While many people were commemorating the anniversary of St Helen’s volcanic eruption thirty years ago, May 18, 2010 was also the big celebration and ribbon cutting ceremony for the new Portland Archives & Records Center (PARC) facility!

After 28 years in its North Portland location, PARC has exchanged the old City incinerator on N. Columbia Boulevard for a centrally located facility just a few blocks from City Hall. PARC is the official repository for city records and its mission is to preserve these records for future generations while providing access for today’s citizens and city employees. From the original city ordinances, to the plans and maps of your favorite park, to photos of the City establishing its infrastructure, these records provide insight into the City’s development from 1851 to the present.

Randy Leonard with Diana Banning

This has been a wonderful and unique project since 2006, when Oh was hired to provide an assessment of the old archives facility (the Stanley Parr Archives & Records Center at Chimney Park) and forecast their needs for the coming 20 years.  The conclusion was that the existing space did not meet those needs and Archives had to either move or expand.

Detail of artist Keiko Hara's installation. The light is wonderful!

Ultimately the decision was made to locate in the the PSU Student Recreation Center building on 5^th and Harrison. Oh was hired to plan Archive’s space and coordinate their program requirements with the design-build team.  Another contract award allowed our team to facilitate the move plan, which was complicated as every box and archived material has a specific address.  These records are in a specific environmental set at 63 degrees and 40% relative humidity to preserve the documents.

The staff area with the reading room beyond.

The City archives is an interesting resource with documents and historic records that you can access with the assistance of an archivist.  The City of Portland Auditor’s Office also has online resources that are fascinating. Anyone who loves history or their city should check out the resources available to their citizens.

Special thank yous to Diana Banning, Archivist and Jim Coker, City of Portland Project Manager. We are so fortunate to have delightful clients.

Archives!

(The glass art is the work of Northwest artist Keiko Hara.)

Congratulations to everyone involved in the project, including the city!

“Sometimes your only available transportation is a leap of faith.”
author Margaret Shephard

I am certain that many of us can identify with this statement, especially after the past year. If you have not been directly impacted by the economy then you are close to someone who has been.

I took a leap of faith in 2009 on many levels, and I appreciate that I can thank many people who also took a leap of faith on us. Today I was able to enjoy the celebration of those experiences. Here is a brief update on our celebrations. This is a sample of why we are grateful to provide service to our special clients. This is truly a small sampling of the many special people who make projects work.

Gladys McCoy Building

Multnomah County McCoy Building

The Gladys McCoy Building is still encapsulated in its white plastic wrapper but underneath is a delightful transformation. The unveiling is scheduled for early June 2010 and you will want to see this one! Beautiful details will be visible again.  Thank you Gail Hochhalter for your excellent project management.

MHCC Master Plan

Mt Hood Community College

The MHCC Board approved the 2020 master plan. Congratulations to MHCC for taking this first step to an exciting future.  Thank you President John “Ski” Sygielski for your visionary leadership.  Thank you Richard Byers for your care of the campus.

OSU Energy Center

Oregon State University Energy Center
The OSU Energy Center is the first LEED Platinum power plant in the country. Couple that with the renewable energy technology and you have a campus that is providing leadership for the nation.  Thank you Larrie Easterly for your tireless project management and thank you Bob Simonton for your faith in Oregon as a leader in renewable energy.

PGE Park Renovations

The Beavers and the Timbers are hard at work bringing favorite past times to our City. Look for another phase of construction in the fall when the stadium renovations are completed for the 2011 Major League Soccer transformation!  Thank you Terry Shugrue for keeping the construction on track.

Deb France with Randall Stuart

Cerimon House

This is a new exciting project and one that I will save for more detail. If you are interested in the Cerimon House then please visit their web site at
http://cerimonhouse.org/.  Thank you Randall Stuart for your superb vision of a home for the humanities in Portland.

