Anderson Bailey / Jessie Bean Goodman
Farewell Art Show and Office Happy Hour
at hiromi ogawa architects
107 SE Washington Street, Suite 150
We look forward to seeing you.
For more information on the artists, visit:
We’ve been looking forward to telling you about our new service, One Room at a Time, but it’s been a super busy summer (which is a good thing!) and so, here’s a summary of what we want you to know.
One Room at a Time is a turn-key, fast-track, design-build service where we transform a room (or two) for instant gratification. We have teamed up with a great builder to provide a one stop shop for you to get your project done quickly and easily. The response has been great, especially since we establish a hard cap on the budget, and then work backwards from there; we’re only doing as much as you can afford, not a penny more.
kitchen - before
You know what I’m talking about – that bonus room you’ve wanted, the kitchen that needs a facelift, an unfinished basement or attic with so much potential. And you keep hoping that you’ll have time next weekend to work on it, right? Maybe you think the project is too small or the budget too tight for a builder, much less an architect?
kitchen - after
Well, let me tell you a little bit about our approach. My lifelong motto for practicing architecture has been to make the world a beautiful place, one room at a time. I feel it is my responsibility as an architect to ensure that everyone has access to good design expertise. Small decisions (what paint color? Which window manufacturer? Where to go to buy a light fixture?) add up to define the quality of your space. We’ve been shopping around, accumulating a resource library, drawing details, refining room layouts for our entire design career, so that we can help you with those decisions. In order to make our services more user-friendly, and make the whole process easier to approach, we decided to package our services with a dedicated contractor. You establish the budget, and we help you streamline design and construction, every step of the way. The projects are small enough that we can go from our first design meeting to move-in ready in a few weeks. We meet, we draw, we build, and PRESTO! You are done!
bathroom - before
The recession may have put your bigger dreams on hold, but that just means you need a little sanctuary in your house – a room you love – now more than ever, to escape the gloomy economy, and the colder months ahead. Your quality of life could greatly improve by having one beautiful room in your house for you and your family, a place where you can (finally!) entertain your friends and be yourself.
bathroom - after
It only sounds like a sales pitch because I am not very eloquent at telling you how much I believe in spreading good design. Good architecture is for everyone. And we want you to have it, one room at a time.
Our Portland office is now Recycle at Work Certified. The City has a program where it encourages businesses to take steps towards better recycling, and then recognizes businesses with this certification. Here are the steps:
Step 1: Identify your champion. That just means there should be an assigned recycling advocate for the office. For our office, that would be me.
Step 2: Recycle all paper bottles and cans. This sounds easy, but the tricky part is to have EVERYONE in your office do it.
Step 3: Make recycling easy. Having recycling bins right next to garbage cans will motivate everyone to ask “can I recycle this?” before throwing it in the trash. Clear signage is also important.
Step 4: Train your team. Education is a big part of abundant and proper recycling. Everyone in the office should know what can and can’t be recycled.
Step 5: Throw away less. Use less stuff. Use reusable stuff.
The program has made it easy for business to follow the right steps, and get help when they need it. You should get certified, too!
Lynn Fisher in our San Francisco office has been on maternity leave, and is returning to work on 5/4/09. We wanted to share photos of little Sam since he’s part of the hoa family!
Samuel Paul Bogart was born January 29, 2009 at 9:33pm. 7lb 14oz. 20 3/4″ long.
Here is Sam with Tess, who turned 2 in March. Can you believe how big and mobile they get in just 2 years?
The whole family in Sea Ranch. How they managed to get a smiling toddler to sit still, and a gurgling baby to look toward the camera, is beyond me.
We’ve missed Lynn at work and look forward to having her back. Congratulations, Lynn!
After the newsletter went out on 4/22/09, from which we got a great wave of responses, we also had many requests to share what our office looks like. All photos were taken by our lovely office mate, Kristin Beadle of Beadle Design.
This is our entry alcove, right inside the glass entry. Our architectural resource and sample library lines the red shelving on casters, designed by our very own Zack Gillum. All of our custom casework (which includes our desks and wall-hung shelves made of apple ply) was fabricated by MADE in Portland, who does beautiful work locally and nationally.
To the right of the resource library, we have translucent white shelving by Cubitec. We have a few pieces and magazines living in some of the cubbies right now, and hope to fill it up with more toys and objects that strike our fancy.
Here you see the built-in wood desks lining the left side of the office. The right side of the office consists of the entry alcove, the conference table, and a future lounge area by the glass garage door. The three spaces are softly defined by the red boxes with our library in them. Finding furniture for the lounge is taking us longer than we had expected – we’re looking and waiting for just the right pieces – a sofa that’s long enough to lie on, two side chairs, and an coffee table that doubles as an extra meeting surface. A few table and floor lamps will also help make that area feel warm and cozy, like a little vacation spot from the office.
In the background you see the office “hub”, which is a raised tabletop (user-friendly counter-height design) with a print/mail area on one side, and a little kitchenette on the other. When we have Friday cocktails with friends, this is where we inevitably end up standing around and talking – it’s the hearth of our office.
So there you have it. If you want to see more, you’ll just have to come over.
Filed under: news
We have moved our Portland office into the historic Olympic Mills Commerce Center, a former cereal mill located in the industrial district in inner Southeast.
Our new contact information is as follows:
hiromi ogawa architects
107 SE Washington Street Suite 150
Portland, OR 97215
tel: 503-477-7075
fax: 503-477-7327
Our San Francisco information remains the same, and now has a toll free general office number:
hiromi ogawa architects
115 Moffitt Street
San Francisco, CA 94131
tel: 800-409-7327
fax: 888-887-9956
Stay tuned!
It’s always a pure joy to work with Joe Fletcher.
Here is one of the photos he took for two houses we designed in California.
Filed under: news
Yes, we’re starting a blog. We’ll be keeping you posted with exciting projects, as well as mundane updates on our personal lives. You’ll get a peek at the inner workings of our freakish attention to detail, and our unhealthy habit for eating good food.
