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Written by Barb Anderson

In late February 2022, I traveled to Costa Rica for a vacation. While there, I noticed two particularly interesting and historic buildings: The Metallic Building (Escuela Buenaventura Corrales) in San Jose and Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes in Grecia. It was so interesting to see such detailed and intricate buildings made almost entirely out of steel. After my trip, I looked into both buildings a bit further. It would seem that after the success of the Eiffel Tower, it was thought that steel buildings would be the new way of construction, and these two buildings were a part of that trend. I’m sharing my travel photographs and a bit more information below.

The Metallic Building (Escuela Buenaventura Corrales)

In downtown San Jose, Costa Rica stands the all-steel structure called the Escuela Buenaventura Corrales (also known as the Metallic Building). After the Eiffel Tower’s construction made steel fabrication fashionable, the prefabricated steel plates were brought to Costa Rica from Belgium in 1888. It was inaugurated in 1896, becoming the first metal building in Central America. It has stood up well to earthquakes in its century-plus existence.

It was declared a “Relic of National Historical and Architectural Interest” of Costa Rica in 1980.

Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes

The Church of Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes (Our Lady of Mercy) in nearby Grecia, Costa Rica, is an all-steel church that was constructed from 1894 to 1897 after the original church was destroyed by an earthquake. As with the Metallic Building, the prefabricated steel plates were brought to Costa Rica from Belgium, where they were fabricated. The steel plates are riveted together. All of the assembly is steel, including the finishes, doors, ceilings, floors, window frames, stairs and roof drains. Today it is a national monument in the country.

Sources and More Information:

• Cambio Politico
• Arquitecturaenacero
• Wikipedia
• QCostaRica

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Written by Philipp Zbirun

This summer I had an opportunity to visit my homeland of Moscow, Russia. I have been living in Portland, Oregon for 6 years now and it seems to me like enough time to get used to living in a smaller city, compared to Moscow. While visiting Moscow I was surrounded by much bigger architecture which I couldn’t stop paying attention to. To begin with, I would like to mention the Moscow underground metro. Every day I was a visitor of this very beautiful chain of stations which provided a great way to move through the city. I was born in Moscow, and I was very used to it, but going back now it was different. It was interesting to look around and look at the details and materials. One of my favorite stations is Mayakovskaya. The station has a name of a great Russian poet Vladimir Mayakovsky. I love this station because it always has soft golden light that works perfectly with polished marble which is used in a beautiful mosaic on the floor and metal arcs that form support columns. This station is a perfect example of pre-World War II Stalinist Architecture and one of the most famous Metro stations in the world.

After that, I would like to mention one building that I saw every day from the window of the apartment where I was staying. For me, this building would come to life in the evening because of the light that illuminated it. Also, even from afar, this building would have an impact on me because of its size but until this trip, I didn’t take in the beauty of it. Even though this building was built somewhat recently, it is a tribute to the epoch of Soviet architecture. This elite apartment building was built in 2006. After a year of construction, it was the biggest apartment building in Europe. This building has a whole infrastructure within it. There is a store, gym, medical center, parking, and even a garden. As I mentioned in the beginning, it is very eye-catching; I was always looking at this building because of its size and shape.

If you ever have the opportunity to visit Moscow, I would recommend it. Going back now as an adult, I appreciated the architecture and its distinct style; it is a beautiful city.

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While revisting the Benedictine Brewery in December of 2018 for an appreciation party of those who helped timber-raise the brewery building, my colleague Adam and I arrived a little early to allow time to visit a very unique building. The Mount Angel Library designed for the abbey in the early 1960’s by Finnish Architect Alvar Aalto. A man known and studied as one of Architecture’s great Modern Architects. Buildings, furniture, paintings and sculptures were all mediums of expression for this historical Architect and Designer.

As you approach the library from the seminary campus of the Abbey it is a seemingly simple and somewhat understated brick building. When you enter the building, you realize it is comprised of multiple levels of shelves and places to sit all bathed in natural light while mimicking the sweeping arch of skylight that cuts through the center of the roof. There is a softness to the light that is comforting to the eye. I personally find our use of artificial light to be overdone and straining to the eye and struggle all the time with the lack of natural light and misuse of artificial light especially at work in a computer dominated field. That isn’t a thought here. The space is calming and quiet and protected. This is a space of quiet study and the architecture lends itself beautifully to the task.

The building is currently undergoing needed renovations but that is an inevitable part of life. We were told the building had not had any major work done on it since the 70’s so it is overdue and needed. A building tested by time and with some TLC will continue to house the Abbey’s collections of books and art for many years to come. I highly recommend visiting and seeing for yourself and while you’re at it visit the Benedictine Brewery as it too is a testament to great Architecture.

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Small stone temple in Patan

The Garden of Dreams – the gardens of a 19^th century palace now a public park in center of Kathmandu.

A Durbar (town) square in Patan.

Carved Makara motif over a doorway. The makara is a sea monster that is depicted in many ways in the architecture Hindu and Buddhist buildings throughout Asia.

Painted Kirtimukha and Makara lintel over doorway. The kirtimukha is the fierce face at the top of the arch.  It is always depicted eating or swallowing something.  It is also depicted in Hindu and Buddhist buildings throughout Asia.

Windows in Royal Palace in Patan. A beautiful example of the local brick and wood Newa architecture.

