Architecture

The University of Oregon in Portland’s Randy Gragg is collaborating with Oregon Public Broadcasting’s show ‘State of Wonder’ for a year-long look at Portland architecture. Gragg, the executive director of the John Yeon Center for Architecture and Landscape at the UO, is a former architecture critic at The Oregonian and editor-in-chief of Portland Monthly. “No one is more thoroughly steeped in the design character of Portland,” the State of Wonder website stated.

An estimated $5 million real estate pledge from architect Jim Rothwell, BArch ’80, and his wife, Mary, will advance the UO’s School of Architecture and Allied Arts and help grow the school’s endowment. “This was a way to help out in return for what the school gave me,” says Rothwell.

A house built by University of Oregon students has won the 2016 Golden Key Award for Most Innovative Homeownership project in the state, an honor presented by the Oregon Opportunity Network.

The house, constructed during a three-term UO architecture class called OregonBILDS, is part of a multi-year effort to build nine houses on Hope Loop in west Eugene using sustainable design and construction methods. This is the third home the students have completed for income-qualified buyers.

A project at Yellowstone National Park designed and managed by A&AA alumni at Hennebery Eddy Architects will expand the park’s green footprint while encouraging kids to explore the outdoors.

The Yellowstone Youth Campus aims to be the first building complex in a national park to achieve Living Building Challenge Certification. Such buildings integrate ecology, heritage, stewardship, sustainability, and leadership across all aspects of design, construction, and operation.

Saint-Gobain, a manufacturer of sustainable building products, is partnering with Associate Professor Ihab Elzeyadi, who directs the UO’s HiPE lab, to assess the impact of building design on occupant experience, measuring factors such as indoor air quality and thermal, acoustical, and visual comfort. The test site is Saint-Gobain’s new headquarters, which was designed to function as a “living laboratory” where the performance of its products can be measured and evaluated on an ongoing basis.

Competing against professional design firms, a UO student team placed second in the international Land Art Generator Initiative (LAGI) competition to design a civic artwork that also generates carbon-free electricity and water.

The award for their project, “Cetacea,” was presented Thursday, October 6, at the Greenbuild conference in Los Angeles, California. Smithsonian.com featured the project Oct. 5.

Architect magazine named ZGF Architects, founded in Portland, Oregon, the No. 1 design firm nationwide—both overall and in sustainable design. Five of the firm’s current partners are graduates of the UO School of Architecture and Allied Arts and more than 70 A&AA alumni work for ZGF globally.

“I felt like there was something missing,” Tinker Hatfield, BArch ’77, tells Sneakernews in its September 12 issue, remembering how he has helped design Duck athletes’ traveling gear since 2011. “I felt like there could be this excitement driven by leveraging the history of the Jordan Brand.” In the Sneakernews story, Hatfield looks back at the entire line of Air Jordan shoes from 2011 to today’s Air Jordan XIV, including a peek at his design sketches.

Four UO architecture students—Alex Kendle, Michael Meer, Greg Stacy, and Benjamin Wright—garnered second place in the 2015–16 Timber in the City: Urban Habitat Competition, as reported in the Portland Business Journal. The four competed against 846 students with their project called Hybrid Domains. The UO’s second-place win earned them $7,500. Their faculty sponsors, who included Judith Sheine and Mark Donofrio, received $5,000.

Media outlets are highlighting an award for a City of Springfield parking garage concept developed in part by UO architecture students.