Last Friday, Portlanders met for dinner and conversation at the University of Oregon's working architecture studios in the
White Stag building for the latest installation of the back room.
Matthew Stadler, who has returned from Mexico and resumed his
role as organizer and host of the series, introduced the modulated guitar noise
of Dragging An Ox Through Water and the evening's interviewees, Tom Kundig and
Brad Cloepfil. Guests supped on delicious dishes from chickpeas to paté created
by chef Jason Barwikowski of Clyde Common, and tore hunks of bread off paper-wrapped loaves from Pearl Bakery.
Tom is an award-winning
architect and a principal of Seattle's Olson Sundberg
Kundig Allen. He's known for innovative projects in natural settings, such as
Delta Shelter (pictured left) and Rolling Huts. Oddly, one of his employees was chosen to interview the two architects.
Brad applies his sly Oregonian vernacular to urban projects such
as the Seattle Art Museum, the Wieden + Kennedy building in Portland, and the
controversial Museum of Art and Design at 2 Columbus Circle in New York. (The
Allied Works website is built Flashariffic-styley or we'd link directly to
the projects. Instead we stole the photo below left from the Portland Architecture
blog.)
The founder of Allied, Brad is also a font of thought-provoking soundbytes. Here are a few from the event:
ON ART & ARMATURE
Brad: Architects look to artists because they're "a springboard to purity."
Tom: Described his own approach as creating "an armature for something to happen."
ON TIME
Brad: "I trust time… because forces will act upon our work."
ON AN EPIPHANY IN SWITZERLAND
Brad: Wondered, "Why the fuck
can't we do architecture in Portland if they can do it in Switzerland? It's
taking a regional voice and point of view to other places."
ON REGIONALISM
Brad: Regionalism is
something that "contains" you—especially in the United States.
Randy Gragg (from the audience): Described a "resistant" culture that emerged out of regionalism, against modernism and the dominant culture.
Brad: "I know this town and I still don't understand it." He hopes to team up with institutions "that want to aspire."
ON ENDURING ACTS
Brad: "What about beautiful acts of architecture that endure?"
NOT WITH A WHIMPER
We finished off with a dense,
sweet olive oil cake under a cloud of chantilly cream spotted with vanilla
bean, all the while passing around the back room's traditional rounds of cheap
brandy. This reporter was unable to determine whether that fine beverage
inspired the architectural smackdown that broke out in a nearby bar later on.
All in all: another interesting evening from Portland's irrepressible back
room. —TLB
Cheesy lil' cell photos courtesy of your friends at 2GQ.
