Portland Architecture Program . University of Oregon
Arch 683 . Option II Graduate Design Studio . Fall 2011
Instructors: Gerald Gast and Suenn Ho
Studio Meeting Time: MWF 1:30-5:30
Portland Mediatheque.
Sendai Mediatheque. Toyo Ito. Sendai, Japan.
Studio Introduction
This design studio is an introduction to the Portland Option II Graduate Architecture
Program. It combines buildings, urban design and the design of public spaces, all
essential ingredients of what we define as “urban architecture”. Building tectonics are
developed as they support and reinforce design concepts.
Educational Themes of the Studio
Neighborhood-Scale Public Architecture. The project focuses on a mediatheque in
the Old Town- Chinatown and Skidmore Historic District of Portland, Oregon. Old Town
- Chinatown is one of the city’s most socially diverse neighborhoods - a slowly reviving
community representing people of a wide range of ethnicities and walks of life.
The project is intended to be a “catalyst” to advance Old Town - Chinatown’s
revitalization efforts. The mediatheque will be a special component of the Multnomah
County Library system, serving all residents of Portland. It will also recognize the
diverse nature of the immediate neighborhood and its multi-cultural history.
Creative Design Inquiry. As a graduate design studio, class members are expected to
engage in rigorous design research and inquiry throughout the term, seeking sources
beyond those assigned. You are encouraged to expand your design skills to explore the
conceptual “boundaries” of the project, developing an experimental design process.
Comprehensive Design. The University of Oregon’s Graduate Program emphasizes a
comprehensive design process: the integration of theory, history, design skills, human
factors, sustainability and tectonics (structure, construction and environmental systems)
in design studio work.
Seattle Public Library. Rem Koolhaas / OMA
The Spaces Between: Collective Space / Social Space. The studio will focus on
issues of “collective space and social space” as discussed in Herman Hertzberger’s
book Space and the Architect, a series of essays on architecture which explore “in
between space” and the city.
Environmentally Sustainable Design. The studio places high priority on sustainable
design which conserves energy resources, reduces carbon emissions and promotes the
use of non-toxic and recyclable building materials. Students will be expected to
document the sustainability performance of their proposals.
Final Monograph Presentation
As part of the final presentation requirements, a project Monograph in an 8 ½ x 11 or 11
x 17 format (or similar) will be prepared during the term. This will provide you with
experience in presenting your work in portfolio and publication format.
Research Logbook
Research is an important on-going element of this studio. You are asked to keep a wellorganized organized research log, including process diagrams and sketches, for periodic
discussion with your instructors. This may be in digital or hard copy format.
Special Needs and Class Attendance
Students with special needs, family considerations, or other matters needing special
attention should consult with the instructors at the beginning of the term. This is
especially important if your special situation may affect class attendance and
participation.
Unless there are special circumstances, Department of Architecture policy requires
students to attend all studio class sessions. The studio meets MWF 1:30-5:30. Working
in the studio at other hours is strongly encouraged.
Instructor Contacts
Gerry Gast geraldgast@gmail.com
Office: Tel (415) (503) 412-3734
Suenn Ho Suenn.Ho@MulvannyG2.com Office: Tel (503) 223-8030
Suenn Ho is a senior associate and senior designer at MulvannyG2 Architecture in Portland, and
an Adjunct Faculty member at the University of Oregon. She is a graduate of Columbia
University and recipient of a National Endowment of the Arts grant to study American
Chinatowns. Professor Ho has been active in community affairs and architectural projects in Old
Town – Chinatown. Neighborhood projects include the Chinatown Festival Streets design, the
Old Town – Chinatown Development Plan and the Pacific Tower. Other recent projects include
the West Linn Public Library and the “Garden of the Surging Waves” in Astoria, Oregon.
