Portland possesses plenty of potential

Is Portland on the verge of greatness? At last week's City Club Friday Forum, panelists Brad Cloepfil, Tom Manley and Sohrab Vossoughi said Portland is in a unique position to capitalize on local brainpower and collaborative spirit.

The forum focused on Portland's "creative grid" - a term that describes what happens when institutions, businesses and people form meaningful collaborations, according to Manley, president of Pacific Northwest College of Art.

Manley said his vision for PNCA has been to transform it from a regional college to one that is globally connected, by "focusing on the power to innovate and collaborate.""Knowledge in one area joins together with knowledge in a different area and results in breakthrough understandings," said Manley.

Cloepfil, founder of Portland's Allied Works Architecture, said Portland can make its mark nationally by inventing a new model for vibrant cultural institutions. Chicago has the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and New York City has Columbia University, for example, but he said it is "not viable" to use those types of "vibrant cultural institutions" as a model for creative achievement in Portland.

"You have to be honest about who you are and reinvent yourself," said Cloepfil. He emphasized that Portland should also not aspire to be a mecca for Fortune 500 companies."We'll never have the money that New York and California has, so get over it," he said. "If that's not an inspiration for a new model, then I don't know what is."

Vossoughi, founder and chief creative officer of Ziba Design, said Portland has "no pretension" and is a city where creativity and collaboration can flourish.

"It's the DNA of this place that makes this happen," said Vossoughi. "It's a very human city. Look at the way it's built: the small blocks downtown are not overpowering. It's got the DNA. All we have to do is nurture it, rather than try to be something we're not."

Cloepfil, whose firm designed the Contemporary Art Museum in St. Louis and the Seattle Art Museum expansion, said the project that launched his firm came through a local collaboration. That project was the Wieden+Kennedy headquarters in the Pearl District.

"There's absolutely no sane reason someone would choose a three- person firm to do a $30 million project," Cloepfil said, referring to Wieden+Kennedy. "There's a culture of risk here."He said his firm would not exist if it hadn't been for clients such as the PDX Contemporary Art Gallery and Wieden, who he said hired Cloepfil when he was an unknown.

Vossoughi and Cloepfil agreed that in Portland there is what Vossoughi called "a craft mentality," in which workers take pride in what they create.

"There is something inherently Oregonian about rigorous craftsmanship," said Cloepfil.

He stressed that the collaboration and a "quest for information" are keys to designing buildings. "Architecture is so collaborative, by nature," he said. "To build a $60 million building takes a tremendous amount of collaboration and expertise."

Cloepfil complimented Manley on his goal to improve Portland's creative grid by fostering more collaborations among local institutions and businesses. "It's a very bold vision," he said. Cloepfil added that Portland has become an attractive destination for creative professionals."It's such an amazing time in the history of this city, when you can invite anybody here and they'll come," he said. "People are so excited to be a part of this city."

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