This is a small building I'm doing for a developer, whom I’ve worked with on many projects, mostly residential. The lot is very small, at least for western US standards. Just 50 feet deep and 26 feet wide. When the developer asked me to drive by and take a look I had a hard time finding it it was so small and unassuming!

He knew he wanted to go 3 stories and have at least 2 living units. The location is a light industrial area with virtually no retail and no housing. Mid block and 20 foot high tilt-up slab buildings on 2 sides.....Edgy as some might say. Very little pedestrian traffic except for the wanderers and the drunks.

My first thought was to have live/work studios given the area has a few. Two 3-story units…….

So here was my first thoughts...I was really excited about doing a very very simple front facade and haveing the building look very understated and mysterious ;)

But Developer wanted some street leasable spaces so that ment a common stair and a completey different concept.

A single stair to one side with identical condominiums on 2nd and third floors. They are 880 sf each. The developer thinks they are 2 bedrooms but i"m sure the new buyers will remove the wall between the bedrooms and make a single.......

This was PS (pre-Sketchup) for me, so I had a colleague do a very simple model to show the client (Thanks Matt) in 3d Max.

North East

There was a large tree at the street so trying to quick insertion was tough...

Here is the site info from the city of Portland official site: PortlandMaps

Very usefull web site...incredible amount of information...can even see sales prce of properties so you can see the client paid very little for this site....

214 SE 8th Avenue (http://www.portlandmaps.com/detail.cfm?x=7649195.783&y=683489.939)

It is under construction so unfortunately I'll miss out on all your valued criticism. But please feel free to comment.

With all the trouble of editing the tree to get the "see thru" effect of your structure does not seem worth it with the view you selected. A sidewalk view with a more extreme angle may have served you better.

Do you have a site plan that you could post here. I think posting that will help better understand the adjoining context.

Here are a few construction photos....

august 5 , 05

August 24, 05

Sept 29, 05

Nov 11, 05

Nov 28, 05

Dec 16, 05

Dec 28, 05

Dec 28, 05 from SW

JP-
Didnt really do much of a site plan drawing, anything that would help. The building is zero-lot-line on all sides. Here is aerial photo. THe center parcel with the RED DOT is it.

Floor plan sheet

West (front) and North elevations

Are there any other current developments in that area? That part of town is really interesting being both rich with history and presently... neglected (said nicely). Still, I love that part of SE Portland and think it would be great if good projects could begin to revitalize the area without overly gentrifying the whole place. There is a great example of this called the box-and-one apartments (I think) a little east of there.

-Danie

...also, do you have unit plans yet that you could share?

Oops... I just noticed the plans. Sorry.

Here's the other project I had mentioned.

Really nice thread... like the project and even more, like to see it being build... :cheers:

Good job putting a new attitude in that area. I ride my bike through that area often and find kind of depressing because of the neglectthis will certainly bring eye candy on my rides.

Box+One and The Belmont Street Lofts are some of my other favorites in the area.

fellow PDX'ers-

The develper/owner is a littel bit concerned it might be too edgy to get his money back out. Personally I think he will be fine. I'm thinking about buying the first floor. He will sell it as a "businsess condo", something that is new to me but like the idea of "buying" my work space as opposed to paying rent to da man.

Latest pic...feb. 5, 06 brick and exterior stairs going in.

stair treads and decking material for stair way landings & units decks...

Wilson - I love your stair. How do you spec that treat material - what is it called. I did diamond tread on my office stair, and predictably it is rusting and I am on the paint merry-go-round.

Greg-

McNichols Metals makes it. You can get the plank flooring to match the stair treads. It comes in different widths.......6", 8" etc and lengths up to 12 feet and is 1-1/2 deep accomplished by turning down the edges to form a channel. All will be galvanized.

http://www.mcnichols.com/products/flooring/plate/smallhole/

http://www.mcnichols.com/products/stairtreads/plank/smallhole/

thanks for the tip

Mcnichols is a great company. We also use a great product they offer...composite (recycled plastic) subway grating. :rock on:

Simple, clean. Very good project. And your drawings are sympathic too.
That's something we'd have done with concrete blocks here because wood is not in our habits. I see you're in Oregon.

Some questions :

- What about insulation ?
- How do bricks are linked to OSB panels ?