Gerry Gast is an architect and urban designer, Associate Professor in the University of Oregon
Portland Architecture Program, and Visiting Associate Professor in the Program on Urban Studies
at Stanford University. He is a founding principal of Gast-Hillmer Urban Design in the San
Francisco Bay Area. Current projects include the new Striyskiy Park campus of the Ukrainian
Catholic University in Lviv, Ukraine, and the urban design component of the Redwood City,
California General Plan. His research focus is on “seminal” urban design projects in North
America and abroad, regeneration of urban industrial districts, and urban waterfronts.
The Portland Mediatheque. Old Town-Chinatown. Portland
Sendai Mediatheque. Toyo Ito.
The Portland “Mediatheque” is envisioned as a new public “catalyst” to advance
regeneration of the Old Town-Chinatown neighborhood and Skidmore Historic District.
Although Old Town – Chinatown has made solid progress on its revitalization during the
past five years, the district remains a struggling corner of Downtown Portland. While
Portland’s central Downtown and Pearl District have witnessed remarkable recent
regeneration, Old Town - Chinatown has not kept pace with the rest of the city center in
attracting new investment, activities, residents and visitors.
Recent major development projects such as the University of Oregon Portland Center
and Mercy Corps headquarters, together with many small businesses and clubs, have
introduced new attractions in Old Town – Chinatown. A building for the Oriental College
of Medicine is currently under rehab construction on Couch Street across from the
University of Oregon. However, these are only partially public venues.
There is an opportunity to create a more integrated and diverse neighborhood (socially,
economically, physically) within the remaining undeveloped lots of Old Town /
Chinatown. One of the most opportune ways to accomplish this goal is to develop new
public places open to all residents and used by all, places where people of diverse
origins, social and status “rub shoulders”, see and meet persons unlike themselves, and
participate in common activities and events. A mediatheque with a creative program of
activities can further this goal.
Purpose and Client
The Portland Mediatheque is envisioned as a new Downtown branch of the Multnomah
County Library specializing in digital media and film. Portland’s historic central Library at
801 SW 10th Avenue is a full block structure that would be difficult to expand. Although
the library system needs to expand is digital capabilities and offer more public social and
educational functions, the existing structure has limited capability to accommodate new
activities. Expanding to another Downtown location would be the best way to add
functions and space.
What is a “Mediatheque”? For this time, community, and site?
The primary design question you will need to ask and answer, paraphrasing Louis
Kahn’s words, “What does this building want to be?”
The term “mediatheque” is generic, the French word for “media library”. It may include
traditional media such as books, magazines and photographs, as well as emerging
digital media in film, video and other formats. The “mediatheque” word has been in
popular use for several years following outstanding precedents in Nimes, France
(Mediatheque de Nimes by Foster Associates) and Sendai, Japan (Sendai Mediatheque
by Toyo Ito).
A “Mediatheque” may represent different concepts in different cities and communities.
You will need to clearly define this building in the context of its client and location. This
will require careful study of the city center context, site and community to shape the
building program and design. You may want to give the building an identity “name” that
would be easier for the public to remember.
Mediatheque de Nimes. Norman Foster Associates
Precedents
This is a beginning. Your research should identify additional relevant precedents.
Mediatheque de Nimes
Mediatheque de Nimes, also called the Carre d’ Art is located directly opposite the
Maison Caree, the Roman Temple and primary historical landmark of Nimes. Designed
by Norman Foster Associates, the building combines a public library, art museum and
exhibition gallery. The building serves as a catalyst to invigorate the social and physical
fabric of central Nimes. The dialogue between historic fabric and new structure is
especially notable. While of its own age and time, the contemporary structure
demonstrates strong relationships of scale and placement to the historic monument.
Mediatheque de Nimes. Foster Associates
Sendai Mediatheque
Toyo Ito describes the Sendai Mediatheque as rooted in the idea of “fluid” space of
technology and nature. Rather than viewing media as a foreign element to nature, he
considers new media an integral part of the contemporary urban environment. The
building was conceived as a transparent cube through which thin floor plates float
suspended on organic “tubes.” The cube is meant to be read as a small representative
element of an infinite information space, with the four edges sealed with glass facades.
