Author Archives: Claire Smith

March 2017 Forum


Alicia Delashmutt
Founding Neighbor
Our Home, Inclusive Community Collaborative

Homes Not Housing Presented by Alicia Delashmutt & Joe Wykowski
Home is the foundation for us all. In this session we will share individual stories and talk about how local community resources and partnerships, available to everyone, can be used to create places called home. We will also share exciting progress on a local, intentionally inclusive, diverse neighborhood project in Portland, called Our Home – Cathedral Park.

Alicia DeLashmutt has a professional background in landscape design and commercial and residential interior design.  She is the founder of Our Home, Inclusive Community Collaborative and is the Founding Neighbor of Our Home – Cathedral Park, a co-housing inspired, intentionally diverse community in Portland, Oregon that includes people that want to age in a home of their choice, people who experience disability and people below median income. She is a frequent presenter on disability issues including the importance of community. She is the proud mother of a fabulous teenage girl whose interests include basketball, Fritos and opera.  Her daughter experiences Mowat-Wilson, a rare genetic syndrome whose effects are widespread and significant.  Alicia is a strong advocate and family mentor who believes that the inclusion of ALL, regardless of race, color, national origin, sexual orientation, religion, age, disability or gender identity is necessary for a vibrant and healthy society.

Interested in reading more? Check out this Tash.org blog post: Building Communities support people with disabilities

Joe Wykowski, will speak on “Re-Thinking the Future of Housing; the Changing Landscape of Integrated Housing for People with Disabilities”.
Joe is the Executive Director of Community Vision, a Portland Oregon-based organization that provides an array of person-centered supports to individuals with disabilities to assist them to live, work and thrive in the communities of their choice. In addition to his work at Community Vision, Joe is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, and is a past executive board member of TASH, past president of the Oregon Home ownership Collaborative and has served in many other organizations. He consults with various housing coalitions across the country concerning the creation of individual housing opportunities and personal supports with persons with disabilities.

Advocacy Update: 2017 Bill Progress

 


The IIDA Oregon Chapter is pleased to update our members on the progress IDC-Oregon has made this legislative season. What an amazing year 2016 was for Interior Design in Oregon, and even better start to 2017!

IDC-Oregon introduced HB 2153 this legislative session in the House Committee on Economic Development and Trade.  The bill would create a voluntary Commercial Interior Design Registry in the State of Oregon and has strong legislative support. Below are further details regarding the bill progress.

On February 8th 2017, a bill hearing was held for HB 2153 and IDC-Oregon had a great turnout with positive results!  During the bill hearing, IDC-Oregon, IIDA Oregon, interior designers, students, educators, architects and other industry vendors provided written and spoken testimony.  Thanks to all the careful planning and grassroots efforts completed in 2016, there was little opposition and the committee established a legislative work group to identify potential amendments that find some consensus to move the bill into the House Joint Ways and Means committee.

Following the bill hearing, IDC-Oregon and other stakeholders participated in three work group meetings to create amendments including a clear definition for interior design and applicable scope as well as requirements around education, experience, and examination among a few other particular pieces of the bill. A final work group meeting is scheduled this week to confirm the proposed amendments that will be included in a revised bill. We anticipate the amended bill to move to the House Joint Ways and Means committee by mid-March.

This is fantastic progress just one week into the 2017 legislative session and while IDC-Oregon can’t confirm the bill will pass, however, they are very optimistic!

Thank you to everyone involved, they couldn’t have done this without all of you!

Questions about more IIDA Oregon Chapter Advocacy Efforts? Contact the VP Advocacy.
Become an IDC-Oregon Supporter!

2016 Legacy Award Winner Spotlight: Scott Brown


Scott Brown exemplifies what it means to be a well-rounded interior designer in the Oregon design community. He is a leader not only to the designers and architects who he works with on a daily basis, but to the industry as a whole. Over his 20+ year career, Scott has elevated himself into the role of Principal, previously at Yost Grube Hall and now currently at GBD Architects. He is an advocate for integrated interior design in a predominantly architectural driven industry. While at YGH, he was responsible for operations of the practice as well as being the Director of Interiors and a design Principal. He is one of the few men in our industry who has chosen to be licensed as an Interior Designer, and not as an Architect, leaving a legacy of “good” design, best business practices, and serving as a role model for designers and leaders following in his footsteps. Scott is an active member of IIDA and encourages the designers he works with to pursue NCIDQ certification to further the profession in the state of Oregon.  