Regards

Francesco

Fransesco,
Funny you should mention concrete block, because I was saying just this morning that if I did this project again I would have done more in block. We are having major problems with the adjacent property owners allowing access to their property to finish our property line walls. Block would have solved all this. tried to save a penny by using stud framing above their existing walls...big mistake.

The walls all have batt insulation at R19.

The brick is veneer. It is supported at each floor level by angle iron so you are not stacking or supporting any more than one floor at a time. Also, the brick is attached to the OSB wall sheathing with clips at about 24" OC horizontally and vertically. Similar to these....

Thanks for your explanations.
and... I was just wondering about using wood instead of blocks for a similar program :D

i like this level of development.. i think the project is quite restrained and not very out there and the developer would have no probs getting his money if the market is any good... how much does a building like this cost or apartment and what are the rough costs per metre squared or per ft for the states out of interest..

Do you have any sections of the building i'm quite intrigued by the way ply wood is used in most buildings in the states.. i'd generally say most of the time timber or steel batten are used in oz, but i could be wrong to fix the exterior sheeting to the building with sarking acting as a water proof membrane bw the stud and battens.. but i could be wrong too as most did deisgns for more industrial buildings so far...

also is that ply wood used on the inside of the brick cavity of the brick walls?? or has the plan changed, if so some of my comments above may make no sense...

What's happened to the tree?? That seemed like a potential strength. A bit of severe pruning could have really enhanced the site.

Sorry we couldn't save the tree, too many utilities going right where it was.

Ouesty- We live in a very active seismic area so we are always trying to shore up the lateral resistance of our buildings. Plywood is very good for this in its longitudinal direction. Creates very good resistance to shear so it is structural more than a part of the system to keep the elements out. ;) Hope that answered your questions, if not let me know.

yeah sometimes we use plywood as well for bracing, but sparingly, on the corners etc..

otherwise we use steel ties, which is a long maybe 1.5inch wide steel strip maybe only 1mm thick or less,that you attach at diagonals to the stud frame for bracing, this is cheaper and we don't have seismic issues in melb...

thanks for answering the q...

Sorry to butt in like this - I haven't really been following this thread...I just wanted to congratulate you on a job well done :cheers:

our second 5 star real project

:clap:

And what about Juan's bus stop ?

Great Project. I am a fan of simple and clean. Right down to the details, i love it!

WilsonMetry-
nice design :cheers:
is it a boy or girl? :D

Finally, the brick is finished.

another....

fellow PDX'ers-

The develper/owner is a littel bit concerned it might be too edgy to get his money back out. Personally I think he will be fine.

With the new breed of late-twenties to early thirties looking for the next chic property in the area to invest in, I dont think he will a have a problem either.

Hopefully this "new breed" won't be an overly gentrifying force. It'd be great to see good projects and revitalization happening in SE, but it's already a great, unique place. I'm curious what's going to happen to the whole are over the next 5 or 10 years.

WilsonMetry-
nice design :cheers:
is it a boy or girl? :D

David,
Oh, man, you are right on, it has been like giving birth! This building is a bad combination of size (too large/commercial to be inexpensive and too small to take advantage of economies of scale) and inexperienced builder and developer. But.....

I'm very happy with it and in the end everybody has been working very hard to make it good.

Thanks everyone, for the interest and compliments. :)

Wilson - I'm looking at the amount you said was budgeted for architecture and engineers and I'm thinking good for you! Maybe that is really not a lot, but I know it has to be more than I usually get. Was a sizable portion of that for Civil and Geotech, or did you and your consultants garner most of that?

Drove by the site last Friday and I must say, this piece of work is nicer up in in real life. It has certainly added some spice to the area.

Nice project....
It is a decent proposal,no flaws.
But i was wondering if it deserves 5 stars.
I am not saying it's not a good project, in the contrary it seems the right solution for the given parameters.
My only remark is that 'decency' can't be the only criterium to assign five stars.

For me this project is a good 4 star example.

I hope i don't upset people by saying this...i repeat that it is still a fine project.

I must say that the detailing is very good and very clean. This shows good craftsmanship from both architect as contractor.

regards,
kwisten

Nice project....
It is a decent proposal,no flaws.
But i was wondering if it deserves 5 stars.
I am not saying it's not a good project, in the contrary it seems the right solution for the given parameters.
My only remark is that 'decency' can't be the only criterium to assign five stars.

For me this project is a good 4 star example.

I hope i don't upset people by saying this...i repeat that it is still a fine project.

