Insights

Resiliency: Our Sustainability Celebration + Design Week Portland events

by | May 5, 2017 3 Ideas, Sustainability

In a first for SERA, we coupled our 2017 Sustainable Action Celebration with a Design Week Portland session in back-to-back events last week. Our celebration comes on the heels of the AIA’s recent report “The Habits of High-Performance Firms,” which highlights SERA’s four AIA Committee on the Environment (COTE) Top Ten project wins. The report attributes […]

RSVP for our #DWPDX Discussion on Resilience

The term ‘resilience’ is increasingly being used in architecture and urban planning to describe the durability, adaptability and flexibility of our built environment. With the increasing threat of volatile weather due to climate change, the high probability of a large-magnitude earthquake striking the region, and the slower moving but equally transformative effects of economic changes […]

Groundbreaking for a new, people-oriented Alpine Avenue

by | March 21, 2017 0 Urban Design + Planning

Yesterday, joined by the mayor, neighbors, and our partners at HDR, we broke ground on an exciting new chapter for the City of McMinnville’s Alpine Avenue. Alpine Avenue is the city’s first large project in the McMinnville Urban Renewal District. Once complete, the $4.3 million, quarter-mile streetscape project will enhance pedestrian accessibility and comfort along […]

Project Spotlight: AC Hotel Portland Downtown

by | March 16, 2017 2 Architecture, Interior Design

Last month, guests were served the first round of tapas and signature cocktails at AC Hotels’ newest property, in downtown Portland, Oregon. Originating in Spain, the brand by Marriott is aimed at travelers seeking a modern, European twist to their trips – even if their travels are stateside. Blending laid-back comfort with visual excitement, the AC Hotel Portland […]

Design Study: The Adaptable Home

by | February 20, 2017 0 Architecture

In September of 2016, The Center for Public Interest Design reached out to their network of designers and activists to participate in the POD Initiative, to design and build a modestly sized home for someone without one. We previously wrote about that here. Since then, the POD Initiative and the City have been in talks […]

SERA launches the Institute for Civic Ecology

by | January 6, 2017 1 Urban Design + Planning

SERA Architects, a Portland, Oregon-based leader in sustainable architecture and urban placemaking, has launched the Institute for Civic Ecology as an initiative supporting our commitment to helping communities and organizations nationally and internationally implement and manage resilience initiatives. Conceived in partnership with local business associations, non-profits, governments, developers, religious organizations and institutions, and spanning rural, […]

Don Eggleston – the ‘E’ in SERA – Announces Retirement

by | December 20, 2016 8 News + Announcements

This month, Principal Don Eggleston made it official: he’s retiring! After 45 years leading the firm, Don will start 2017 off with a renewed focus on family, while still working as a consultant on architectural projects around Portland. News Release: SERA Principal Don Eggleston Announces Retirement (PDF) Last week, we toasted to Don. His vision, emphasis on […]

SERA joins effort to address homelessness with design of ‘PAD’

by | December 1, 2016 0 Architecture, Ideas

UPDATE: See photos of the completed project on our Facebook page. Fourteen locally-designed and built “sleeping pods” intended to address homelessness — including one by SERA staff — will be on exhibit in early December. SERA’s PAD, or Portable Adaptive Dwelling, is one of 14 submissions for the Partners on Dwelling (POD) Initiative, intended to ensure […]

SERA commits to carbon offsets for 2015

by | November 8, 2016 6 Ideas, Sustainability

SERA signed an agreement with Bonneville Environmental Fund to offset 450 metric tons of carbon emissions through Redwood conservation and waste heat energy projects. That number represents just over 100% of SERA’s 2015 footprint, including everything from air travel and employee commuting to office energy use and even the embedded energy in office supplies like […]