The Oregonian reported that nearly complete TwentyTwenty building has switched from condominiums to rental apartments. The developer cited slower than expected pre-sales.
The Daily Journal of Commerce wrote about the new Meyer Memorial Trust Headquarters, planned for a site at N Williams and Tillamook.*
Rumors are flying that the Portland Diamond Project is looking at building an MLB Stadium in the Lloyd District, writes the Oregonian.
The Oregonian reported that one of Iceland’s top chefs will open a new restaurant, Vivian, and rooftop bar, Dóttir at the KEX Hotel.
Metro approved $22.9 million in funding for the redevelopment of Dekum Court in NE Portland. Home Forward will replace the 40 apartments currently located on the site with 160 apartments, affordable at 30% or 60% of median family income.
Two years after the completion of the Franklin High School Modernization problems are surfacing, reports OPB.
The launch of Alberta Commons brings renewed visibility to the black-owned businesses of Northeast Portland, writes Willamette Week.
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I know a teacher personally at Lincoln and the process that the architects and administration have gone through is horrendous. It is the same with Franklin. They don’t listen to teacher concerns at all. There will be shared classrooms. The architects actually suggested large glass walls in the classrooms facing the hallways (not thinking about disruptions or safety, duh, class shootings). It has been a total joke.
I guarantee you the professionals are thinking about this. You think Architects go through all of this schooling, training and dedicate their lives to the built environment to not think about things that are this blatant? There is vast research that is considered when making visibility decisions in buildings like schools.
As an architect that has gone through this process…2 things to know.
1) Teachers disagree with each other. Half of a group might say “yes, I’d love to have visibility in and out of the classrooms, it makes the hallways feel less bleak, it provides more daylight, it helps teachers keep an eye on whats going on in the hallways, it gives other teachers/parents/principles a chance to see what is happening in classrooms without interrupting, etc. The other half will say it’s a distraction and unsafe. So no matter what, someone is unhappy.
2. We have all these big presentations/work sessions with teachers, and get all this great advice and input that we would love to implement, only to have the districts project manager tell us “yeah, ignore that, we cant afford it” or “what they want doesn’t align with district standards.”
As architects, it’s our job to think about, explore, and weigh ALL the options. We are not dumb or careless, we went to school for this, and we give a shit. But we have a lot less power to make final decisions than most people think, almost none at all actually.
I mean near the top of the article it says it is too noisy and there aren’t enough bathrooms. I guarantee the acoustical engineer and the architects told the district “you need a lot more acoustical panels on the walls ceilings” and they said “we cant afford it.” I guarantee the discussion of “how many bathrooms do we need” was had MANY MANY times, and it came down to money and space.
These issues, and most issues in brand new schools, will continue to persist until school bonds are adequately funded. They almost always undershoot the required funding for fear that an adequate bond will be too expensive for the voters to pass.
The last project I worked on was, per multiple cost estimates, 14 Million over budget before we even started designing anything (based off the square footage we needed and current construction costs, among other things).
Well said!