Scott is an influential career mentor to the younger designers he works with. He often encourages design exploration, and allows for the importance and value of both success and failure throughout the design process. He instills confidence, trust, and courage with his team.  

For most of his career Scott has set the bar high. He has been a design leader, pushing the boundaries of design and the way people work, through creative and innovative workspaces. He has taken challenging programs and created spaces that are logical, high performing, sustainable, and beautiful. All of Scott’s work has an element of timeless design, even in his most innovative spaces. Scott cares deeply about high quality design as well as the user experience. He is sensitive to the ever changing needs of his clients and designs spaces which are flexible and adaptable over time. Two of his projects which exemplify his exceptional work, and have been awarded IIDA Oregon Chapter Design Excellence Awards in the past include; Dow East End in Midland Michigan and 400 SW Sixth in Portland.

Congratulations Scott, on being the recipient of the 2016 IIDA Oregon Chapter Legacy Award, you are a genuine asset to the profession of Interior Design in the State of Oregon.

2017 Student Design Charette Recap

The IIDA Oregon Chapter is proud to announce the winners of the Oregon Chapter Finals of the IIDA Western Region Student Design Charette!

The First Place Team won a $1,400.00 Cash Prize and Advancement to the IIDA Western Region Student Design Charette!

(First Place Winning Team from Left to Right: Brittney Hopp, Hannah Germansky, Jessy Miguel and Mian Mao. Photo by Kaitlin Green)

 

The Second Place Team won a $600.00 Cash Prize

(Second Place Winning Team from Left to Right:. Courtney Smith, Azita Footohi, Sidney Franco and Hannah Martin. Photo by Kaitlin Green)

Event Summary

The Charette took place this past Saturday February 18th at Ankrom Moisan Architects in Portland, OR. Winning team members will represent Oregon at the IIDA Western Region Student Design Charette Regional Finals in Phoenix on April 8th. Winners of the IIDA Western Region Student Design Charette will then be sent to compete at the IIDA International Student Charette during NeoCon in Chicago in June 2017.

Charette Design Problem

Twenty-five students from different grade levels at five Oregon design schools were divided into six teams. Each team was assigned the same project; “Digital Creative” an institute that specializes in creative technology and entrepreneurship. The programs were tailored to the local community, offering courses and degrees for working adults seeking new careers, career advancements and certificates in industries and technologies that were relevant to local business and tech startups. Digital Creative worked to develop a unique identity from its competitors. The program offered a unique opportunity to learn form the best in the industry in a video/virtual teaching format.  The experience was supported with physical space where students could collaborate peer-to-peer and develop lifelong relationships that could be taken with them outside of the classroom.

The location of “Digital Creative” was set in Slabtown, recently dubbed as “Nolo” (North of Lovejoy), an up-and-coming area in Northwest Portland. The building location was near “Trendy-Third Avenue”, a district occupied by restaurants, national chains, and boutiques. Slabtown was labeled a “transition area” by the city with old industrial lofts being converted to housing and office space. This location is an attractive place for tech startups and creatives, making it an ideal location for Digital creative to offer their tech and creative focused educational programs.

The campus was located in a single story building (approximately 8,000 sf) that housed various learning spaces, collaborative spaces and administrative offices. The students were tasked with laying out all core program areas, and at a minimum further developing three key areas which included an entry/reception area, tech lounge, and one virtual instructor learning environment (ie. classroom).  Students were encouraged to design a space that maximized learning opportunities and created meaningful experiences by rethinking the classroom experience for adults. The design needed to promote self-direction learning and collaborative problem solving, as well as support various levels of interaction through formal and informal areas. The IIDA Student Member teams were judged on the function, design, creativity/originality, branding, aesthetics, oral and graphic presentation of their projects.

