PNCA's New Building: Artfully Brought Back to Life

PNCA, Pacific Northwest College of Art, had it's beginnings in the Portland Art Museum and has been at 12th and Johnson since the late 90's. The Johnson property has since been sold and PNCA has officially moved into it's stunning new digs at 511 NW Broadway, near the North Park Blocks. This 34 million renovation, includes new architectural elements by Brad Cloepfil of Allied Works, as well as uncovering gorgeous period details from the original 1919 building, formerly a US Post Office.  Newly named the Arlene and Howard Schnitzer Center for Art and Design, this location doubles the Johnson square footage and features public spaces on the first two floors including a cafe.

The area is shaping up to be an art hub with their nearby partner the Museum of Contemporary Craft and the student housing on the Park Blocks, aptly called Arthouse.

Our North Park blocks are polishing up beautifully.

Street of Eames Private Dinner

Street of Eames has kicked off it's fund raising this year with a private dinner at the John and Karen Hoke residence. Their ongoing fundraising plan, as the Street of Eames wrapped up their final tour this year, is to raise funds through private dinners at architecturally important homes as well as lectures.

The Hoke's home was designed by award winning architect, Jeff Kovel of Skylab Architecture among whose designs include the Departure Lounge and Restaurant and the Doug Fir.

Dinner will be multi-course and wine paired courtesy of Naomi Pomeroy of Beast restaurant. Naomi is a 2010 finalist for the James Beard Foundation Best Chef: Northwest and is featured in "O, The Oprah Magazine" in the April 20 2010 issue. The restaurant describes itself as "frank in our appreciation of meat", and Naomi caused a bit of a stir with an advertisement that featured her cradling an expired pig. It was a beautiful picture that was not appreciated by all.

Just a few tickets were left as of yesterday, with tickets costing $450 per person, with most of the ticket price tax deductible.

A more affordable evening an June 2nd at Rejuvenation features architect Saul Zaik at 6:00.

Eames at Work

 

Our own internationally known Ziba design's exciting new workspace was open briefly to the public for the Eames at Work tour, a fundraiser for Street of Eames. It was a rare occasion to experience the melding visions of a design company and Holst Architecture. The interiors polished cement floors and white surfaces were warmed by the use of reclaimed fir, complete with old nail holes. Individual work spaces are small- about five feet for the designers, but more importantly all the disciplines in the design process work together in large rooms, rather than separated by their categories. Other areas include an auditorium, and a private room for international clients to shower and relax before their flight back to Paris. Worth a drive by at 1044 NW 9th Avenue.

The aptly named bSIDE6 building at 524 E. Burnside allowed some fabulous views towards downtown, but gave some playful views from the protruding "city rooms" that extend over the public sidewalks below. The building is home to Works Partnership Architecture, it's designer, and has both retail and office space and is perfectly positioned for after work drinks at Jupiter Lounge and RonToms.