Forty Eight Hours in Astoria, Oregon

[caption id="attachment_802" align="alignnone" width="700" caption="Lewis and Clark Exhibit in One of the Many Historic Sites in the Area"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_795" align="alignnone" width="700" caption="The Astoria Bridge over the Columbia River"][/caption]

Dear friend Bill has returned to the Pacific Northwest after ten years of living in the dusty Rockies, and his new home is the charming town of Astoria, on Oregon’s upper northwest coast. I took the first opportunity I had to visit, and came away impressed. While not bustling, I would say that Astoria has a respectable and healthy downtown, comprised mainly of local merchants offering a variety of wares, including a nice assortment of indy coffee houses and brew pubs.

[caption id="attachment_797" align="alignnone" width="700" caption="Downtown Astoria, Oregon "][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_796" align="alignnone" width="700" caption="Downtown Astoria, Oregon"][/caption]

Similar in size to Capitol Hill (kind of), many of the buildings would feel at home on the Pike Pine corridor. What impressed me most about the downtown was the stewardship of the buildings. The buildings appeared to be very well maintained, which must be a full time endeavor for a city built on the stormy Pacific Northwest coast. Architectural stewardship is a good metric of for gauging the relative health of a city, as is the above-mentioned variety of the locally based retail. No doubt Astoria’s economy benefits from being on one of the most beautiful coast lines in the United States, as well as being the first permanent English speaking settlement on the West coast of the country, yet the city still maintains an authenticity of place that would not be possible if it thrived solely on the tourist trade and history buffs.

[caption id="attachment_798" align="alignnone" width="700" caption="Waterfront Building Astoria, OR"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_810" align="alignnone" width="700" caption="The Astoria Coffee House, a Great Place for Breakfast"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_811" align="alignnone" width="700" caption="The Astoria Coffee House"][/caption]

In addition to a fine urban center, the Astoria area is blessed with a cultural heritage and sense of purpose that surprise. Built at the tempestuous confluence of the Columbia River and the Pacific Ocean, Astoria provides the ideal training environment for the Coast Guard’s elite Advanced Helicopter/Swimmer Rescue School. Additional evidence of the area’s maritime heritage is on display in the more sanguine environment in the Columbia Maritime Museum.

[caption id="attachment_804" align="alignnone" width="700" caption="Historic Ship Outside of the Maritime Museum"][/caption]

Should one want to wander outside the confines on the museum’s walls, in-situ history is easily accessible in one of the many Lewis and Clark state and national historic sites on both the Oregon and Washington sides of the Columbia River, the terminus of their legendary Corps of Discovery. Artifacts of more recent history can also be found in the area’s state and national parks, such as the gun batteries that are remnants of the coastal defenses erected during the Spanish American and World Wars. Should your historical interests not yet be satiated, try the Lewis and Clark Visitors Center, magnificently perched on a bluff overlooking the Pacific.

[caption id="attachment_800" align="alignnone" width="700" caption="Fortifications, Fort Columbia State Park, Washington"][/caption]

Of course all of the above pales in caparison to the sublime natural setting. It is, after all, the natural environment that draws many of us here, and whose embrace keeps us from wanting to live anywhere else. I would like to think that it is the scenic bounty of Cascadia that is the driver of our progressive environmental and urban practices, and the fire that fuels our passion to live this magnificent area.

[caption id="attachment_807" align="alignnone" width="700" caption="View South from Ecola State Park, Oregon"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_806" align="alignnone" width="700" caption="Ecola State Park, Oregon"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_805" align="alignnone" width="700" caption="Pacific Coast Near Astoria, Oregon"][/caption]

Thanks to all our friends!

[caption id="attachment_783" align="aligncenter" width="700" caption="Holiday Party at Schemata World Headquarters"][/caption] Last Friday, Schemata Workshop celebrated our 6th anniversary.  Thanks to all the friends, clients, consultants that joined us.  We appreciate your support and confidence. 