(Jurors on sofa from Left to Right:. Brittney Hererra, Leah Wheary, and Nita Posada. Photo by Kaitlin Green)

Jurors included Brittney Herrera, IIDA of IA Interior Architects, Leah Wheary, LEED AP of Ankrom Moisan Architects, and Nita Posada, IIDA of SRG Partnership. The program was produced by the IIDA Oregon Chapter’s Student Affairs team, led by VP of Student Affairs, Mia Allen, IIDA of Ankrom Moisan Portland.

Learn more about Design Charettes from other IIDA Oregon blog posts: “What is a Charette?” and “Charette Best Practices”.

For the first time ever, the IIDA Oregon Chapter shared the Juror’s Comments and Award announcements on the Chapter’s Facebook and Instagram accounts, so followers could participate remotely.

Finally, thank you to the generous sponsors of the IIDA Oregon Chapter Finals of the IIDA Western Region Student Design Charette!

To learn more about the IIDA Western Region Student Design Charette, visit the Facebook page.

 

2016-2017 Forums: Recap and Upcoming

Happy New Year from your IIDA Oregon Chapter Forums team!

As we have reached the midway point of the IIDA year, we are pleased to look back at the Continuing Education that we have offered to IIDA Members as one of the many values of Membership. We are also very excited about the growth in event attendance, sponsorship, and CEU offerings over the past 2 years. Read about the exciting Forums topics planned through the end of the 2016-2017 IIDA Board year below, as well as Sponsorship opportunities.* We look forward to the engaging presentations, lively discussions and learning together over the next few months!

Growth by the Numbers:
2015 – 2016:

  • Offered 9 CEU credits
  • 4 fully sponsored Forums (Thank you Sponsors!)
  • Average Attendance ~45 people

2016 – 2017:

  • Offering 9+ CEU credits
  • Targeting for 6 fully sponsored Forums (Thank you 2016 Sponsors, see how you can become a 2017 Forum Sponsor below)
  • Targeting average attendance to be ~60 people.

2016-2017 Forums Topics YTD:

August 2016 –
Making Green Buildings Greener
Sponsored by Patcraft

An engaging conversation on Making Green Buildings Greener led by Timothy Conway, VP Global Accounts Sustainability Account Development at Shaw Industries. Timothy addressed your role as a specifier, and as an influencer by exploring the way your product choices help drive the development of new sustainable product design, innovation and environmentally responsible manufacturing practices.

 

September 2016 –
Mindful Materials and Specifications
Venue Sponsored by BORA

The PDX Materials Transparency Collaborative gave a lively panel discussion taking a look at the mindful MATERIALS platform. The presentation gave an overview of mindful Materials, and took a deeper dive into how the Architecture and Design community can implement it into the specification process. The presentation concluded with what is on the horizon for mindful MATERIALS.

Panelists included:
Jeff Frost, SERA Architects, Admin. Team for mindful MATERIALS
Mike Manzi RA, Bora Architects, Specifications Writer
Beth Gish, Mohawk Group, Oregon Manufacturer’s Representative

 

November 2016 –
Digital Nomadicism
Sponsored by Hartman Ltd.

An engaging exploration of Digital Nomadicism; how to design for relevancy of place amidst a culture of rapid change and technology innovation. Chris Crowley, LEED AP of Six Inch presented the findings of “Re-Imagine the 9 to 5”; a study focused on the unique intersection of where we find ourselves in a multi- generational workforce, an emerging economy reliant on sharing and participation, and the benefits of face-to-face interaction balanced with heavy reliance on technology.

Announcing upcoming Forums topics for 2017:

March 2017 – Homes Not Housing
Including update from IDC Oregon, Sponsorship Opportunities available*

The IIDA Oregon Chapter invites you to join Alicia DeLashmutt and Joe Wykowski for an engaging presentation of “Homes Not Housing”. Home is the foundation for us all. In this session we will share how design, local community resources and partnerships, can be used to create supportive communities and places called home for all. Alicia and Joe will also share exciting progress on a local, cohousing inspired, intentionally diverse and inclusive neighborhood project in Portland called Our Home – Cathedral Park.