Through their reflections, the facades allow the building to alternately dematerialize or
repeat, creating a kind of ephemeral connection with infinite space.
This concept of ephemeral space is intimately linked with the Mediatheque’s mission to
be barrier-free, in the sense of providing specialized services to those with visual,
auditory or other physical impairments. Ito considers the new library, as its role in the
city shifts from a place of mere access to text-based information, requires a
corresponding shift in the meaning of the term barrier-free to include a removal of
architectural barriers which dictate how a space must be used.
Sendai Mediatheque. Toyo Ito
The Sendai Mediatheque is informed by Mies' Barcelona Pavillion and Le Corbusier’s
Domino house as precedents. The Pompidou Centre andnd Mediatheque de Nimes
have also been mentioned as precedents for the project.
Seattle Public Library
Seattle Public Library. Rem Koolhaas / OMA Architects
Aside from its purpose as Seattle’s Central Library, the structure serves as an energyfilled public place and Downtown attraction. This is an especially welcome in the dark
rainy northwest climate of Seattle. Interior spaces represent a wide range of scales from
public to individual and small group settings.
The Ideas Store. London
“The Ideas Store”. London
The “Ideas Store”, located in the Borough of Tower Hamlets, London, combines the
activities of a traditional library with community education classrooms, a dance studio,
childcare center, café, and retail shops. The concept was carefully tailored to the
specific needs of the community it serves. The neighborhood residents include new
immigrants in need of education and language skills, poorer and less educated
residents, and persons needing job skills and education. This precedent is most useful
in terms of its program, less important in terms of the building design.
Delft University Library
Delft University Library. Francine Houben. Menanoo Architects.
Although not a city library, Delft breaks new ground in providing an open, light-filled
gathering space that is the symbolic and activity center of the university. Students come
to study, meet in study groups, socialize, “hang out”. Book stacks are located in a lower
level, allowing the main level to be free for maximum use and human interaction.
The Work of Josep Llinas, Barcelona
Biblioteca Vila de Gracia. Barcelona
The work of Josep Llinas in Barcelona demonstrates an unusually excellent body of
neighborhood libraries that develop sensitive relationships to their context and careful
orchestration of interior spaces. The work is illustrated in La Disolucion de la Imagen /
Dissolving the Image: Josep Llinas. El Croquis, 2005.
Biblioteca Vila de Gracia
Biblioteca en Can Ginestar
Biblioteca Jaume Fuster
Stockholm Central Library
Stockholm City Library. Gunnar Asplund. Architect.
Gunnar Asplund’s Stockholm Central Library is considered one of the masterpieces of
early modern architecture. Accompanied by a public plaza and park, the library’s open
and accessible space symbolizes democratic access to knowledge while making a
public place of high civic value. The building has a gentle monumentality that reflects
both the importance of the individual and larger community of the city.
Site
West side of Ankeny Square and New Market Arcade. (Vacant) Project site is to the right.
The site is located at the corners of Burnside Street, SW First Avenue, and SW Ankeny
Street at the southwest corner of the Burnside Bridge. This is a unique site with frontage
on three streets, with two elevations of street access. The site’s position on Ankeny
Street places it at the intersection of the two dominant Downtown street grids, the
original river-oriented grid alignment south of Ankeny and the newer grid to the north that
aligns with the (north-south) compass points.
The actual site is much larger than required for the Mediatheque. We will develop an
urban design master plan for the larger site, including adjacent public spaces, streets
and properties.
District
The site is located within three overlapping Downtown districts.
The Old Town-Chinatown neighborhood.
The Skidmore Historic District.
The Waterfront Blocks Redevelopment Area (Portland Redevelopment Commission)
You should familiarize yourself with existing conditions and plans for these areas.
Consult the Portland Development Commission (PDC) Website, which will serve as a
valuable resource throughout your period of study in Portland.
PROGRAM
A. The Portland Mediatheque
Reception / Info Desk / Check out
600 SF
Public gathering and “unprogrammed” space, including temporary exhibit/gallery space.
Adjacnt to reception.
