Archinect - News

Portland State architecture students create a demountable stage structure for Pickathon Festival

2024-08-02T19:58:00-04:00

Oregon's annual Pickathon Experiential Music Festival is in full swing, and a highlight is the return of a timber stage design created by students at the Portland State University School of Architecture. Their Cherry Hill stage is one of nine incorporated into the festival’s 12 “neighborhoods”, playing host to 18 different acts through Sunday, August 4th, in the Portland suburb of Happy Valley.

This year's stage joins previous student designs that were made from repurposed apple bins (2022), steam-bent dimensional lumber (2016, 2018, and 2023), cardboard tubes (2015), shipping pallets (2014), and wooden trusses, which were later reused to make sleeping pods for the Clackamas County Veterans Village outside Portland in 2017.

Image courtesy Marc Stein/Portland State University

Students working on its design claimed Kengo Kuma as their influence, stating, “His ability to use very simple wood repetitively to make a beautiful, grand sculpture is amazing.”

Image courtesy Marc Stein/Portl...

Portland State University enlists Australian architect to develop Indigenous Center and surrounding oak savanna

2022-10-13T10:02:00-04:00

Kevin O’Brien, an acclaimed Indigenous architect from Australia, has embarked on a year-long collaboration with Portland State University. His involvement centers on the restoration of a campus oak savanna and the design-build of a facility at the site that will host the school’s Indigenous Traditional Ecological and Cultural Knowledge (ITECK) program.

O’Brien joins the University’s School of Architecture as its 2022 Distinguished Visiting Professor. He will lead a one-week Indigenous design methods workshop for undergraduate and graduate students. He will also meet with students in PSU’s Indigenous Nations Studies program, engage with architects from local firms, and host a public lecture. As stated on PSU’s website, “O'Brien will challenge students to rethink their assumptions about architecture's relationship to the land, how they imagine the city, and how we learn through doing.”

The Queensland-based architect works as a Principal at Australian practice BVN Architecture. He als...

LEVER Architecture to design new home for Portland State University's School of Art + Design

2022-04-13T14:15:00-04:00

Portland, Oregon-based design firm LEVER Architecture has been selected to design a new space for Portland State University’s School of Art + Design. LEVER was selected from a group of 11 firms competing for the project.

The multiple-award-winning firm, which was recently named the Jury’s Choice winner in the 2022 Wood Design Awards for their work on the Adidas North American Headquarters, has designed an array of innovative projects that also include Meyer Memorial Trust, the Artists Repertory Theater renovation, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. LEVER is known for its use of mass timber as a sustainable building material, its research focus, and its client-centered design approach.

“Portland State is thrilled to be working with LEVER on this important new building for our campus,” said Portland State University President Stephen Percy. “The new home for the School of Art + Design will serve as a beacon for the important role our creative community plays in the Po...

PSU architecture students create new Pickathon Treeline Stage from 160 wooden apple bins

2019-08-02T18:31:00-04:00

For the sixth year in a row, the Pickathon Music Festival, which opens Friday, August 2 at Pendarvis Farm in Happy Valley, Ore., will feature a brand-new, temporary performance venue designed and built by Portland State University School of Architecture students from reused materials. This year’s rendition of the Treeline Stage utilizes 160 wooden apple-harvesting bins to create an immersive environment suggesting an orchard of towering trees—reaching 40 feet high at the tallest point.

Faculty members Travis Bell and Clive Knights have led a group of Portland State University Architecture students in the design and construction of an original, temporary Treeline Stage at Pickathon Music Festival.

Jeff Schnabel to direct School of Architecture at Portland State University

2019-07-22T09:00:00-04:00

Architecture professor and light specialist Jeff Schnabel has been tapped to direct the School of Architecture at Portland State University.

Schnabel is currently a professor at PSU and has engaged with various initiatives at the university for over a decade, including the creation of the Shattuck Hall Ecological Learning Plaza at the school. The experimental space is used to prototype material explorations and other design-build projects, according to a press release from the university.

Schnabel is also a major force behind the Portland Winter Light Festival that brings nighttime installations to the city's urban core. In addition, Schnabel is a member of the Willamette Light Brigade, a group that works to bring improved lighting to Portland's bridges and other public spaces.

Schnabel takes over for current dean, Clive Knights, who has led the school for 12 years. Under Knights's tenure, PSU established and accredited a professional Master of Architecture program and began offer...

Pickathon Festival stage, designed by PSU students, will be turned into transitional housing when the music stops

2017-08-04T20:10:00-04:00

Launched in 1999, the inaugural Pickathon Music Festival was not so much a festival, but rather a small fundraiser for KBOO—a non-profit community radio station. Held in the woods nearby Portland, Oregon, the now annual summer event has grown into a sellout affair with lineups including Beach House, Angel Olsen, and Mac DeMarco. Though the festival has grown, the three-day event nicknamed "Portland's littlest big festival" has maintained its grassroots nature and continues to set itself apart from its festival competitors.

For starters, rather than only booking acts that have a big draw, the festival runners make a point of introducing their audience to new acts like Israeli pop star group A-WA or soul icon Charles Bradley. In addition, all artists at the festival play at least twice so audiences have multiple chances to see their acts. The festival has largely foregone corporate sponsorship with exceptions for companies like Kleen Kanteen, a reusable water bottle company, that fit ...

Architecture students at 17 schools will get licensed quicker with help from NCARB's new licensure program, IPAL

2016-12-13T19:36:00-05:00

The recently introduced IPAL, or Integrated Path to Architectural Licensure, promises to streamline the architectural licensure process for students at 17 universities and colleges by incorporating the Architectural Experience Program into the curriculum. Licensure, which is required by a majority of the fifty states and governing agencies in Canada, usually takes a few years of intense study and rigorous examinations after one's initial formal education is complete to attain. Initiated by NCARB, the in-school program will enable students to also take the ARE. Here's a full transcript of the press release:

Friends,The road to licensure for architects is getting shorter and shorter, thanks to a recent initiative spearheaded by the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB).

The Integrated Path to Architectural Licensure (IPAL) provides students the opportunity to complete requirements for licensure while they are still earning their degree. Through the initiative, sc...