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Portland art blog + news + exhibition reviews + galleries + contemporary northwest art
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Wednesday 11.11.09 Transit Bridge Developments Nov, 2009  November 10, 2009 version of Willamette Transit Bridge Yesterday's WRBAC meeting was interesting and more fiery, at least compared to previous meetings. It's detail time and the design of the new Transit/Ped/Bike bridge iis coming along. I like its triangular towers and belvederes designed to minimize the airfoil vacuums that flat towers create (dangerous to cyclists and pedestrians).  WBRAC Committee (foreground) Donald Macdonald and Anna Valentina-Murch (center and right background) I also liked that...(more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on November 11, 2009 at 18:59 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 09.25.09 New Designs on Portland  The design for the new leaf-shaped Rainwater Pavilion for the Tanner Springs urban wetland park in the Pearl District is pretty impressive. The pavilion designed by Herbert Dreiseitl (like the rest of the park) conjures "Space Elves" in my mind, something that would be hokey...(more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on September 25, 2009 at 11:30 | Comments (15) PermalinkMonday 07.06.09 Willamette transit bridge design developments  Donald MacDonald, the architect Trimet hired at the end of May to design the new multi-use transit bridge over the Willamette At the July 2nd design meeting we were introduced to a new architect with a serious reputation and a preliminary but exciting new inwardly canted tower design with decks that protrude for better pedestrian/cycle lanes, a rather extraneous proposal for a waterfall, the misguided idea that Portlanders identify with salmon as a color as much as the actual fish, potentially tacky attempts to soften the inherently angular cable stay design, talk of observation decks, more tower designs and numerous innovative strategies to improve the bicycle and pedestrian lanes.  a sketch for V style towers, which now seems out of favor.... (more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on July 06, 2009 at 9:30 | Comments (0) PermalinkMonday 06.22.09 Bridging some gaps in the discussion  Architect Donald MacDondald's "Refined" Cable Stay design, up for review today Once again, discussion of the Willamette river transit bridge has heated up in anticipation of today's meeting for the final choice of bridge type. In my opinion it isn't bridge type that matters... it is the detailing of whatever design chosen that will determine how usable, environmentally sensitive, pride inducing, and ultimately successful the design will be. To bring everyone up to speed... PORT pretty much started the civic discussion over this bridge with our totally unofficial design competition, later we broke the images of the rather nice hybrid design that now seems out of favor with the committees. Frankly, I like pure cable stayed designs, they have generally cleaner lines and can span longer distances which can make for a smaller environmentally footprint... but the details have to be good and the discussion around them needs to be relevant to produce sensitive designs. The stakes for this project are huge. In many ways Trimet and Portland's alt-city reputation as a green, civically progressive oasis in America is on the line. It's understandable but should Trimet really try to come in way under budget on what will likely be their most visible project ever?... (more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on June 22, 2009 at 11:00 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 03.12.09 Bridging design issues  New cable stay/suspension combo bridge proposal I've been wrestling with this new cable stay suspension bridge hybrid across the Willamette River for several weeks now and the designs went public last week. Im not exactly excited about this design but it's an intriguing alternative to the two pure cable stayed designs, both of which seem generic. Still, the effectiveness of the design varies depending on the view.  detail of hybrid bridge In profile from the middle of the riverr it looks very european and elegant, except that's not how most would experience the bridge....(more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on March 12, 2009 at 9:23 | Comments (0) PermalinkSaturday 10.11.08 Willamette Bridge Design Reactions 
a prelimenary wave frame bridge design for the Willamette I'm certain PORT readers remember how we were dissatisfied with ZGF's preliminary design for the Willamette River pedestrian and light rail bridge and created our own design contest...(more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on October 11, 2008 at 22:35 | Comments (2) PermalinkFriday 03.21.08 Thinking about The Living Room at MoCC 
Ornamental Modern at MoCC January 2008 This weekend marks the last for the Museum of Contemporary Craft's The Living Room, which ends March 23rd. With a novel cutaway layout, the show has had 3 different iterations, Mid-Century Modern, Ornamental Modern and the current Eco-Modern. My favorite is the current Eco-Modern, which sports a great 1970's weaving by Mike Walsh and an excellent Peter Voulkos or 2. Lately with Dwell, Ikea, Design Within Reach and the mass appeal of Target's ad campaigns, modern design has enjoyed a pretty amazing resurgence. One of my favorite baristas refers to Dwell as yuppie porn but I think curator Namita Wiggers is going beyond the "simplify your hectic life" dream that seems to be fueling the interest. Instead, she looks at the links between craft and modernist furnishings and how the modernist aesthetic was mostly a "truth in materials and production" movement. She also mixes the new with vintage. Here are two of my favorite living rooms: ...(more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on March 21, 2008 at 11:15 | Comments (0) PermalinkTuesday 02.12.08 PORT's Bridge Design Contest: Awards  Sean Casey's elegant design Sure the cost for a new light rail and pedestrian bridge is high, this should be expected as transit projects are never cheap but if Portland gets a new bridge over the Willamette it should embody the green and design ideals that Portland holds so dear...(more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on February 12, 2008 at 12:07 | Comments (0) PermalinkWednesday 12.26.07 2 New condos for the Pearl District: it's design review time  The Casey Ive been waiting for a slow week to discuss these two new condos in the Pearl District. Neither is a product of of the design deficient, "let's put brick on a 10+ story building to warm it up," school of thought. First is The Casey, which is the first residential condo to sport a LEED platinum rating so it's very green conscious... (more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on December 26, 2007 at 15:09 | Comments (4) Permalink |
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Site Design: Jennifer Armbrust | • | Site Development: Philippe Blanc & Katherine Bovee | |