1,500 SF
Public Meeting space – event venue.
1,000 SF
Newspaper, Periodical Reading Space
2,000 SF
Children’s Library and Media Space
1,500 SF
Public Computers and Peripherals
1,500 SF
Book Stacks
5,000 SF
Small-Scale Study Spaces
Individual and Small Group
1,000 SF Total
Multi Media Materials Storage. Film, audio, DVD and new formats
5,000 SF
Multi Media Listening / Viewing / Working Stations
Individual and Small Group
1,500 SF Total
Secured Media Studio. Reserved use by up to fifteen individuals at a time.
1,500 SF
Administration
1,000 SF
Net Space Total, Mediatheque: 23,100 SF
Service and Circulation Allowance (15% of above): 3,465 SF
Includes toilets, storage, mechanical, service/delivery
Gross Space Total, Mediatheque: 26,565 SF
B. Ancillary Spaces
Office, administration for Saturday Market (replaces office in existing building)
1,000 SF
Classrooms
2 @ 700 SF = 1,400 SF
Exhibition (longer term, est monthly changes)
1,000 SF
Café
800 SF
Store
800 SF
Short term (3 hour) Childcare Center
1,000 SF
Net Space Total, Ancillary Spaces: 6,000 SF
Service and Circulation allowance, 15%: 900 SF
Net Space Total, Ancillary Spaces: 6,900 SF
Grand Total: 33,465 SF
Other Potential Spaces
▪ Outdoor courtyard(s) and other potential open spaces on site .
▪ Potential housing, work places and/or live/work places on upper levels
URBAN DESIGN STUDY
Project Site. The project site consists of several legal property parcels which can be
developed separately or merged into one parcel with a City permit. As mentioned
previously, the Mediatheque program requires less space than the size of the site. A
master plan will be developed for the entire site, the adjacent public space on the south
side of Ankeny Street and the street spaces on all sides of the site.
Urban Design Framework. The larger Urban Design study area extends west to
Second Avenue, north to the north side of Burnside Street, east to Naito Boulevard, and
south to SW Ash Street. This larger framework should always be shown on all site
plans.
Urban Design Study. You are to prepare an Urban Design proposal for the larger
“Framework” area. This is an important an integral part of the project – we are not
simply designing a building.
Zoning and Development Standards
Investigate and summarize the existing zoning and Downtown design standards:
▪
▪
▪
▪
Permitted density (FAR – Floor Area Ratio).
Building Envelope (height, setback, coverage) regulations.
Downtown Portland Fundamental Design Guildelines
Skidmore Historic District Guidelines
Bibliography
This is a beginning. Your class research and site visits will expand on the sources listed.
Studio Theme
Herman Hertzberger, “Space and the Architect: Lessons in Architecture 2”. (Full copy
on the course reserve in the Library; Handout excerpts).
Libraries and Media Centers
The Architectural Review, “The Library and the City”, June 2006.
Comment: “Civic Focus, From Galleries to Libraries”. Trevor Boddy.
Morgan Library and Museum, New York (Renzo Piano Building Workshop)
Central Public Library, Des Moines (David Chipperfield Architects)
Biblioteca Jaume Fuster, Barcelona (Josep Llinas Architect)
Les Chambres de Bois, Montreal (Patkau Architects)
Ballard Library, Seattle (Bohlin Cywinski Jackson Architects)
“Libraries in the Digital Age”. Building Types Study: Libraries. Architectural Record.
March 2011
La Disolucion de la Imagen / Dissolving the Image: Josep Llinas. El Croquis, 2005.
Ron Witte. Case: Toyo Ito Sendai Mediatheque, Sendai. Prestel Verlag, 2002.
International Architecture Review. Toyo Ito, “Mediatheque in Sendai”, P 26-33. 1997.
Anna Tetas and Elaine Fradley. Toyo Ito Sendai Mediatheque. Actar, 2003.
Library, Hachioji City, Tokyo (Toyo Ito Architect), The Architectural Review, August
2007, P 46-55.
