up. I bet it could (stress could) look better than the renderings make it look.

[pdxtraveler]

I like it! Especially the broken up west base, I know some may find it 'busy', but I like it.

[MarkDaMan]

Gerding Edlen's next Portland project, a 17-story mixed-use tower, comes to light in renderings
Aug 2, 2016, 10:47am PDT
Jon Bell Staff Reporter
Portland Business Journal

http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/...187&j=75297772

The Rose City's eastern skyline will get another major remake with a 17-story office and residential tower from a familiar name in Portland development.

Gerding Edlen first revealed the idea for the project for the southwest corner of the intersection of East Burnside Street and Southeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard back in June. In mid-July, the developer and Chicago's GREC Architects submitted drawings to the Portland Design Commission for Design Advice Review.

Currently dubbed 5 MLK, the building will rise from the former site of Fishels furniture shop, which closed its doors in May after 95 years in business. According to the documents submitted, the building will include 160 underground parking spaces, 10,000 square feet of retail space, 100,000 square feet of office space and 220 apartments...(continues)

[davehogan]

Originally Posted by MarkDaMan

Gerding Edlen's next Portland project, a 17-story mixed-use tower, comes to light in renderings
Aug 2, 2016, 10:47am PDT
Jon Bell Staff Reporter
Portland Business Journal

http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/...187&j=75297772

It should be taller with more glass. I'd love to see more relaxed height limits for staying within the FAR. It would probably lead to more interesting projects. Something bright and eye catching across the street from the Yard would also be nice.

[AcmeGreg]

Originally Posted by davehogan

It should be taller with more glass. I'd love to see more relaxed height limits for staying within the FAR. It would probably lead to more interesting projects. Something bright and eye catching across the street from the Yard would also be nice.

I agree that more height would be nice, but as far as bright and eye catching this proposal more than accomplishes that goal when contrasted with the dark brown buildings going up across Burnside (apologies to the FH Dumbell). I like the concept of stepping-back the lower floors, but it makes me wish the architect would have incorporated more that scheme into the upper floors of a taller structure. On the whole though I think the design responds well to the the notion of an updated Eastside Industrial aesthetic.

[maccoinnich]

Presentation [PDF - 93MB] from the most recent Design Advice Request. Will post the images later this week.

[urbanlife]

That was some drastic changes from the previous design....it really saddens me that there seems to be no attempt to save the Fisher building on this site and have this building be built around it. It would seem like a good idea to grant more height in order to preserve a piece of history within the city.

[maccoinnich]

Ouch

5 MLK OR: HOW I LEARNED TO STOP BEING AN ARCHITECT AND DESIGN BY COMMITTEE



After a lackluster response from the Design Commission at their first Design Advice Request, the development team behind 5 MLK has returned with a new vision for their building: instead of vying for a well thought out architectural concept that is supported with integrity, they’ve just thrown a bunch of random crap out and let the city design it by committee. 5 MLK is a proposed 17-story mixed-use building from Gerding Edlen development, and the Burnside Bridgehead site is to be designed by Chicago-based GREC Architects, an international equivalent to Portland’s own LRS: an architectural service firm. GREC Architects’ first proposal was a half-baked mish-mash of boxes and steps, a bloated design that pushed the site’s relatively high FAR to its maximum limits while simultaneously being held down by the area’s relatively low height restrictions. The initial proposal followed the city’s design guidelines as well as it could: mass facing the city and river, corner lobby, retail at ground floor, bike amenities, and a more reserved facade treatment of glass and earth-toned materials. This was not excellent design by any means, in fact is was rather incoherent and clunky, but it was proposed as a basic fabric building that would contrast with the design architect projects across the street. Instead of diving into place-specificity for inspiration, or any other design-centric methodology, the service firm has decided to use the shotgun approach of pushing and pulling three new-ish massing forms out of their initial kit of parts, slapping on generic facade style alternatives, and calling it a day. Behold, the future of architecture:

...continues at places over time.

[urbanlife]

Originally Posted by maccoinnich

Ouch



...continues at places over time.

You know, I would say this article was harsh, but this is being designed by a Chicago firm, and having been to Chicago several times over the years, I can say first hand, much of their residential towers that are built by firms like this are just generic beige buildings that look like very little architectural thought was put into them. They were simply thrown together to fit the requirements so an architecture firm could get paid for doing very minimal work.

It is really sad, but it is the reality of the profession, unfortunately one of these types of firms have been selected to design for a city they clearly know nothing about.

[AdamUrbanist]

What I don't understand is if this is how you want to solve problems; one at a time with no driving vision or passion behind it, why wouldn't you go into a profession that pays better? You could have just been an accountant.

[tworivers]

This is the kind of project that leaves me ranting about the anti-social tendencies of capitalism. The highest best use of this property would be preserving the embodied energy of the Fishels building by renovating it (it's actually a really handsome old fabric building that could look hot next to something contemporary and smartly designed) and letting a firm with a reputation for creativity like WPA go crazy with the rest of the site. And screw the height limits here -- there should be some loophole that allows for increased height in return for preserving the historic fabric that we still have. So that developers can still maximize profits while contributing to a fine-grain, dynamic street environment. I'm disappointed in Gerding-Edlen, too. Surprised by their lack of vision here.