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. 

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.” 

Comprising a little over 1,000 ‘stick’ components of dimensional lumber assembled into 80 “gate” thresholds, the LED-lit design encircles musicians on stage while creating a visual barrier that marks the venue area.

“During the day, it will look lovely, providing a little bit of dappled shade,” student Curtis Trueblood states. “At night, when it’s all lit up, it’s a little like a glittering snake, connecting it all. The gates will be set up a bit like an accordion, and people will be able to walk through the entirety of this beautiful trellis-like triangular geometric space, or just pass through part of it, entering and exiting as they need to.”

He added his hopes that the design will feel "a little like a hug" to audience members. The stage will later be dismantled and repurposed for use in local high school carpentry programs. 

All this aligns with PSU's “diversion design-build” tradition at Pickathon. Master of Architecture student Bedour Al-Manea shared finally: “In studio classes, we work individually and don’t get to collaborate as much, but here, we’re actually collaborating, and we have to work as one. Communication, working as a team, these are all skills that will help our professional careers.”

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