A proposal for a 6 story building at SW 12th Ave & Morrison St has gone before the Design Commission for its first Design Review hearing. The 58,862 sq ft project would include ground floor retail with 5 floors of office space above. No vehicular parking is proposed. The architects for the building are Design Department, working with LRS Architects. The developers of the project are Menashe Properties and North Rim Development.
The project site is a quarter block at 1127 SW Morrison. A one story commercial building, built in 1923, is currently located on the site. A 15 story, 221 room hotel is currently planned for the same block, at the corner facing SW Alder St and 11th Ave.
Floors two through five are angled to create an acute at the corner of SW 11th & Morrison. This volume will project up to will project up to 4′-0″ over the sidewalk. This move, combined with a slightly recessed ground floor, will create covered areas for pedestrians at the ground level. Exterior terraces for the use of office tenants will be provided at each of the office floors.
The primary material for the building will be an aluminum curtain wall system with clear and fritted glass. The fritted glass will be used on the upper floors to reduce solar gain into the office spaces. Other materials include aluminum composite panels, as well as two coat stucco at the property line walls. Ipe wood will be used at the soffits on the first and sixth floors.
The project first went before the Design Commission on December 17th, 2015. Despite a Staff Report [PDF] recommending approval, the Design Commission asked the applicants to further refine the project. Concerns included the limited amount of weather protection for pedestrians at the entries to the retail spaces at the narrow end of the projecting form, as well whether the smaller projecting volume on the SW Morrison elevation is adding to the coherency of the design. While open to the idea of the fritted glass, the Commission asked for a larger mockup to better understand how it will look when installed. Near the end of the hearing Commission Savinar noted his enthusiasm for the project:
I’m excited about it. In the West End I think this form is going to be exciting. So don’t take the bumpiness now as not support. I think it’s really great.
1127 SW Morrison is set to return in front of the Design Commission for a second hearing on January 21st 2016.
Plans, Elevations and Sections
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- Plan – Site
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- Plan – Basement
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- Plan – First
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- Plan – Typical
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- Plan – Sixth
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- Plan – Roof
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- Elevation – West
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- Elevation – South
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- Elevation – East
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- Elevation – North
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- Section
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Looks like a solid addition to a rapidly changing part of downtown. The natural overhangs via the acute angle corner are eye catching but also create a bit of contested hobo sleeping space. Otherwise, the design is refreshing and honest. Nice change.
This is a good example of how our building code and review process is much to weak from an urban design standpoint. The same developer is building 10+ stories of hotel on the same size footprint in the Pearl on 9th ave with one lane in each direction and no off street valet area adjacent to a bridge couplet street. Yet the subject project is closer to our central high rise district and fronts a street with 3 lanes but for some reason the structure is a mere 6 stories. These two projects should be in the opposite location but our one size fits all approach to urban design fails us again. Apparently forcing developers to re-design their buildings is not an infringement on property rights but greater management of height and use is? We over regulate building minutiae and utterly fail to foster good urban design with sound guidelines for curating distinct districts. We are allowing the market to turn what is left of our distinct districts into monotone anywhere USA. Where is the vision? Send the soon to be passed irrelevant Big Plan back to the drawing board and put some damn teeth in it. And perhaps put a few more designers and a few less of the political donor class on the steering committee.