Architect Steve Ewoldt of artifekt (photo courtesy Steven Ewoldt) BY LUKE AREHART Editors note: After a nearly three year absence, the Architect’s Questionnaire is back, written by contributor Luke Arehardt. The intent is for this to become a regular series...

2030 Challenge targets (image courtesy Architecture 2030) BY BRIAN LIBBY As many now know, buildings are the primary source of energy demand and the main user of materials that produce by-product greenhouse gases. But since its creation in 2002, led...

Portland Aerial Tram (photo by Bradley Maule) BY BRIAN LIBBY On the heels of Oregon Health & Science University releasing its plans for the Collaborative Life Science building on its South Waterfront campus, the once controversial transit project at the...

National Music Center, Calgary (rendering courtesy Allied Works) BY BRIAN LIBBY This Thursday at 6PM, Portland Art Museum director Brian Ferriso will host an interview and conversation with Allied Works founder and lead designer Brad Cloepfil. The conversation comes at...

Collaborative Life Science Building (rendering courtesy OHSU) BY FRED LEESON There are few opportunities left in Portland to take a flat, vacant 12-acre site and erect a cutting-edge building that will establish a new use for many decades and set...

MLK Viaduct (photos by Bradley Maule) BY BRADLEY MAULE Highway construction projects are never popular, never on budget, and never on time. Even in the utopian City That Works, this evidently holds true. The new Martin Luther King Jr Viaduct,...

Terwilliger Parkway (photo by Fred Leeson) BY FRED LEESON Aside from moving people from one place to another, how often does a strip of pavement add to civility of the city, provide emotional respite and inspiration, and even rank as...

Photo by Brian Libby BY BRIAN LIBBY In a Thursday Portland Tibune op-ed, PORT editor and artist/curator Jeff Jahn makes a compelling argument that Portland should sieze the day: keeping its creative talent by embarking on an ambitious future. "Portland...

The Janey by GBD Architects (courtesy Neighborhood Notes) BY BRIAN LIBBY It's been a long dark winter since the sun set on the economic boom of the 2000s, when construction cranes dotted the central city landscape. For the past three...

A contrail over Southeast Portland (photo by Brian Libby) BY BRIAN LIBBY In Wednesday's Washington Post, Maura Judkis argues that Portland's 15 minutes of fame are up. "Portland, with its elaborate facial hair and abundance of strip clubs, represents irony....

Smith Tower (photos by Bradley Maule) BY BRADLEY MAULE Vancouver, Washington isn’t a whole lot of things to a whole lot of people — I’d guess most of Portland’s modern emigrant population hasn’t even set foot there (admittedly, it took...

Willamette Valley near Gaston, Oregon (photo by Brian Libby) BY BRIAN LIBBY Over the Christmas holiday, I did a lot of driving within Oregon for get-togethers with family. I drove to Eugene on the day of the 24th, to McMinnville...

2181 NW Nicolai Street (photo by Brian Libby) BY BRIAN LIBBY Someday when we look back on this era, as much as any new construction the architectural legacy of the early 2000s may be the renovation and reimagination of old...

EcoFlats (photo by Ben C. Gray) BY BRIAN LIBBY Recently I toured the EcoFlats mixed-use apartment building, along North Williams Avenue in Portland with its co-developer, Jean-Pierre Veillet of Siteworks Design Build. Williams Avenue, once the heart of a thriving...

June Key Delta Center (image courtesy greenposting.org) BY JULIETTE BEALE As soon as I entered the June Key Delta Center on an otherwise dark, stormy recent evening, the mood shifted. As part of an AIA/Committee on the Environment tour, I...

Tower House (rendering courtesy Benjamin Waechter, Architect) BY BRIAN LIBBY Two months ago while visiting the exhibit of AIA/Portland Design Awards submittals at Pioneer Place, there was one design that got me more excited than all the others: the Tower...

Park Avenue West tower (rendering courtesy TVA Architects) BY FRED LEESON Here’s the scenario: Prominent, wealthy businessman plans to build a tall, impressive downtown building. Acquires a full block and clears it. Hires one of the most prominent architectural firms...

Proposed Con-way development (courtesy GBD Architects via DJC) BY BRIAN LIBBY Nearly a decade ago, as some of the city's most prominent developers were making the case for a new South Waterfront district, I remember asking one, Homer Williams of...

Clyfford Still Museum (photo by Peter Harholdt) BY BRIAN LIBBY To Los Angeles Times art critic Christopher Knight, it is "nothing less than a marvelous model for what a single-artist museum can be. Virtually every aspect of it is designed...

Jefferson Smith (image courtesy Street Roots) BY BRIAN LIBBY Earlier this month, the three major candidates for mayor - Eileen Brady, Charlie Hales and Jefferson Smith - gathered for the race's first debate. Although the trio showed little disagreement on...

Freiwald House B&B, Irvington (photo by chrispyworld, via Flickr) BY FRED LEESON The figurative architects of Portland’s newest and largest historic district – the 2,800 property Irvington neighborhood listed on the National Register of Historic Places a year ago –...

Coliseum for 2009 Rose Parade (photo by Jeremy Bitterman) BY BRIAN LIBBY This Thursday, Mayor Sam Adams will present to Portland's City Council the plan to restore historic Memorial Coliseum. The price tag for the project is currently projected to...

Ankeny Lofts (photo by Timothy Park) BY BRIAN LIBBY The autumn sun was shining brightly last week as I met architect Mark Engberg of Colab Architecture + Urban Design and Duncan McDonnell of general contractor Rainier Pacific for a tour...

Architect Corey Martin at the Butler Residence (photo by Brian Libby) BY BRIAN LIBBY It happens in practically every creative person's career: the moment when one must choose between continuing with a successful small operation or joining a bigger one;...

415 SW 10th (photo by Brian Libby) BY BRIAN LIBBY Not only has the local arts organization known for its TBA Festival (as in "Time Based Art") found a new home, but the move means a beloved Portland building's future...

Blagen Block, Old Town (photo by Brian Libby) BY FRED LEESON After roughly a year of study and discussion, the Historic Preservation League of Oregon has completed its guidelines for “compatible infill design” for new buildings that might surface in...

Digital Animation Studio, an Honor Award winner (image courtesy Lever Architecture) Every year for the past decade as I've covered the annual AIA/Portland Design Awards, the top prize, known as the Honor Award, has gone to one or two projects....

Tingley-Fortin Residence (photo by John Jensen) BY BRIAN LIBBY Last night the trio of jurors presiding over this year's AIA/Portland Design Awards gave their annual Jury Critique presentation, beginning with a discussion of their own work and then moving on...

Map of Occupy Portland encampment (by Jonathan Hill for Willamette Week) BY BRIAN LIBBY In this week's Willamette Week, Aaron Mesh reports on his 48 hours living in the Occupy Portland encampment and protest downtown in Chapman Square and the...

Lloyd Crossing ecodistrict plan (image courtesy Mithun) BY BRIAN LIBBY This week from October 26-28, the Portland Oregon Sustainability Institute will present the second annual Ecodistrict Summit, which is the premier annual conference dedicated to neighborhood-scale sustainability initiatives. Recently I...