Think Nike in Beaverton. Google in Palo Alto. Urban Outfitters in Philadelphia.
Corporate campuses aren’t unique, but having one downtown is. Helping design such a campus in a dynamic city like Portland is an even rarer opportunity, but that’s precisely what a cadre of University of Oregon graduate students is doing.
Students from the UO School of Architecture and Allied Arts — the nation’s top program in sustainable design education — were invited to help envision a future for the 34-square-block space in Old Town.
“The UO group is the type of people we want to help design the city,” said Greg Goodman, co-president of Downtown Development Group LLC in Portland. “If you look at the driver in Portland, it’s young people. My goal is to empower creative thinkers like the people working on this project.”
The students are in the Oregon Leadership in Sustainability (OLIS) program in the UO’s Department of Planning, Public Policy and Management. The class was invited to participate in the “Sustainable Real Estate Design Challenge,” a collaborative effort with city and state planners, real estate development and planning consultants and architects and designers to provide innovative approaches to development.
A key partner in the collaboration is the Oregon chapter of the Commercial Real Estate Development Association, known as NAIOP. The chapter invited OLIS students to the table not just because of UO’s reputation in sustainable design but also because of the interdisciplinary nature of the OLIS program, said Vicki Elmer, OLIS director.
The class project site stretches inland from Portland’s downtown waterfront between the Morrison and Burnside bridges. “It’s kind of a clean slate there — it’s on the river, the bridge comes right in, there’s transportation,” Goodman said. “There’s no ‘there’ there yet, but if you can create something spectacular, it can go like wildfire.”
During spring term, the Eugene-based students have made field trips to the site, participated in a design charrette in Portland, and otherwise brainstormed with each other and with project partners over the issues and opportunities the site presents.
“Portland is such an amazing place to learn about these concepts. The city planners and property owners that we have been talking with have brought a wealth of knowledge and insight that has helped the class better define our goals,” said graduate student Abbey Beal, who is focusing on historic preservation concerns in Old Town. “Having a hands-on experience like this is incredibly valuable.”
Graduate student Gayathry Lakshminarasimhan is part of a team tasked with design guidelines for the site.
“As the study area falls under the Skidmore Historic district, there are several guidelines formulated by the city to empower the historic features of the area,” Lakshminarasimhan said. “Though they are extensive they have their shortcomings, and my assignment is to identify them and provide possible recommendations for improvement.”
“It’s good to have new, fresh eyes looking at it, creative folks who are free from the realities of being a stakeholder,” said Karl Lisle, BA ’95, of Portland’s Bureau of Planning and Sustainability. “We’re working on a big plan update for the central city that includes the area where students are looking.”
Downtown Development Group owns the land — primarily surface parking lots — that comprises the study area. Goodman points out that it’s “very rare to see this much space owned by one party in an area of downtown. It would be difficult for a (company) to assemble ten different parcels from ten different property owners.”
The class is supported in part by a $10,000 grant to Elmer for a capstone challenge class from NAIOP. The class will be sponsored annually by NAIOP as part of the OLIS certificate program. The class is open to other graduate students at UO.
The OLIS Graduate Certificate program is an intensive program that trains students in the concepts and skills of sustainability. It is designed for students from diverse backgrounds who want to prepare for emerging sustainability careers in the public, private, and nonprofit sector. The program is accepting applications with the next review beginning June 1, and thereafter on a rolling basis for the 2013-14 academic year.
- story by Marti Gerdes, UO Architecture and Allied Arts