The Design District
A Few Of My Favorite Things: Root Awards
Yes, Spaces’ design awards gala, the Root Awards, was last week, but the awards are now on the web (with project info and slideshows) for eternity or so…so let’s have a look at a few of my favorite things:
I spent a good while electronically getting to know Compressed Pattern not long ago via the World Wide Web, and I think their work is very interesting. So it was great to see Travis Weedman (above) honored as a “Rising Star.”
Who knew a turbine could be sexy? I’ll quibble with the color (lime-y), but the Helyx HE-40 vertical wind turbine by Oregon Wind is so good. Solving gripes about run-of-the-mill, Don Quixote-type turbines, this one is compact, quiet, and can live in a very urban setting. This is such an exciting project. Winner in the “Sustainable” category.
Boora ’s Kitchell residence won the “room” category for a room that packed in so much into its double height space (kitchen, dining, living room and upstairs bedroom and study), while remaining so clean and light, that I wanted to jump into the video screen. But the killer detail is the curving low bookcase on the upper level…who among us doesn’t need that long snake of a bookcase to contain our volumes of Futurist manifestos, Duberman on Black Mountain College, Hugh Kenner on Bucky Fuller, and everything Frank O’Hara has ever written?
The “lounge” category was killer, every one a winner: Olympic Mills (above) by Works Partnership (I have a design crush on Works Partnership), the studio lounge Boora did for itself, and the space for Big Giant that Deca did.
Other favorites include the Williams FIVE by PATH Architecture (above), Architecture W ’s Stump House (especially its custom tile wall), Opsis’ Firstenburg Community Center, the Skylab office for North, and the office Jessica Helgerson designed for her practice.
In sum, the quantity of design talent we have in Portland floors me. And there are so many killer projects in the works and on the boards right now that I can’t wait for future Root Awards.
