Hyatt Centric (619 SW 11th Ave) | 150' feet | 15 floors | Complete

[WestCoast]

Originally Posted by eric cantona

curious - have you (or others bemoaning the state of design in Portland) spent any time in other cities to see what the typical, everyday architecture looks like? do you have a distinct idea about what constitutes good (or even "acceptable") design in other large cities in the US?

I am very extraordinarily curious and honestly interested in what you, and others that post along similar lines here, actually expect from the architecture and development community.

I fly 100,000miles a year to every continent and typically visit 5-6 new countries a year on top of the domestic stuff. I go back to places regularly for business and pleasure and have favorite spots in the world.

That Portland (a city I love and call home for 12 years now) has bland and uninspiring architecture is hardly only my opinion.


The only building that is remotely interesting going up in Portland to me is the one over in Stumptown by the New Seasons. Forget what it's called.
Reminds me of something you might see in Rotterdam.

--
We either get the 5 story concrete + wood boxes that all look the same, or we get just the most generic and bland facades ever. PAW even isn't that grand, and it has nice glass!

Really, nothing built downtown since I've been here impresses me at all, or makes me proud to show off the city.

I'd take architecture in most any other mid-market city in the rest of the world over our own (and again, I love this city, operate businesses here, and proudly call it home).

We're just so boring, it's almost funny.

[eric cantona]

Originally Posted by WestCoast

I'd take architecture in most any other mid-market city in the rest of the world over our own (and again, I love this city, operate businesses here, and proudly call it home).

We're just so boring, it's almost funny.

wow. we definitely go to MUCH different American cities.

no fair bringing other countries into the mix, though. that's way too easy.

[maccoinnich]

I guess it all depends on what you mean by boring. If you're looking for Superdutch architecture then I'll concede that Portland probably isn't the city for you. But having spent time last year in some of our West Coast peer cities (Seattle, San Francisco and Vancouver), I found it noticeable how bad some of their new buildings are. The average quality of our background/everyday buildings is a lot higher, particularly at the street level.

As for showcase projects built in recent years, I would proudly show people any of the following: Union Way by Lever; the Apple Store by Bohlin Cywinski Jackson; the Emery by ZGF; Framework and Slate by Works Progress Architecture; Pearl East by Hacker / GBD; One North by Holst; and the Cosmopolitan by Bora. I also really like the triptych of 3330 SE Division (Hacker), 3339 SE Division (Hacker) and 3360 SE Division (Works).

[maccoinnich]

Post script: in case anyone things architecture is necessarily better in other countries, here's a recently built fun piece of urban design in Glasgow, the city where I did postgrad. Now imagine trying to get that through the Portland Design Commission.

Or here's an image of recently built housing at the Olympic Village in London, which I cycled around in September last year. Mentally compare that street view to any street in the Pearl, or Hassalo on Eighth. (I think Portland starts to look pretty good in comparison.)

[AdamUrbanist]

To be fair to the design commission, promoting progressive architecture is not their purpose. The design commission is here to make sure buildings are basically coherent and interface with the street in a dignified way. They've done a pretty good job of that. I'd like to see more daring architecture in Portland and I bet many members of the design commission would too. But all things equal I'd much rather live in a city of handsome "background" buildings than a menagerie of weird architectural objects like Dubai.

[DMH]

Originally Posted by WestCoast

I fly 100,000miles a year to every continent and typically visit 5-6 new countries a year on top of the domestic stuff. I go back to places regularly for business and pleasure and have favorite spots in the world.

That Portland (a city I love and call home for 12 years now) has bland and uninspiring architecture is hardly only my opinion.


The only building that is remotely interesting going up in Portland to me is the one over in Stumptown by the New Seasons. Forget what it's called.
Reminds me of something you might see in Rotterdam.

--
We either get the 5 story concrete + wood boxes that all look the same, or we get just the most generic and bland facades ever. PAW even isn't that grand, and it has nice glass!

Really, nothing built downtown since I've been here impresses me at all, or makes me proud to show off the city.

I'd take architecture in most any other mid-market city in the rest of the world over our own (and again, I love this city, operate businesses here, and proudly call it home).

We're just so boring, it's almost funny.

I generally concur with others on this site who feel that the overall Portland crop of new buildings hold up well when compared to peer cities. For the past 4 years I have been living in foreign countries for months at a time. I observe the good, the bad, and the ugly everywhere that I reside. Each time I return to Portland, I feel and see an overall pleasing urban environment. When I was an architecture student in Florence, Italy many years ago, I then observed that Florence was almost entirely background buildings forming a backdrop for famous structures such as the Duomo, Uffizzi, and Ponte Vecchio. So I do not feel Portland would be a better city were every new building is an attention-grabbing work of a Frank Gehry or a Rem Koolhaas.

