RG Article
Judgments on courthouse fly as citizens get glimpse inside
By Bill Bishop
The Register-Guard
Published: Saturday, December 2, 2006
Five-year-old Greta Keyes checked out the 43 tiny plaster models considered as possible designs for the Wayne Lyman Morse U.S. Courthouse during an open house there Friday, turned to her father and asked why there were so many.
It takes a lot of ideas to find just the right ones, replied Peter Keyes, an associate professor of architecture at the University of Oregon.
Greta was much younger when Keyes got his first off-the-record view of preliminary plans for the courthouse as a participant in a review panel recruited by the General Services Administration to criticize and improve the design.
Keyes was eager to see whether flaws that might be in earlier designs were present in the final result. Specifically, he wondered whether the public levels of the building were stacked like pancakes - isolated, out of sight from one another - as in so many large buildings.
To his delight, the flaw was nowhere to be found.
advertisement "Here we've really got something," he said. "It's more of a horizontal building. The spacial sequence is really nice. There is a progression through the spaces that starts at the street. It's fairly seamless."
Beyond that, the building is full of interesting aspects, he said.
Among the hundreds who toured the courthouse Friday, few expected to be as surprised as Eben Fodor, a private community planning consultant who helped found Friends of Eugene, a group that advocates for sustainability as the city grows.
With the building's lavish architecture and first-rate materials, Fodor expected to find a deficit in environmental and practical attributes.
But he noted that the Green Building Council gave the courthouse a Gold certification in its Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program - the second-highest rating, earned by features that will consume 30 percent less energy and 40 percent less water than a conventional building of its size.
At about $280 per square foot, Fodor describes the project as "an outstanding value."
But, as lead architect Thom Mayne said at the earlier dedication, the building is not intended to be liked by all.
Angela Sutherland, a first-year UO architecture student, thinks the new courthouse will always be the "ugly child" of its neighborhood.
And she is not shy about expressing her thoughts on an Internet blog for the world to read.
"I think it is ugly. To me, it looks like a creature from outer space has dropped down out of the sky and plunked itself in the middle of our city," Sutherland said. "This thing turns its back on the river, the same river that our city has been trying to connect back to for decades through various urban renewal proposals. This building acts as if it is the most important thing in the city."
On that last point, at least, UO Architecture Professor Emeritus Jerry Diethelm agrees. Overall, Diethelm found the building full of natural light and visually interesting.
"I think it is the most important building in town," he said, because of what it promises for the future.
The fact that it sits amid the city's oldest industrial area is temporary, he said.
"It can be a real stimulus for this part of town. It needs a big connection to the riverfront," Diethelm said.
The view outside to "the pit," as she called it, was the only bad thing Karin Edla of Eugene saw in her tour of the building. But she said she expects the courthouse will lead the way to better buildings and better views.
"It's what we've needed in Eugene for a long time."
By Bill Bishop
The Register-Guard
Published: Saturday, December 2, 2006
Five-year-old Greta Keyes checked out the 43 tiny plaster models considered as possible designs for the Wayne Lyman Morse U.S. Courthouse during an open house there Friday, turned to her father and asked why there were so many.
It takes a lot of ideas to find just the right ones, replied Peter Keyes, an associate professor of architecture at the University of Oregon.
Greta was much younger when Keyes got his first off-the-record view of preliminary plans for the courthouse as a participant in a review panel recruited by the General Services Administration to criticize and improve the design.
Keyes was eager to see whether flaws that might be in earlier designs were present in the final result. Specifically, he wondered whether the public levels of the building were stacked like pancakes - isolated, out of sight from one another - as in so many large buildings.
To his delight, the flaw was nowhere to be found.
advertisement "Here we've really got something," he said. "It's more of a horizontal building. The spacial sequence is really nice. There is a progression through the spaces that starts at the street. It's fairly seamless."
Beyond that, the building is full of interesting aspects, he said.
Among the hundreds who toured the courthouse Friday, few expected to be as surprised as Eben Fodor, a private community planning consultant who helped found Friends of Eugene, a group that advocates for sustainability as the city grows.
With the building's lavish architecture and first-rate materials, Fodor expected to find a deficit in environmental and practical attributes.
But he noted that the Green Building Council gave the courthouse a Gold certification in its Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program - the second-highest rating, earned by features that will consume 30 percent less energy and 40 percent less water than a conventional building of its size.
At about $280 per square foot, Fodor describes the project as "an outstanding value."
But, as lead architect Thom Mayne said at the earlier dedication, the building is not intended to be liked by all.
Angela Sutherland, a first-year UO architecture student, thinks the new courthouse will always be the "ugly child" of its neighborhood.
And she is not shy about expressing her thoughts on an Internet blog for the world to read.
"I think it is ugly. To me, it looks like a creature from outer space has dropped down out of the sky and plunked itself in the middle of our city," Sutherland said. "This thing turns its back on the river, the same river that our city has been trying to connect back to for decades through various urban renewal proposals. This building acts as if it is the most important thing in the city."
On that last point, at least, UO Architecture Professor Emeritus Jerry Diethelm agrees. Overall, Diethelm found the building full of natural light and visually interesting.
"I think it is the most important building in town," he said, because of what it promises for the future.
The fact that it sits amid the city's oldest industrial area is temporary, he said.
"It can be a real stimulus for this part of town. It needs a big connection to the riverfront," Diethelm said.
The view outside to "the pit," as she called it, was the only bad thing Karin Edla of Eugene saw in her tour of the building. But she said she expects the courthouse will lead the way to better buildings and better views.
"It's what we've needed in Eugene for a long time."
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