Waechter Architecture News (11.30.2022)
Congratulations to all on making it through (another) Cyber Monday — As we count down the days until 2023, we thought we’d share a few small yet significant digits to mark the start of the holiday season:
3—THREE RESIDENCES UNDER CONSTRUCTION
Waechter’s portfolio of innovative and exquisitely crafted residences continues to expand, with construction advancing on three projects in varied contexts:
Dune House in Manzanita balances contextual sensitivity and iconic form. Traditional cedar shingle cladding is paired with oak paneled interiors, giving the building a calm, carved, and monolithic presence. Madison House, located at the foot of Portland’s Washington Park, reads as a series of planes stepping back from the street, creating a sense of grounding and refuge. Across the Willamette, the Glass House re-imagines a traditional Portland home through a distilled form that engages the earth, offers privacy, and reconnects to nature. The design creates three realms—cellar, garden, and canopy—each offering its own materiality, character, and experience. Taken together, the houses illustrate unique approaches to the principle of clarity, with each carefully attuned to place and the specific needs and vision of our clients.
2—TWO WORKS RECOGNIZED AT AIA & GRAY
AWARDS
After a (too-long) hiatus, it was great to be together with our Oregon architecture community to recognize outstanding works, and equally, the wealth of talent and creativity within our region. In a deep and diverse field of entries, Waechter was awarded two Citations, for Rockwood Village multifamily / affordable housing in Gresham, and for our Mississippi workshop and headquarters in Portland.
In December, these projects will be competing head-to-head for a 2022 Gray Award in the Design for Good category, with each noted for their contributions to enduring and ethical design. We look forward to the annual awards banquet at the Fairmont Olympic in Seattle on December 5th.
We invite you to read Brian Libby’s review of Mississippi for his Portland Architecture column in the Tribune, available at this link or by request.
1—ONE NEW DESIGN TAKING SHAPE IN BEND
We’re thrilled to be working on an elegant and elemental house project across the Cascades in Bend, Oregon. The residence will be a live / workspace for a young family who relocated from Seattle to Central Oregon during the pandemic and acquired property in Tetherow near the Deschutes River. The land and former structures on site were impacted by a recent fire, and thus the project will be an act of growth and regeneration, with a new garden courtyard serving as the focal point of the composition. We can’t wait to share our progress as the design comes into focus.