DVA Prosthetics Suite

Department of Veterans Affairs
We are very fortunate to be working with the DVA on the Portland Medical Center Prosthetics Suite renovations. The renovations will begin soon and a transformation of this very important service will welcome our service men and women in a warm patient centered space.  Thank you Brian Orlowski for your project management.  Special thanks to Robert Kolln and Stan Hockett for your great work in contracting with woman owned small business.

Vic Lituczy was a unique person.  A hero. He was my mentor and role model.

Vic was one of the most skilled and knowledgeable medical planners I know.  He taught me everything he could and he supported me by opening doors to opportunities to grow and thrive in my own craft.  I know without hesitation that my journey owes a debt of gratitude to Vic.

Vic and I met in 1992 when I was a second year intern at JKS Architects.  He was the partner for health care and I was offered the chance to work with him on the Port Townsend, WA Hospital.  There was no going back after that – I had caught the bug for health care design, master planning and working with someone with the energy and enthusiasm to always seek improvement.  Vic and I came together again in 1996 when he offered me the project architect role for the PeaceHealth Longview, WA hospital.  Together we overcame many challenges to achieve a new state-of-the-art hospital.  We continued to work together on the OHSU master plan and California Pacific Medical Center.

Vic was able to open doors for me.  He campaigned for me to participate in an International Design retreat in Switzerland.  He sent me to leadership training in Virginia.  He helped to position me to take the Vice President role in the San Francisco office for HLM Design.

In 2004 I opened the doors to my own firm, Oh planning+design, architecture.   Vic was working for the Hammes Company and again he found a way to transition from mentor to client.  Together we worked on five master plans in the past six years.  Vic would offer to meet me after work to talk about the office or the economy or our families – we always stayed connected.

I knew that Vic was watching over me – offering helpful advice and I was always a willing listener.  We laughed and we cried more than a few times.  His brilliant career is filled with great accomplishments and achievements.  What resonates with me was his constant assurance and encouragement.  He chose to share his wealth of knowledge with me and I am honored.  Now he has left us, suddenly and much too soon.

We live our lives with the gift of angel wings that carry us from one destination to another.  I am grateful for a few special angels in my life today.  Vic was one of my angels and he had a strong wing span that carried me for 18 years.  I will be able to share my wings with others in honor of him.

Deb France

I just returned from Seattle where I attended the American Association of Community Colleges AACC national convention.  There I shared the honor of speaking alongside Mt Hood Community College President John “Ski” Sygielski and two MHCC Board members Dave Shields and Brian Freeman.  We shared our experience with the  MHCC master plan and valuable lessons with other colleges.

While at the convention, I learned more of the American Graduation Initiative http://www.ed.gov/blog/2009/07/american-graduation-initiative-strengthening-community-colleges/ . I listened to US Dept of Education Under Secretary Martha Kanter speak about the ambitious goal of providing access to education to the TOP 100% of Americans.  President Barack Obama has formed the American Graduation Initiative to increase the number of graduates by eight million  by 2020.  At the moment, we are tenth in the world in academic achievement and this will continue to decline if we do not take action.  Of the eight million goal, five million will come from community colleges.  The approximate 1,000 community colleges across this country have a challenge that they are accepting – the challenge of how to make this happen.  We all play a role in coming together and accepting this challenge.

I was impressed by Melinda French Gates speech regarding the Gates Foundation efforts to provide access to education and dedication to innovations that bring health and learning to a global economy.  They have personally toured colleges and see the strong need for innovative solutions to remedial education that reduces the discouragement in students who have a high school diploma yet are told they are not college ready.  All great accomplishments were met with challenges and we are ready to work together to achieve this goal.

Portland loves Soccer!

Zach Hilleson on site

On March 20, 2009, Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber announced that Portland will be the home of the League’s 18th team! Thank you Merritt Paulson and his family for your love of the game and providing a world-class soccer environment for Portland’s soccer fans.

So here we go soccer fans in the City of Roses – bring on MLS in 2011! I can almost hear the fans chanting for the Portland Timbers now. The PGE Park improvements include several state-of-the-art amenities with new permanent seats and concessions on the east side fronting 18th Street. The field will be sized to meet MLS regulations. Player facilities will also see improvements.

