Rich Mitchell, AIA chapter president for Portland, OR, issues a call for local civic patronage of great design, after the former mayor chose to withhold an annual design award last year for what she considered a lack of a deserving local project. The Oregonian
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oh please. she probably would know a good building if she saw it.
perhaps she didnt like the fact that the projects didnt offer free design services to contract/builders as squeezed out of the masses in the skinny building comp
its only going to be as good as you set the standards to. if there were no deserving project its only her fault for not raising the bar while she had the ability to do in the cities highest office. monday morning quarterback sydrome.
Maybe so, but if you read the piece, Mitchell seems to feel that she was a "great friend" to Portland's design community. But whether she had the interests of good planning at heart or was merely interested in architecture as a window-dressing for lucrative development is more than I can say. I don't know much about Mayor Katz or the situation there.
Any Portland folks care to comment?
This could be a crucial point brought up by some one in enough power to influence other Portland entities for instance the PDC who will unfortunately have a massive decision to make come February 9, when the decision on which Burnside Bridgehead proposal is to go forward. This project is one of the biggest projects since the convention center. I think that Portland needs to have something more than a fake competition such as a public symposia in which architects could be given parts of perhaps, say pioneer courthouse square. This could generate a public interest in current design ideas and hopefully foster a reaction from the non-design and developer population of the PDX area. Just an idea.
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