Alicia DeLashmutt has a professional background in commercial and residential interior and landscape design.  She is the founder of Our Home, Inclusive Community Collaborative and is the Founding Neighbor of Our Home – Cathedral Park, a cohousing inspired, intentionally diverse community in Portland, Oregon that includes people that want to age in a home of their choice, people who experience disability and people below median income as well as the general population. She is a frequent presenter on disability issues including the importance of community. She is the proud mother of a fabulous teenage girl whose interests include basketball, Fritos and opera.  Her daughter experiences Mowat-Wilson, a rare genetic syndrome whose effects are widespread and significant.  Alicia is a strong advocate and family mentor who believes that the inclusion of ALL, regardless of race, color, national origin, sexual orientation, religion, age, disability or gender identity is necessary for a vibrant and healthy society.

Joe Wykowski is the Executive Director of Community Vision, a Portland Oregon-based organization that provides an array of person-centered supports to individuals with disabilities to assist them to live, work and thrive in the communities of their choice. In addition to his work at Community Vision, Joe is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, and is a past executive board member of TASH, past president of the Oregon Home ownership Collaborative and has served in many other organizations. He consults with various housing coalitions across the country concerning the creation of individual housing opportunities and personal supports with persons with disabilities.

May 2017 – Sustainability in Hospitality Design
In Partnership with NEWH, Sponsorship Opportunities available*
Description T.B.A.

June 2017 – “Is It Local?” Showcasing Oregon-built Products and Materials
The IIDA Oregon Chapter is proud to be part of a rich maker and builder design culture in the State of Oregon. This event will invite individuals and businesses to present their process, product, local materials sourcing, and design culture in a Pecha Kucha format. Interested in presenting? Contact VP Forums Kimberly Yannariello at kyannariello@gmail.com

 

*Interested in sponsoring a Forum? Contact VP Forums Kimberly Yannariello at kyannariello@gmail.com

Member Spotlight: Jamie Kreger, IIDA


Name:  Jamie Kreger
Company / Position: Ankrom Moisan Architects / Interior Designer
Years of Experience: 4.5
IIDA Member Since: 2015

What are you currently working on? I work primarily on Senior Living projects in the Portland and Seattle area.  I have two new construction projects with 80-120 dwelling units each. My area of focus includes space planning and design development of public areas and amenities as well as the units.  One project is attempting the Living Building Challenge where locally sourced and sustainable materials are key.


What project have you worked on that you are most proud of and why?: The rescue mission for homeless families I designed in Montana made a big impact on that community. It served as a hub for outreach programs and kept families together when that was previously not possible.

What gets you excited about design?: Creative use of materials and thoughtful details.

On a typical Saturday where can we find you?: I spend time with my husband helping out and adventuring on his family’s ranch in Eastern Oregon.

Why are you a member of IIDA?: I enjoy networking and connecting with the design community.

Member Spotlight: Jennifer Fowler, Affiliate IIDA

jennifer-fowler-headshotName: Jennifer Fowler
Company / Position: Hacker / Director of Interior Design
Years of Experience: 17 years
IIDA Member Since: 2015

What are you currently working on? We are fortunate to have a huge variety of projects at Hacker. Currently, we are working on a handful of commercial workplace projects as well as higher ed, K-12, cultural arts, residential, and local mixed-use buildings.

Tell us a bit about your creative process: I’m at the table early – day one, understanding the landscape and light; contributing to discussions on building skin and glazing patterns. Interior design is at the heart of how an end user experiences space. I am frequently perplexed at how often this design process is addressed too late or as an afterthought. When interior design is integral to the creative process, we’re able to respond attentively to the program to thoughtfully capture the experience of the user – and hopefully also exceed their expectations by creating an experience that is compelling in some unexpected way. The form of the building can be a response to that focus on the interior – designing from the inside out and simultaneously the outside in. I’m extremely fortunate to work with architects who are aligned with my thinking. Together, we are shifting our studio’s culture so that architects are putting on an interiors hat too: just as I do better work thinking about the site, daylighting, building form, the architects do better work when they also are thinking about the interior experience. This reciprocal design process is fundamentally missing in the way architecture and interiors have been taught. We are changing this, and seeing better work for it.