Carre d’ Art (Mediatheque), Nimes, France (Normon Foster). In Philip Jodido, Sir
Norman Foster, Taschen, 1997. This building also published in other books and
journals.
Seattle Central Library (OMA, Rem Koolhaas), The Architectural Review, August 2004
“Through the Roof”. University Library, Delft, NL, Mecanoo Architects. In Architecture
Oct 1998, P 124-133. Also see other publications.
“The Ideas Store”, Borough of Tower Hamlets, London. David Adjaye, Architect.
Several Web References:
Domus 886 (2005), P 44-51
AV Monografias 107 (2004)
Detail 44 (2004)
RIBA Journal, 112 (1993) “Idea Store Whitechapel”
“Libraries: Branching Out”. May 2006 Issue of The Architectural Record, P 145-162
Miriam Matthews Library, Los Angeles (Hodgett + Fung Architects)
Quincie Douglas Library, Tucson (Richard + Bauer Architects)
Ballard Library, Seattle (Bohlin Cywinski Jackson Architects)
Phoenix Central Library (Will Bruder Architect), The Architectural Review, July 1995
Public Spaces and Contemporary Urban Landscape
New York Museum of Modern Art, Groundswell: Constructing the Contemporary
Landscape”, 2005. (on Library Reserve).
Topos, Parks: Green Spaces in European Cities, Birkhauser Press. (on Library
Reserve).
Old Town / Chinatown, Portland
Go to Portland Development Commission on the Web: www.pdc.us.
Then, Urban Renewal Areas, Waterfront Blocks Redevelopment Area
This website gives an enormous amount of information on all redevelopment activities in
the city.
Term Schedule
Biblioteca Jaume Fuster. Josep Llinas, Architect.
A detailed studio schedule will be issued in two-week increments.
Option II Seattle Trip. October 20-23.
Mid Term Review. Monday October 31
Thanksgiving Holiday. November 24-27
Final Review. Review Week: November 28-Dec 2 (Review date TBA)
Scenario and Schedule. Weeks 1 + 2
Week 1
Monday Sept 26 Introduction to the Studio. Objectives, Design Process.
Project Introduction: Portland Mediatheque
Research Assignments
Site visit, sketching/diagramming.
Preparation for Wednesday:
▪ Organize your site visit sketches/diagrams (suggest 8 ½ x 11 or 11 x 17 format).
▪ Start team research projects on Libraries and Mediatheque precedents.
▪ Begin individual research and review of references on Old Town - Chinatown, the
Skidmore Historic District and Downtown Portland context. See Portland Development
Commission (PDC) and other Website references.
▪ Setup your studio space by 1:30 Wednesday and be ready to work in studio.
Wednesday Sept 28
▪ 1:30 Pin-up and discussion of site visit impressions.
▪ In-Studio Workshop on Site Analysis
Preparation for Friday:
▪ Work on team research: Library and mediatheque precedents
▪ Prepare for in-class charette on Mediatheque concepts
Friday Oct 30
▪ In-class design charette on Mediatheque concepts.
“What does the building want to be?” (Kahn).
▪ Pin up review at end of class
Preparation for Monday:
▪ Continue team research on library / mediatheque precedents
▪ Continue individual research on site and context
▪ Prepare for urban design proposal charette.
Week 2
Monday October 3
In-class charette on urban design proposal. Pin-up review at end of class.
Preparation for Wednesday:
Complete team research reports on library / mediatheque precedents. Post your initial
research on cultural center precedents in the online Studio folder.
Wednesday October 5
Class Presentations: Team reports on library / mediatheque precedents. Discussion.
Second in-class design charette on Mediatheque concepts. Pin-up review.
Friday October 7 Studio work time on a third concept proposal. Pin-up Review.
Preparation for Monday:
Prepare synthesis design concept proposal.
Monday October 10 Pin Up Review. Design Concept Proposals.
Post all previous charette concept work and develop an alternative of your choice: a new
alternative or a synthesis. Full-afternoon review.