Jay Raskin Architect

Author: Raskin

  • OPB’s What’s my Risk?

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    On the anniversary of the last Cascadia earthquake and tsunami 315 years ago, OPB has done an excellent series of stories called “Unprepared: Will We Be Ready for the Megaquake?”   As the articles points out, a large Cascadia earthquake and tsunami can occur anytime, and it reviews how prepared we are and compares it…

  • Oregon Design Professionals Day at the Capitol

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    On Tuesday, February 17th, Oregon’s design professional community will be coming together to meet with the Oregon Legislature.  Typically these types of events are a chance for design professionals to talk to legislators about  professional concerns.  This year is a bit different.  The design community is focussing on the passage of the Oregon Resilience Task Force…

  • Oregon Resilience Task Force Recommendations

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    It has been a while since I posted, but it has been a significant year for preparing for a Cascadia earthquake and tsunami.  The Oregon Resilience Task Force finished their work in September and made their recommendations to the Governor and Legislature.  Heading up their recommendations is the establishment of a Resilience Policy Advisor post…

  • Micro-Apartments

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    San Francisco has approved micro-apartments, following in the footsteps of New York, Vancouver and elsewhere.  These type of units first showed up in Japan and their appearance here in the US seeks to meet the same challenge, of providing more affordable housing in expensive urban areas. The photo above (from the linked article in Wired)…

  • Historic Preservation & Energy Efficiency: A Guide for Historic Commercial Buildings

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    A collaboration of Pacific Power, Energy Trust of Oregon, and Clatsop Community College, has produced an excellent booklet on the energy efficiency for historic commercial buildings. The students and faculty of the College’s Historic Preservation Program provided the information for the booklet which showcases projects throughout the state.  The Guide is available to view online or to…

  • Bud Clark Commons wins Project of the year

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    The 2013 Residential Architect Design Awards was given to Bud Clark Commons, a project located near Union Station.  The architects for the project were Holst Architecture and they have done a remarkable job. The quote from the award: “It combines sustainable aspects, social agendas, and aesthetic issues,” said one juror. “They had a very complicated…

  • Tsunami Mapping on the Oregon Coast

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    DOGAMI has just released an amazing series of tsunami maps for the entire Oregon coast.  They include the latest tsunami evacuation maps that show the inundation area of the largest tsunami generated from a distant event (in this case a tsunami generated by a subduction zone earthquake generated in Alaska), and a worst case Cascadia…

  • Timber Towers

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    First Michael Green, an architect from Vancouver BC, published the Case for Tall Wood Buildings that argued that tall wood buildings are feasible and have substantial economic and environmental benefits. Now SOM has taken up the challenge with the Timber Tower Research Project,  which debuts a prototypical tower with a  concrete jointed timber frame system. …

  • Barbey Maritime Center Windows

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    MCM, along with Bergerson Windows, were responsible for the restoration of the Astoria Train Depot windows and doors (along with a little help from the Clatsop Community College Historic Preservation Program).  MCM does a good job of documenting and then publishing the before and after conditions.  Check out their efforts on the Barbey Maritime Center. …

  • Starachitect Trio

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    There is a fascinating article, Starchitect Trio: The Men Behind Germany’s Building Debacles, in Spiegel’s Online International site where the German journal interviews three “star architects” working on projects in Germany. Each of them, Christoph Ingenhoven, Meinhard von Gerkan and Pierre de Meuron are working on major projects in Germany that experienced huge cost overruns.  The…