What project have you worked on that you are most proud of? While at BORA in 2006, I worked on a very special school, Reynolds School District Four Corners, in Portland. The project involved the rehabilitation of an old, tilt-up racquetball club into a K-5 school for special-needs kids. Their “special needs” were utterly heart-wrenching; many children having lost their parents, or being so psychologically or emotionally wounded that they were one step away from being institutionalized. Our task was critically clear: we needed to come together to provide a warm and safe place for the children, a place where they will feel comfortable to learn and attend class every day. Learning about the dynamics of their education, I was in awe of all of the amazing teachers and staff who dedicate themselves to the school. During the design process, I researched the psychology of color and its effects on children at various ages and stages of development in order to thoughtfully incorporate the results into the appropriate classrooms. With the tiniest budget imaginable, we worked tirelessly to come up with design solutions that resulted in a light-filled, up-lifting space with a soothing yet playful material palette. We designed a double-height wall that slipped from the exterior at the entry to the interior, filled with a grid of color and magnetic tiles for the kids’ artwork to be displayed continuously throughout the year. It is a highly secure, locked campus so unfortunately I’ve never had the opportunity to see children in the interior environment. Nevertheless, it has personally been one of my most rewarding projects.

On a typical Saturday where can we find you? Spending time with my husband and son, typically building Legos, then on to a hike or outing.

Why are you a member of IIDA? I am a member of IIDA so that myself and our team at Hacker can engage with the rich community and culture of design in Portland. I respect the IIDA mission and know that it brings a lot of value to our commitment to design. I want to support that effort.

2016 IIDA Oregon Chapter Student Symposium Recap

gbd-bikeThe 2016 IIDA Oregon Chapter’s Student Symposium occurred on November 5th at GBD Architect’s office in Portland. The event was open to Oregon Interior Design Students from Oregon State, University of Oregon, Marylhurst, The Art Institute of Portland and Portland Community College.

The student-focused event featured a select number of Oregon Interior Design firms and professional organizations who presented their work, mission and culture in the Pecha Kucha presentation format. GBD, the hosting firm, also gave the students a history of the development of the Brewery Blocks and a tour of the studio.  

 

gbd-tour-presentation-3Hosting Firm GBD gave a history of the architectural development of Portland’s Brewery Blocks and Pearl district before touring the students through the studio.

Presenters included; GBD Architects, Mahlum, BORA, the IIDA Oregon Chapter, a presentation by two IIDA Oregon Chapter and Western Student Design Charette Participants, and the Interior Design Coalition of Oregon.

gbd-presenting

Left: GBD presenting “A Day in the Life of an Interior Designer”

Right: The IIDA Oregon Chapter sharing
our mission, vision,  and value of Student Membership.iida-or-presenting

 

mahlum-presentingMahlum presenting their firm’s work and culture

bora-presentingBORA presenting work, culture and the process of a recent branding refresh.

iida-or-wrsdc-presentingIIDA Oregon Chapter Student Participants presenting advice on the process and participation in the IIDA Oregon Chapter and IIDA Western Regional Student Design Charettes.

idc-presentingIDC Oregon teaches the importance of Advocacy and professional recognition for Interior Designers in the State of Oregon.

bora-networking-groupStudent attendees broke into smaller discussion groups to learn about topics geared toward the Interior Design profession.


The event also covered topics related to career development, professional growth and networking. Students toured GBD Architect’s office and took part in a fun lunch activity that was set up in a speed networking format.

Our amazing sponsors made it possible to raffle away twelve IIDA Student Memberships for the 2017 year.  A special thank you to the Mohawk Group, Mahlum, IA Interior Architects, and Mannington Commercial for helping to make this possible! We would also like to thank the Vaughan Brothers and Cosentino for their support as well!  It is because of your kind contributions that we are able to put on exciting events throughout the year for students – thank you for your continued support!

To learn how you can be involved in attending or supporting IIDA Oregon Chapter Student events, please contact the VP Student Affairs.