I must say that the detailing is very good and very clean. This shows good craftsmanship from both architect as contractor.

regards,
kwisten

it's often hard to find a 5 stars real project (i think the one you posted on ppb1 with the clouds and cows is definitely one!) and we are thin on examples on [ppb]2 at the moment. seeing you feel strongly about this, i have moved it back to the common area for further rating to continue.

thanks for voicing your opinion

no problem here :)

I'm not sure I would give it 5 stars either. It is a good project but I'm not sure it sets the bar for 5 stars.

in my view a 5 star has a certain element to it that shows a strong concept/idea and that is then transferred into a design that successfully executes the idea well, grahically, structurally etc..

i think there is a lil hesitence with posting of big projects. that or we are all getting big projects and due to confidentiality reasons we cannot post or reproduce the work.(i recently worked on a project whereby at the end we had to hand over all of the files and shred any pages during documentation concept etc that we didn't use... it was annoying but kind of pointless cos when any project goes out to tender copies of dwgs explode up all around the community with tradies photocopying tender docs...)

anyway i think this is a good project.. ithink the building is done well but as it has ben proved out there have been a few probs and ultimately i think in many ways its better it isn't a 5 star project cos that way you can learn alot so you don't make big stuff ups on large projects...

I like the project & wouldn't rob you of any points.

On the subject of star rating maybe this ought to be discussed in its own thread, but I take the view that a thread can be given 5 star for the discussion it generates whereas the project itself may only rate say 2-3 star
.. Quite simply you can learn as much if not more from the less refined projects.

Anyways Wilson keep trucking & please keep posting on this. :cheers:

good point Red,
The best discussions have been on projects with less than excellent design. (not that this is one :P ) And usually in the Pre-design section. Like this project, under construction, the discussion sometimes lacks enthusiasm because the design decisions have been completed. Are we rating the design or are we rating the discussion?

ouesty-
Good point too. Sometimes it is a sensitive subject to publish projects on PP2 or elsewhere on the web I have had some second thoughts about the info I have shared on this project but I dont think it is anything that the developer would object to.

Wilson,
I feel a bit guilty about robbing you of that points (5 star). :(
Personnaly i would be very happy if i was able to finish a project like you did with this one.

I know there aren't a lot 5 star projects on the PPB2,but i believe the criteria on giving stars changed when PPB1 became PPB2.

I remember that projects on PPB1 were judged more on presentation skills and use of sketchup. A project with a good to moderate good quality but with a splendid sketchup presentation could earn 5 stars back then.(example:the 'contemporary barn' project on PPB1:not an architectural superhighlight but definitely a wonderful use of sketchup which gained 5 stars)

I am sure this had a lot to do with the fact that sketchup was new and everybody was excited about the abilities of the software back then.

When PPB1 crashed and made room for PPB2, standards on quality changed slightly from presentation style towards conceptual value of the projects.

When PPB1 crashed and made room for PPB2, standards on quality changed slightly from presentation style towards conceptual value of the projects.

Which should really be the main point to be considered when rating a project. Don't feel guilty, that's the kind of attitude we try to encourage here.

I agree. This is not something you should feel guilty about. Five star projects should be judged most critically. Built five star projects are bound to be rare, as long as there are clients!

Sorry to get off the subject Wilson. I also agree that this is a really nice project, very little to critique. Congratulations on getting something this good built.

Any news?

yeah, some neat looking construction pics?

Not much new lately. I'll get a few pictures tomorrow......

I noticed on your website (impressive!) that the project includes some sustainable aspects (rain water cistern?). Could you comment on these further? I wish I was living in a city as progressive as Portland is in terms of sustainability. I feel like a salmon swimming upstream trying to get owners in Tampa to accept any progressive sustainable ideas.. Its all about how quick and how inexpensive. Don't mean to be a whiner :o

Bsherrard,
Thanks for the comp. I need to change the words on my web site though. We started out with big goals for this project. Thought we might try for a LEED certification. But....well, you know how it is when the bean counters chime in. We still have the cistern, it is now a sand filter to clean the storm water from the roof.

Portland is not only progressive, they (we :D ) are aggressive. For example:

Bureau of Sustainable Development (http://www.sustainableportland.org/)
and
G/Rated (http://www.green-rated.org/default.asp)
are two city funded resources. Lots of assistance and support. I think all new city buildings must attempt to incorporate as many sustainable features as possible and attain a LEED cert. if possible.