1 AIA LU|HSW Available

The desperate need for housing has reached crisis levels, especially in cities up and down the West Coast. There is a need in the profession to adopt an all-options-on-the-table approach to provide more housing solutions, but also design them to be both humane and uplifting. While the multi-million dollar single family house in a pristine natural setting, may still get the cover shot in design magazines, this presentation focuses on two projects that illustrate alternative urban housing options: a duplex and a detached ADU.

In this Digital Design Series presentation, we will be hearing from two of our past Portland Homes Tour participants - Risa Boyer Architecture and Webster Wilson, Architect.

BEYOND NEW CONSTRUCTION: BRINGING NEW LIFE TO MID CENTURY HOMES
Risa Boyer Architecture

Mid century homes were designed as the homes of the future built with the newest technologies and building materials for the time. Strong connections to the landscape, large windows, minimal detailing and clean lines make these homes perfect for renovating into modern homes for how families live today. While the way the modern family lives in their home has evolved over the last 60 years the desire for light filled, open floor plan homes has not. What has changed are the energy efficiency standards and need for reducing the carbon footprint of construction. Renovating a home is far more sustainable than new construction by extending the lifespan of the existing materials, reducing lumber consumption and greatly reducing what is hauled off to the landfill. Renovated homes can incorporate new energy efficiency measures bringing them up to current code and creating comfortable, beautiful homes that can last two lifetimes.

BEYOND SINGLE FAMILY: Housing Solutions in Urban Neighborhoods 
Webster Wilson, Architect

The desperate need for housing has reached crisis levels, especially in cities up and down the West Coast. We in the profession, need to adopt an all-options-on-the-table approach to provide more housing solutions, but also design them to be both humane and uplifting. While the multi-million dollar single family house in a pristine natural setting may still get the cover shot in design magazines, this presentation will focus on two projects that illustrate alternative urban housing options: the Pine Street Duplex and the Rodney Avenue ADU. Both projects had very restrained sites and real-world budgets, but hopefully the solutions provide examples of how to maximize the potential of these imperfect sites to create livable long-term homes. 

The Pine Street Duplex was carefully designed into a tight, 50’x50’ infill lot in a dense neighborhood of SE Portland. While the vertical form is unmistakably modern and urban, the natural material texturing, abundant use of natural light and green roofscapes create a humane environment that connects to its context and speaks of home. The Rodney Avenue ADU was designed as a minimalist retirement home in the backyard of the owner’s daughter. While ultra-efficient and functional, fenestration is maximized, and wood finishes are meticulously detailed to create a warm home that expands out beyond the building envelope into the garden. 

Learning Objective 1:
Participants will understand: residential design strategies in tight urban sites, including site/building planning to create, preserve and connect to outdoor/garden spaces, spatial planning to create multi-purpose efficient rooms, minimize wasted circulation and maximize built-in storage.

Learning Objective 2:
Participants will understand: fenestration solutions that maximize natural lighting potential, create long views, and still maintain privacy. This careful choreography in glazing is a driver from the beginning design concept, all the way through structural engineering and final detailing.

Learning Objective 3:
Participants will understand: working with existing construction methods of mid century architecture to bring the thermal envelope up to code while maintaining the original intent of the architecture and allowing for modern upgrades.

Learning Objective 4:
Participants will understand: design strategies for adapting mid century design for the way people live today without losing the character of these modern homes.

Speakers:

Risa Boyer Leritz, AIA is a registered architect licensed in Oregon, Washington and California and has over 20 years of architectural experience focused on residential architecture. Risa engages with her clients as creative collaborators and takes an active role in every aspect of design and construction. She believes good design can happen with any budget, small details are as vital as the big picture and that the best kind of architecture enhances the quality of life while bringing pleasure to its inhabitants.  In 1998 Risa earned a Bachelors of Architecture from the College of Arts and Crafts in San Francisco, which was followed by positions at Tanner Leddy Maytum Stacy Architects in the Bay Area and OJMR Architects in Los Angeles. In 2006 she launched Risa Boyer Architecture in LA where her first projects were renovating mid century homes. In 2008 Risa moved her family and her practice to Portland where she continues to work on mid century homes and new construction projects. Her work has been published in Dwell, Atomic Ranch, Portland Monthly, Curbed and Gray Magazine. 

Webster Wilson, AIA was born and raised in Connecticut and studied art at the University of Vermont (B.A. 1994), and architecture at the University of Washington (Master of Architecture, 1999). After studying wood construction in Finland as a Valle Scholar, Wilson returned to actualize his first building: a Finnish sauna, that he both designed and built as his master's thesis. Wilson has worked at award-winning architecture firms in Connecticut, Paris, France, Seattle, and New York and founded his own Portland-based practice in 2007 with the completion of residences in Portland, Kona, Hawaii and Vermont. He has received several design awards and has been published in numerous publications including Dwell and Sunset Magazines. Webster Wilson is a member of the American Institute of Architects, is certified by the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards, is currently licensed in Oregon and Washington State.