[urbanlife]

Originally Posted by DMH

I generally concur with others on this site who feel that the overall Portland crop of new buildings hold up well when compared to peer cities. For the past 4 years I have been living in foreign countries for months at a time. I observe the good, the bad, and the ugly everywhere that I reside. Each time I return to Portland, I feel and see an overall pleasing urban environment. When I was an architecture student in Florence, Italy many years ago, I then observed that Florence was almost entirely background buildings forming a backdrop for famous structures such as the Duomo, Uffizzi, and Ponte Vecchio. So I do not feel Portland would be a better city were every new building is an attention-grabbing work of a Frank Gehry or a Rem Koolhaas.

But it would be awesome to have a Rem Koolhaus building in Portland.

[Epicurean]

Originally Posted by DMH

I generally concur with others on this site who feel that the overall Portland crop of new buildings hold up well when compared to peer cities. For the past 4 years I have been living in foreign countries for months at a time. I observe the good, the bad, and the ugly everywhere that I reside. Each time I return to Portland, I feel and see an overall pleasing urban environment. When I was an architecture student in Florence, Italy many years ago, I then observed that Florence was almost entirely background buildings forming a backdrop for famous structures such as the Duomo, Uffizzi, and Ponte Vecchio. So I do not feel Portland would be a better city were every new building is an attention-grabbing work of a Frank Gehry or a Rem Koolhaas.

I agree with this. I spent the last 10 years living in Toronto (much lionized on this site), and have recently moved on to Amsterdam. The former is mostly building bland, samey, frequently awful buildings, with the occasional "iconic" structure going in. The latter is better, but after a while here, all of the newer architecture blends together, and starts to feel quite boring. Portland is in no danger of becoming the next Paris, but return visits there make me feel that what is put up is reasonably tasteful, or at least not offensive. But to each his own!

[maccoinnich]

Returning to the subject of this hotel: it was not approved today, and will return for a third hearing on February 16th.

[zilfondel]

Originally Posted by WestCoast

We just have the most bland architecture in this town.

Can nothing be done about it?

Ehh, I'm sure if you throw some more money at the problem it will go away.

For good architecture, you need a savvy developer as well as a creative and bold architect. Without that...

[zilfondel]

Originally Posted by tworivers

For what it's worth, I think the updated tower design looks much more coherent and believable now. Impressive for SERA, given their often haphazard material combinations (I think of the Tupelo, a building I have to walk by just about every day and try to remember to forget). I guess I was more curious about the odd-angled wood beams at ground level than the Design Commission -- I wouldn't have minded seeing the architects take that general concept a bit further to add some warmth and personality at the pedestrian level.:

The wood columns at ground level were probably at odds with code, seeing as they are a combustible material.

Although I liked them. Someone should design a wood lowrise with angled structural columns! Could be awesome.

Originally Posted by urbanlife

But it would be awesome to have a Rem Koolhaus building in Portland.

Well, we're going for 2 Snohettas (hopefully), so there is some hope!

[maccoinnich]

Latest drawings [PDF - 9MB] and Staff Report. Have to say I preferred iteration #2.

[RED_PDXer]

Originally Posted by maccoinnich

Latest drawings [PDF - 9MB] and Staff Report. Have to say I preferred iteration #2.

Really? No. 2 seemed so bland. This one seems to carry the somewhat whimsical elements of no.1 with the structure of no. 2. I kinda like it.

[2oh1]

I hope I'm wrong, but I think it looks terribly cheap.

The pattern is fine. Heck, it's downright cliche for this era. It's fine. But the building looks cheap, and the west side looks just plain nasty.

I preferred the previous version too.

[maccoinnich]

Images for Design Review hearing #2

[maccoinnich]

Project was approved today.

[maccoinnich]

Final Findings and Decision by the Design Commission

[maccoinnich]

[MarkDaMan]

Mentioned this hotel to a friend in the industry today and was told it would be a Hyatt Centric. https://centric.hyatt.com/en/hyattcentric.html

Don't have any proof to confirm that at this point, but interesting to see if the Hyatt brand continues their aggressive Portland expansion.

[maccoinnich]

Interesting that Central Portland could go from having zero Hyatt branded properties to three in a relatively short period of time.