Jay Raskin Architect

Author: Raskin

  • Small changes to be prepared

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    The recent request by the City of Cannon Beach to Clatsop County is a good example of how many small, but significant changes, need to be made to be properly prepare for a Cascadia earthquake and tsunami.  The City ha has requested that the zoning in Agricultural Zone (AZ) and Forestry 80 (F80) areas be…

  • AIA and Resilience

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    I have been trying to get the architectural community more involved in the preparing for the Cascadia earthquake/tsunami and resiliency.  The American Institute of Architects (AIA) was at one time very involved in emergency preparedness and in the 1970’s help come up with the response-relief-mitigation cycle.  In recent years, the AIA had lost interest in…

  • Halprin Fountains on National Register

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    The three fountains and open spaces that Lawrence Halprin designed in Portland in the 1960’s have been listed on the National Historic Register.  These fountains, the Source, Lovejoy, and the Forecourt were part of  the urban renewal efforts of the time.  This urban renewal took out what was know as South Portland that was the…

  • Christchurch: Nature and Resilience

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      Tipped off by a friend, I have been reading a couple of posts by Glenn Stewart, a professor of urban ecology in New Zealand.  The first, Natural Disasters and the Nature of Cities, looks at the destruction the 2010 Christchurch earthquake caused and moves on to look at how the native vegetation has started…

  • Astoria Public Service Building

    Astoria Public Service Building

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    One of the buildings I have been working on recently was the Astoria Public Safety Building , which has been remodeled.  The building serves as a combined fire station and police station.  There was a small addition added to expand the Police Department, and the space was reorganized to be more efficient.  More importantly, the…

  • Preserving America’s Historic Barns

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    Preserving America’s Historic Barns Limeworks, an organization that “is committed to providing the resources needed for performing professional masonry restoration and building sustainable structures in an environmentally conscious and sustainable way” produced this video on preserving historic barns.  The video shows photos of barns throughout the Country, with a narration by barn historian Jeff Marshall talking…

  • Living in the Wake of 3/11

    Living in the Wake of 3/11

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    Japanese director Hideo Nakata has created a documentary film, Living in the Wake of 3/11,  about the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami which opens in Japan today, a few weeks before the second year anniversary of the disaster which happened on March 11, 2011.  Filmed in July through October following the disaster, it explores the lives…

  • Portland’s Chinatown

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    I ran across an interesting article by Ivy Lin in the Willamette Week talking about Chinatown past and present in Portland.  She has made a documentary film called Pig Roast & Tank of Fish.  She points out that the Old Town Chinatown in Portland in the early 19th century was the second largest Chinatown on…

  • Tsunami Interpretative Trail

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    The City of Newport has a created a tsunami interpretative trail in the South Beach area.  Coastal communities have been very creative in Cascadia preparedness and this trail is just one among many efforts.  Knowledge about tsunami’s is the key to saving lives and this interpretative trail system should be expanded along the entire Oregon…

  • Barbey Maritime Center

    Barbey Maritime Center

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    The Astoria Train Depot has finished its journey from being a decommissioned train depot to the Barbey Maritime Center for the Columbia River Maritime Museum.  The dedication took place on Jan. 25th, where public officials, the Barbey family, the CRMM Board, and the public were able to see the finished building. The waiting rooms have been…