Jain to Architects: Not all Buildings Should Be Iconic (some just need to be competent, beautiful)

“Architecture needs to respond to its surrounding context” says Portland’s first ever Chief Urban Designer, Arun Jain, who spoke to UO architecture students this evening about the Planning Bureau’s latest project called the Urban Design Assessment.

Jain describes the project as a “stage for more substantive discussions on how urban form, quality, and identity can and should develop in the future.”

Portland’s Bartholomew Plan, 1932

He says the assessment project will “inform” ongoing efforts to redo the Central Portland Plan. His team’s work so far includes an impressive review of Portland’s planning history, review of existing plans, and a detailed analysis of “focus” issues; what he refers to as the hot topics everyone is “agonizing about,” such as building height, floor area ratio, and the downtown skyline.

Jain and his team have discovered, through sophisticated spatial analysis, that the central city actually holds enough development capacity for 60 years (assuming recent absorption rates continue). Lack of development capacity is not what’s forcing buildings to go higher. Focusing on height for the longer term, he says, ignores the living environment in the interim.

He suggests that a better strategy would be to encourage more mid-rise development because it would fill up the empty lots during the interim. These mid-rise buildings are the “competent” buildings that make up the urban fabric, which Jain says “belong where they are,” as opposed to tall buildings and flashy skylines.

Whatever your opinions are, be sure to check out his group’s terrific planning Timeline. He compares Portland’s planning history with world events. The blue line down the middle is Portland’s population growth since 1900.

Thanks to Jim for sending out the lecture notice. The next lecture in this series is with David Bragdon on January 23 at 12:00 noon, UO Portland Center.

The Urban Design Assessment website is here: http://www.portlandonline.com/planning/index.cfm?c=44083