This project comes at a time when Portland’s economic development can use a boost. Oh planning+design, architecture is one of the many businesses in town who appreciate the opportunity to work on this exciting project and add jobs to our fragile economy. Working in association with prime architect AECOM Ellerbe Becket and Turner Construction on this fast paced multi-phased plan to reach the GOL!

The Oh planning+design team has been so fortunate to work with the visionary leaders, employees and students at Mt Hood Community College (MHCC). MHCC has been doing great work in the East County region for over 40 years. Serving Gresham, Troutdale, Fairview, Wood Village, Rockwood and Sandy communities. The campus provides vital services to the community and a place for people to learn, teach, meet, grow, stretch and thrive.

The campus President, Dr. Ski, the Board and President’s Cabinet began the process of developing a master plan in June 2009 that will serve as a guide map to the future of the campus. This is an exciting time for MHCC and you can view the video on the campus master plan web site. A good campus master plan is always a work in motion that receives new input and forms the needs to fit the campus culture and programs and technologies. This process will continue to evolve over time as ideas are implemented and new thinking emerges. Visit www.ohpd.net/projects/mhcc/.

I love architecture! I love the responsibility that I feel toward the community, the environment and those who I encounter each day. I love the process of discovery and exploration of ideas and opportunities. I love the lasting relationships with clients, consultants and coworkers. I love the feeling when it all comes together in perfect harmony and a place is formed like music.

Many of us have struggled with the challenges of this last year, especially in the design and construction industry. The economic decline has hit architects, engineers and contractors hard. I have had many sleepless nights and in reflection it has been a year of personal growth and realization that we truly all belong to each other. The only way I have survived this past year is through those around me. I am deeply grateful to Mt Hood Community College and Multnomah County for their support as clients and as professional friends. We have also been fortunate to work with Portland Public Schools, the City of Portland, OSU, the Department of Veterans Affairs, Memorial Hospital of Gardena, AECOM and Peregrin Sports. Without these clients the outcome of 2009 would have been very sad for Oh.

And I cannot say enough praise for the talented team of design professionals at Oh planning+design who dedicate themselves to the success of our clients and the business of providing exceptional service. Leslie Melin, Deb Scott, Chris Campbell, Brandon Lanius, Zach Pennell, Elizabeth Johnson, Zach Hilleson and Tina Ely please stand up and take a bow. I look forward to working with you all this coming year and rising to meet new challenges together. Yesterday we celebrated a modest holiday lunch at Doug Fir and the pleasure of sharing time together with laughter and food was so rich. The economy will ebb and flow but the joy of living life is constant.

Be Well in Peace
Deb France

The men of Oh at the holiday lunch

Oh’s commitment to a sustainable future is clearly visible in our everyday physical environment – in our recent office renovation for instance, a bright shade of green construction techniques and materials – but that’s not all. We try to embrace the triple bottom line, and one way is by commuting to work by the bicycle! We have found, as have most by-pedal riders, that the bicycle is a wonderful way to create an environmentally friendly office commute, as well as, helping to build our local bicycle community.

With thanks to a few folks around the Oh office, we now have an amazing wall mounted bike rack — comprised entirely of recycled materials picked from the The ReBuilding Center (except for a few small pieces of mounting hardware)  As you can see from the photos, we used reclaimed bamboo flooring and a colorful assortment of ceramic tile to create a theme of movement along the wall. It is a rather exciting and fulfilling “park” in the morning for most of us. Come by and test it out for yourself if you like! [it IS right next to the ping pong room]

A morning picture of the Portland waterfront.  Picture by Zach Pennell

As you may know, the Bike Commute Challenge held by the BTA every September has wrapped up this year and we here at Oh gave our best at commuting for the month. In the end, we commuted 698 miles in a total of 74 commutes and finished the competition with a solid 53% commute rate!! But the biggest victory was that of the new commuters who have saddled up and will continue to push through the year as full time commuters! A big round of applause for these guys!