A temple in Bhahktapour being rebuilt from the 2015 earthquake.

Side street in Bhahktapour.

Walkway above courtyard of Royal Palace in Patan.

Corner building in Patan.

Small stupa on Swayambhu.

Swayambhu is an ancient religious architecture atop a hill in the Kathmandu Valley, west of Kathmandu city.

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Image from Portland Water Bureau

Through the eye of an architect there are several things that come to mind:

• The amazing feat of building the reservoir dam in what was a very remote area back in 1929,
• The incredible resource of water,
• The many far-sighted people who have, and continue to, provide clean drinker water, and
• That we, as designers, can have an impact and influence on how valuable resources are used.

 

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If you head about 270 miles north of our office; across a river, along a few inlets, and over the Salish Sea- you will find yourself in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.

Victoria is the Capital of British Columbia, a beautiful little corner of Vancouver Island, and one of the oldest cities in the Pacific Northwest. The city was once a shipbuilding and fishing center, the area once offered plenty of lumber to its colonizers, perhaps it is just because it’s in the PNW, but it feels hauntingly similar to Portland. Even the architecture of the area is not that unlike here; there’s a bevy of craftsman style bungalows, there’s a bustling downtown core, complete with a wonderfully intricate Chinatown, but a key difference is that because of its past as a British Colony, there are some very distinctive English influences in the architecture there. For example, the Fairmont Empress is a grand hotel next to the city’s harbor that boasts a Chateauesque style facade. Also near the harbor, the British Columbia Parliament Buildings are detailed Neo-Baroque structures:

The Craigdarroch Castle is a romantic, eclectic mix of Queen Anne, Victorian, Gothic and other influences. From its stately location atop a hill overlooking the city, to its craftsmanship (numerous detailed stained glass works, parquet wood flooring, handcrafted tiles, and complex wood carvings), the castle isn’t exceptionally large, but it is certainly mighty. Should you find yourself in Victoria, you can pay a small fee to tour this castle and see all of the phenomenal details for yourself. Carved acanthus leaves are aplenty!

Nestled in a busy little corner of streets, just outside of the city, is a very modern structure that has fun Piet Mondrian influence at most of the windows. What you might not suspect from its unique exterior is that this is a middle school.

Portland has seen its waves of influence: from the Victorian start, to booming craftsman bungalows, rambling ranches, and the current Modern infills… it is interesting to a city that so mirrors the our own path while also showing a few of the possibilities of what we could have done. One notable style that I missed seeing, and that we excel at, was sustainable architecture. Maybe that is next on their horizon for Victoria…?

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As you know and if you don’t let me tell you, on November 11th of 2017 my buddy and colleague Adam and I volunteered and helped raise a timber frame for the Mt Angel Abbey Benedictine Brewery with the organized guidance of New Energy Works Timberframing. Also helping out were local timberframers from the surrounding area and Trillium Dell, an Illinois company helping lead and educate the way for timberframers, not to mention the mass of community that came out to lend some muscle as well.

About one year later on December 1st of 2019 we were invited back to see the finished building all sealed and cladded for our human creature comforts with a patio overlooking the hops fields below as mentioned in my original blog on this topic. Inside, you find a row of windows with seating, opening the interior view out to the same hops field that can be viewed from the patio. The tap bar sits between you with that gorgeous view and the room where all the magic happens, the brewery. After snacks and complimentary beer for our efforts, Benedictine Father and Master Brewer Martin Grassel, led us through a tour and talk on the inner workings of the brewery that we all helped build. It was a great turn out and many of the friends we made the year before were there helping christen and reconnect a sacred bond between human, craft, and beer! Salud!

http://newenergyworks.com/galleries/mass-timber-projects

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On a recent trip I had the opportunity to visit the Vista House. Not the more famous Columbia River Gorge Vista Houe, but the one on Mt. Spokane in eastern Washington. Constructed in 1933 from the design of local architect, Henry C. Bertelsen (1888-1963), the structure takes advantage of on-site materials like granite (the whole top is covered in granite rubble) and timber. Today it’s used as a warming hut for winter skiers and, also, once used as a fire lookout. It’s a nice little building perched on the peak of the mountain. While I was walking around the outside one interesting detail caught my eye- a little roof dormer over a stone buttress.

For those needing a refresher, a buttress looks like a square column attached along one side to the exterior wall. It strengthens the wall, typically taking outward horizontal forces created by the roof (or anything else) or large concentrated loads that the wall would not be able to handle alone. It’s also an ingenious way to save on building materials. Instead of constructing the entire wall the thickness of the buttress just have the thick wall where you need it.

Medieval architects used buttresses a lot for tall stone cathedral walls. It’s a technology that dates back 5 centuries or more to the earliest stone buildings but is not as common now with advanced materials like reinforced concrete and steel. But why exactly is there one here? Once inside there was my answer – a large gathering room with an open cathedral ceiling, supported by a hand-built wood truss that not-so-coincidentally aligns with the buttress outside. The buttress is taking loads from the truss and directing them into the mountain top.

My best guess for the reason for the little roof is the truss rests on the wall above the level of the roof. So instead of raising the whole roof, the little dormer was incorporated. A great little detail that adds character, highlights the buttresses presence, and speaks to the authenticity of the stone wall, as opposed to a stone faced concrete wall for example.

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