In 2010, we won some competitive public contracts with the Renton Housing Authority and the City of Lacey.  And we added Salvation Army to our list of clients with whom we have a shared mission.  We hope the resulting Community Buildings we are producing for these clients will have a lasting impact on the residents and seniors who will utilize them. 

We also appreciate the work we've completed this year for our long standing clients such as the Multi-Service Center, Shelter Resources, King County Housing Authority, ET Environmental, and Waste Management, Sound Transit, the Capitol Hill Chamber, as well as the myriad of single family homeowners we've completed projects with this year.  And of course the team of fantastic collaborators - PAO Structural, SvR Design Company, BCE Engineers, Greenbusch Group, Cierra Electrical, Harriot SmithValentine Engineers, ORB Architects, Frank Company, B2 Structural Engineers, and Wool-Zee Company.

2011 looks to be a very exciting year ahead!

At Nube, the Maps Say so Much

There is a commitment amongst the staff at Nube (www.nubegreen.com)to several core principles: sell only products that are (really) made in the United States, sell products that use recycled materials in a creative manner, and support small (and hopefully local) artisans. Their commitment is fulfilled by the wide array of products sold at the store. From clothing to office furnishings and whimsical art, artistry and creativity on are display at every turn. The many ways that materials -- which otherwise would be at the end of their useful life -- can be re-purposed surprises and delights. Whether the product’s recycled lineage can be traced to its origins, as is the case with the Ag Bags, or is bereft its former use, as in the case with the clothing, is one of the most interesting character of the store. Most often, merchants selling recycled products wear their environmental pretence on their sleeve; at Nube, it is the quality of craft and creativity of design that is first and foremost on display. Not that the lineage is not first and foremost to Ruth True, Nube’s owner, as witnessed by the pair maps above a counter showing the inventories’ origins. [caption id="attachment_760" align="alignnone" width="700" caption="The Store"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_765" align="alignnone" width="700" caption="Chandelier made from Recycled Cardboard"][/caption]

The space itself is thoughtfully crafted from materials apparently long forgotten; the clever use of doors found in the Odd Fellow’s basement to sub-divide the space reflects the practical use that many of the for sale items exhibit. You can see all this and more at Nube, in the Odd Fellow's Building at Pine and 10th Avenue, just down from Elliott Bayy Book Company and next to Molly Moon's.

[caption id="attachment_764" align="alignnone" width="700" caption="Maps Showing the Inventory's Origins"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_759" align="alignnone" width="700" caption="Doors on Tracks Subdividing the Space"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_761" align="alignnone" width="700" caption="Furniture made from Street Signs"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_763" align="alignnone" width="700" caption="Ag Bags made from Bicycle Tubes"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_762" align="alignnone" width="700" caption="Scary Critters, Made from !?"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_768" align="alignnone" width="700" caption="Housewares made in the U.S. from Recycled Materials"][/caption]

Affordable Cohousing

[caption id="attachment_675" align="aligncenter" width="700" caption="Petaluma Avenue Homes"][/caption] A couple of weeks ago, Mike and I had the pleasure of presenting at the 2010 Housing Washington Conference.  This is an annual conference for the 700-800 movers and shakers in Washington State's affordable housing industry.  The keynote speakers* all spoke about the need for a new paradigm in home ownership - that perhaps it's not possible/sustainable for everyone to aspire to that particular American Dream.   As a homeowner who was caught in the unfortunate bubble burst (trying to sell as the bottom of the housing market started to fall out 3 years ago), it's understandable why top financial forecasters might say this.  But for those who have not yet attained that American Dream so experience the trials/tribulations it can bring, it seems unfair for someone else to pull up the drawbridge before they can even step foot into their castle.

So I don't know if it was this new attitude, or the nation's desire to return to a new "normal" where community is at the heart of what matters...but our presentation on Affordable Cohousing garnered a lot of attention compared to last year when I presented the same topic at the 2009 Housing Washington conference in Spokane.

