Archinect - Features

'A Commitment to Craft Is Intrinsic to This Place': A Conversation with Portland-Based Linden, Brown Architecture

2024-02-13T13:28:00-05:00

For our latest Studio Snapshot conversation, we had the pleasure of chatting with Brent Linden and Chris Brown, founding partners of Portland, Oregon-based Linden, Brown Architecture (rebranded as Observation Studio in July 2024). Established in 2018 as a collaborative venture after working for large, established firms, the small studio of five seeks inspiration in the rugged beauty and self-reliant spirit of its Pacific Northwest environment.

Our conversation touches on the importance of craft and material culture, favorite design innovators in the greater Portland region, and what qualities the firm looks for in new hires.

Skylab Architecture on Design Driven by Optimism, Exploration, and the Portland Spirit

2020-07-07T12:01:00-04:00

Formed two decades ago in Portland, Skylab Architecture has grown from a one-man office into an established design powerhouse with a reach well beyond the Oregon borders. With principals Jeff Kovel and Brent Grubb at the helm, the practice has expanded to a team of 36 and yet retains its nimble, intimate approach towards projects of all scales — from mountain dwellings in the Oregon woods all the way to signature corporate buildings like the soon-to-open Serena Williams Building at the Nike World Headquarters.

In this installment of Studio Snapshot, Kovel and Grubb discuss the importance of sustainable design practices and the desire to heal mistreated and undervalued places.

"Even Sound Changes in Darkness," PSU's Jeff Schnabel on Seizing Opportunity Where It Exists

2019-12-02T09:00:00-05:00

Deans List is an interview series with the leaders of architecture schools, worldwide. The series profiles the school’s programs, pedagogical approaches, and academic goals, as defined by the dean–giving an invaluable perspective into the institution’s unique curriculum, faculty, and academic environment.

For this installment, Archinect spoke with Jeff Schnabel, Director of the School of Architecture at Portland State University, a 400-student program offering undergraduate and Master of Architecture degrees, including the possibility of an Integrated Path to Architectural Licensure track.

We caught up with Schnabel to discuss the school's ties to local design practices and initiatives, the importance of designing with darkness and night, and how the school is working to make architectural education more affordable for PSU's sizable first-generation student population.

Striving for Clarity in all Aspects of Design with Waechter Architecture

2019-08-28T14:00:00-04:00

The work of Portland, Oregon-based Waechter Architecture is focused, in a word, on clarity.

Spatial clarity, compositional clarity, material clarity, systems clarity, experiential clarity—All play a guiding role in shaping the firm's eclectic output. The goal of this clarity, according to Ben Waechter, founder and principal of the firm, is to allow, in a way, architecture to fall away, to "heighten and inform the experience of community and landscape," and to create "environments in which we feel most alive, awake, and present; where the relationship of elements is apparent and intertwined."

Started in 2007, Waechter's eponymous practice has grown at a steady clip in the 12 years since, a trajectory that culminated recently with the firm's recent selection as one of the Architecture League of New York's Emerging Voices cohort for 2019.

For this week's Studio Snapshot, Ben Waechter discusses his firm's learning curve, its recent experiments with Cross-Laminated Timber, and the off...

In a Rapidly Expanding City, Portland-based Minarik Architecture Ensures Long-Term Quality Alongside Growth

2018-07-02T13:20:00-04:00

As the Pacific Northwest continues to grow, Minarik Architecture is one of the numerous architecture firms helping to ensure the long-term quality of its built environment be preserved. From cabins to coffee shops, their work strives towards a kind of pared-down regionalism, minimizing unnecessary elements in order to create buildings that, in 100 years, retain their integrity.

For this week's Small Studio Snapshot, we asked founder Doug Minarik to offer some insights into working in the region and starting a practice.