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 are doing.

Corporate campuses tend to be on the fringe of metro areas rather than integrated into the center of a downtown. What an Old Town Portland corporate campus would offer is, well, everything, from office space to housing to shopping — and in a compact, culturally rich space tucked inside one of the hippest cities anywhere. Plus, such mixed-use, nodal development is inherently sustainable.

That’s why 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.

Above: The OLIS students were invited to help envision a future for this 34-square-block space in Old Town.

“The UO group is the type of people we want to help design the city,” says Greg Goodman, co-president of Downtown Development Group LLC in Portland. “If you look at the driver in Portland, it’s young people. It’s not about monogrammed shirts here anymore. There’s a vitality,” he says. “My goal is to empower creative thinkers like the people (UO students) 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 of Portland and State of Oregon 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, says Vicki Elmer, OLIS director. Class instructor Ric Stephens, principal at Stephens Planning & Design LLC, brings more than thirty years experience in design, planning, and sustainable development, as well as teaching, Elmer says.

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 says. “There’s no ‘there’ there yet, but if you can create something spectacular, it can go like wildfire.”

City officials and local residents have met over many months to identify the planning challenges of the area, Stephens says. “These include potential conflicts between historic preservation and contemporary development; social services and security-safety; zoning restrictions, and development opportunities.”

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,” says graduate student Abbey Beal, who is focusing on historic preservation concerns in Old Town. “The way this class is being conducted is all new to me, and I am thankful for it. Having a hands-on experience like this is incredibly valuable.”

The initial site visit gave students a look at the study area’s attributes without withholding its challenges. “The site’s sizable homeless population is a great example of what was otherwise hard to grasp without a site visit. It was at once discouraging and encouraging,” graduate student Clay Stilwell says. “The discouragement came from walking around the streets and seeing the significant limitations to the site and from hearing pessimistic assessments of the site potential from invested and knowledgeable developers and planners familiar with the site. On the contrary, it was hard not to be excited after seeing the site’s rich historic character, vibrant Saturday Market, and access to a great river park.”

Above: The OLIS class cheers in downtown Portland’s Tom McCall Waterfront Park during their first site visit.

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 notes. “Though they are extensive they have their shortcomings, and my assignment is to identify them and provide possible recommendations for improvement.“
The professional partners, for their part, value the students’ input.

“It’s good to have new, fresh eyes looking at it, creative folks who are free from the realities of being a stakeholder,” says Karl Lisle, BA ’95, of the City 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. It’s about a fourteen-month project with lots of public involvement and a big stakeholder advisory committee.”

The area the OLIS class is exploring is unique “in that it lends itself for the potential of an urban campus,” says Goodman of the Downtown Development Group. “You take a business that continually grows, like Nike or Google, for example. They build two buildings initially, then maybe three years later they need more so they build another. Meantime on the other sites, we’re building mixed use — apartments or condos or retail — so you create a very vibrant mixed-use community where you can go from your residence to your office and retail by foot.”

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.”

Matt Cole, BS ’94, senior vice president for Shorenstein Realty Services, L.P., and a NAIOP member, helped spearhead the concept of the OLIS class. “We worked collectively with OLIS Director Vicki Elmer and Instructor Ric Stephens to find a site that would be challenging and diverse,” he says. “We wanted to have an owner willing to participate and to see value in the student ideas. We wanted a site where the highest and best use is not obvious. We found all of those here.”

Student Clay Stilwell observes, “I’m interested in the potential of the site to play host to a corporate campus, and the impact of a corporate campus on the district’s potential for development. There are many examples of corporate campuses moving into neighborhoods perceived as downtrodden or otherwise less desirable for development, and some others of corporate rehabilitation of neglected historic architecture.”

Cole sees the project as a win for both students and downtown Portland enterprises. “We hope the students get practical, real world experience on a complex downtown site, working with local professionals while getting course credit. As a company we want to give back to the real estate programs in our area.”

Kyle Harris, director of development for A&AA, also notes the benefits gained by all involved. “It is wonderful to see a broad range of professionals involved in commercial real estate support students who will gain an appreciation for what is takes to create a vibrant, sustainable urban environment.”

The students are eager to help identify climate-friendly development options. “Much of what the class is proposing involves the implementation of greener, more pedestrian-friendly spaces that connect skillfully and naturally with the riverfront park across Naito Parkway,” Beal says. “This concept relies heavily on the underlying theme for creating ‘sense of place.’ ”

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.

For his part, Goodman’s experience with OLIS students has made him an even bigger booster of A&AA. “I want to be able to show this to potential companies and say, ‘Hey look at what the UO students did, and we can do this for you. These are some young, energetic people who came up with some awesome ideas.’ ”

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