Mike gave an overview of cohousing and I shared about 6 examples of built communities that were able to incorporate affordable units into their projects using inclusionary zoning, incentive zoning, HUD HOME funds, and Community Land Trusts.  One featured project that received a significant amount of interested was an affordable rental community- Petaluma Avenue Homes, developed by Affordable Housing Associates in Sebastapol, CA.  This 45-unit community is rented to individuals of 30-60% AMI and was designed by McCamant & Durrett Architects - the pioneers of Cohousing who coined the term and adapted/introduced the concept to North America. 

[caption id="attachment_676" align="aligncenter" width="700" caption="Petaluma Ave Homes Common House"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_680" align="aligncenter" width="700" caption="Silver Sage Senior Cohousing, Boulder, CO"][/caption]

Other examples were:

Elderspirit - a senior cohousing project in Abingdon, VA with 16 affordable rental units and 13 home ownership units;

Pacifica in Carrboro, NC with 7 affordable units made possible through incentive zoning and purchased to low income families via a community land trust;

Frog Song in Cotati, CA made possible by inclusionary zoning; and

Silver Sage - a senior cohousing community in Boulder, CA that is part of a larger master planned redevelopment called Holiday Park.

Our presentation is available for download from the conference website.  http://www.wshfc.org/conf/presentations/T8CohousingGraceKimMikeMariano.pdf

We welcome your questions and comments on the presentation.  And if you know of additional examples, would love to hear about those as well.

*Keynote speakers were Nicolas Retsinas (Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University) and Bruce Katz (Brookings Institute).

University of Oregon Portland Program in Architecture and Design

A nice diversion to my packed schedule at Rail-Volution was a visit the University of Oregon’s Portland Program (PP) design studios, located in the landmark White Stage/Made in Oregon Building, in the southeast corner of Portland’s Old Town. Allowing architecture and other design students (including a new product/industrial design program -- nice!) an opportunity to learn their craft in the nation’s most livable city, the U of O's Portland Program has been around for at least 20 years, during which time it has had many homes, including: the the former space of the long defunct Oregon School of Design, as well as space shared with Portland State University in their then-fledgling architecture studios, and some intervening spaces which I no doubt lost track of.

North Facing Skylights -- Who Could Ask for Anything More?

The U of O's PP Old Town digs are not really new. Despite the fact that I make the three hour trip several times a year from Seattle, I had yet to pay a visit; unfortunate on my part, because, quite frankly, their new space rocks. I could not envision a more apt place for architecture (or design) studios: a renovated, landmark building in a city’s historic core, in a city that (by the way) also happens to be a laboratory for the most exiting urban design (and increasingly architectural design) in North America. Located at the southern terminus of the great trifecta of Ecotopia’s other exceptional urban centers of Seattle and Vancouver  (both conveniently linked by Amtrak), the geographical setting of the PP could not be more advantageous for learning design.

There are Two Interconnected Floors of Design Studios

The design departments of the Portland Program are on the top two floors of the White Stag building, with the studio exhibiting all one could hope for in an atelier. Saw-toothed, north facing skylights (yes, can you imagine!), board-formed concrete walls, a lovely communicating stair linking the two floors, and views to the Willamette River. Perfect.

The Incomparable Gerry Gast in Action

An east coast refugee, my experience with the U of O is strictly as an outsider, and dates back to the early 1990s. In that time, despite their many changes of venues, there has been one constant: the inspirational teaching and leadership of Gerry Gast, a design studio professor and lecturer at the Portland Program (as well as a lecturer at Stanford, in his beloved Bay Area). I hate to be gushing, but Gerry deserves it. He is a close friend, an advisor, and most importantly to the students he leads, an endless source of enthusiasm, wisdom, integrity, and youthful energy (despite being north of 60?). The opportunity for my visit to the White Stag studios was in fact provided by Gerry, who I had an opportunity to watch in action (yet again!), during a pin up of his students’ work, and later at a desk crit. Gerry never parses his words with either his students or friends, while skillfully imparting a commitment and passion for teaching that has few peers; he is as great an asset to the PP as their new physical space.

Just Look at Those Steel Sash Windows  (they look like steel . . . .)