Installation view of scale photo of Portland metro, 1ft = 1 mile

PDXplore: Designing Portland opens tomorrow at PNCA. The project invites members of the local design and architecture community to reimagine Portland and construct a model of its growth in the next few years. It's being launched with a talk next week by five local designers and architects; Rudy Barton, Carol Mayer-Reed, Michael McCulloch, Richard Potestio, and William Tripp. As Brian Libby points out, Portland's at a crucial moment of development, and it's essential to get the community involved in the discussion of where - and how - to go from here.

Designer talk • 6-9pm • July 8
PNCA • 1241 NW Johnson St. • 503.226.4391

There will be a second panel discussion later in the month, In the Round: Collective Leadership, featuring five local leaders: Sam Adams (mayor elect of Portland), David Bragdon (president of Metro), Tom Hughes (mayor of Hillsboro), Gil Kelley (Director of Planning, Portland), and Alice Rouyere (Executive manager, Gresham). It's a golden opportunity to actually bring design and city leadership together to confront the issues at hand.

Leader Roundtable • 6-9pm • July 22
PNCA • 1241 NW Johnson St. • 503.226.4391




In a somewhat bewildering move, there's another interesting talk on the future of art and Portland's fabric conflicting with the first PDXplore talk. Milepost 5 is hosting a panel discussion on the future of living and working for artists in Portland. MP5 is trying to promote condos to serve as a living and working space for artists. While the idea may seem financially risky in our current real estate environment, the panel is getting at an important issue: How can we guide the live/work environment for Portland artists to make it viable, affordable, and to promote community while preserving open boundaries? Panelists include: Brad Malsin (Beam Development), Milepost 5, Ben Kaiser (Project X), Brian Wannamaker (Falcon Artist Community), Sam Adams (Portland City Commissioner and Mayor Elect), TJ Norris (Artist) and Jenene Nagy (Artist and PORTstar). (Once again, we ask: Sam Adams, why are you here and not at the PDXplore designers talk? Both are important, the two shouldn't conflict, and it seems disingenuous to participate in the leaders roundtable without being present at the designers talk. I thought the point was a two-way discussion...)

Live/Work Panel • 7-8:30pm • July 8
Milepost 5 • 900 NE 81st AVE • 503.724.6933