Thursday, January 24, 2019

The New Crusher Court

We recently went mattress shopping, something I was dreading, but with lots of advice gathered on Facebook (it's not just for angry political rants and kitten memes) it was relatively painless. Afterward we walked down the street so Andrew could check out Reclaim NW  and discovered The New Crusher Court...

I'd read about this development on a Portland Architecture blog, but then promptly forgot about it. Now I was here in the flesh...

From the developer's website (linked above): "What once was a stunning storefront on NE Sandy turned into a plain jane mid-block building with dark warehouse interior in the ‘60s. But the wood structure has always been stout and gorgeous. By peeling off the center of the roof and planting trees and grass and shrubs in the newly created ‘doughnut’, GD is creating a light-filled Shangri-La that will only be discovered by folk invited into the deep core of the building.  What was once an auto shop will soon be home to creative offices in the back and tiny fun shops in the front.  Sand blasted beams, tall ceilings, and raw open spaces will make NNCC a great locale"

Signs of the holidays lingered...

But there were plenty of palms to take your mind off that.

We entered from the busy street side, but there was a second "long hallway" entrance off the residential street behind the building (shown here).

Looking back to where we entered.

The plantings were above average I'd say. Schefflera delavayi...

There's a Metapanax delavayi in there too...

And a Tetrapanax that's lost all but one leaf...

All with blue sky above!

I should have made a point of counting the palms (Trachycarpus), there were at least six.

And one fluorescent version above the entrance...

Weather Diary, Jan 23: Hi 57, Low 44/ Precip trace

All material © 2009-2019 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

10 comments:

  1. I'm enamored with the idea of reserving space for rest and relaxation, for giving up "real-estate" to foster a community in the center of a business complex. When looking at the architect's plans, I notice a reserved area for "vertical bike storage": they really did think of everything.

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    1. I took a photo of the bike storage area but it was dark and I must not have been still, it was a little too blurry to use.

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  2. Great building reuse & the cortyard is very nice indeed. It'll be interesting to watch it evolve as the palms get taller. Ptown has such cool places!

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    1. Ya, tall palms will really change the space.

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  3. I love the use of space and the plantings are great! I am attracted to courtyards and the feeling of privacy.

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    1. I love them for their protected environment and great growing conditions.

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  4. Love it. Clearly, deconstruction can be a beautiful thing.

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  5. What a great idea and excellent re-use of the building’s spaces.

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    1. This developer has made a couple of questionable (to me) choices elsewhere in town, this one's a winner.

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