Beebe Skidmore Architects

1500 SW 11th Ave Suite 2004
Portland OR 97201

1 Lafayette Plaisance No 817
Detroit MI 48207

info@beebeskidmore.com
(503) 222-6580

Projects

About

about

Beebe Skidmore
is an architecture studio based in Portland, Oregon and Detroit, Michigan.

We take a methodical, careful and resourceful approach to design. Our goal is to maximize the architectural potential of every commission and exceed the expectations of every client.

Beebe Skidmore provides comprehensive architectural services for both commercial and residential projects. Since establishing the firm in 2007, we have completed projects throughout the Pacific Northwest and in Idaho, Michigan, California and New York. Our solutions navigate zoning challenges, public design review and tricky construction logistics.

We welcome creative collaborations, team efforts, and all projects regardless of type or size. In our experience, complicated or unusual parameters lead to unique and unexpected solutions.

"within the limits, the variety is endless" -Merce Cunningham

Heidi Beebe AIA, LEED
is a registered architect in Oregon and Massachusetts with expertise in design, planning and project management. Heidi received her Master of Architecture degree from Princeton University. Currently she serves as an adjunct professor of architecture at the University of Michigan Taubman School of Architecture and Urban Planning in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Prior to establishing Beebe Skidmore, Heidi practiced in Boston, Massachusetts at Thompson & Rose Architects and Machado and Silvetti Associates, and in Portland, Oregon at Paden Prichard Design and Allied Works Architecture.

From 2002 to 2007, Heidi was project manager for the $60 million expansion of the Seattle Art Museum. Additional responsibilities included a Programming and Pre-Design phase for Disney's Feature Animation Facility in Glendale, California, and an urban Master Plan for Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland, Oregon. In addition to institutional projects, Heidi has worked on housing, hospitality and numerous residential projects on Long Island, Martha's Vineyard, Wyoming and Oregon.

Camp Paint Rock (Hyattville, Wyoming)
with Thompson and Rose Architects:

Graduate Student Housing for Harvard Business School (Allston, Massachusetts)
with Machado and Silvetti Associates:

Seattle Art Museum Downtown Expansion (Seattle, Washington)
with Allied Works Architecture and LMN Architects: 

Doug Skidmore AIA, LEED

is a registered architect in Washington State with expertise in architectural design, detailing and materials. He holds a Master of Architecture from Cranbrook Academy of Art and a Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Oregon School of Architecture and Allied Arts and Robert D. Clark Honors College. Doug is an assistant professor of architecture at Lawrence Technological University in Southfield, Michigan.

Prior to 2007, Doug was a Senior Associate at Allied Works Architecture where he worked for ten years. During that period, he served as project architect for several high-performance facilities for visual art, including Seattle Art Museum's award winning downtown expansion, its modern and classical art galleries, and an intimate adaptive re-use gallery for pdx Contemporary Art in Portland, Oregon.

Doug was also project architect for several noted timber-frame structures at Camp Caldera in central Oregon, and a residence in Sun Valley, Idaho that received a 2004 Honor Award for Craft from the American Institute of Architects for its use of site-cast concrete.

Seattle Art Museum Downtown Expansion (Seattle, Washington)
with Allied Works Architecture and LMN Architects:

Camp Caldera and Blue Lake Residence (Sisters, Oregon)
with Allied Works Architecture:

Sun Valley Residence (Ketchum, Idaho)
with Allied Works Architecture:

pdx Contemporary Art (Portland, Oregon)
with Allied Works Architecture:

Staff Credits 2007-present
Mollie Buhrt

Matt Bunza

Alison Davies
Christian Ervin

Seth King
Kathryn Shotzbarger

Website Design

Katie Andresen
Rian Callahan

Other Projects

New Project (Cabin)


River Mile 31, Columbia County OR
2012

This one-room cabin located at the summit of Aldrich Point will have a rare view oriented Northwest toward the upper Columbia River estuary. The site is located in a small clearing at the end of a narrow logging road.

The cabin is designed with a primary structure of three light steel frames that can be transported individually through the dense forest, and then joined together in the clearing. The building will be finished over time using a combination of salvaged building materials and harvested wood, milled on the property.


72 Hour Urban Action "The Shortcut"


Stuttgart Germany
2012

Beebe Skidmore along with a team of 10 architects, artists and designers from the USA, Poland, Israel and Germany, received the "Post Capitalist Award" from a jury that included Eva Franch i Gilabert, director of Storefront for Art and Architecture, and Joseph Grima, Editor of Domus Magazine.

72 Hour Urban Action is a real-time architecture competition that took place this year in and around the Nordbahnhoff neighborhood of Stuttgart. Our project was conceived and executed in 72 hours based on a randomly assign location and mission: to create a secret, protected, public space out of a pedestrian shortcut through a junkyard for construction material. The site is a dusty wedge, commonly used as parking for refuse containers or illegal dumping ground.

Our project is a gateway that marks the path, and also serves as an open-air "give and take" exchange for locals, visitors and the occasional junkyard dog.

Our team members:
Amy Garofano
Farid Rakun
Kristin Cammermeyer (photo credit)
Ross Hansen
Agnieszka Jurecka
Filip Kozarski
Angela Lubic
Omer Frank
Yaeli Krauskopf
Naama Raban


Exhibit


Providence RI
2012

Doug's prototype for an architecture of portable, pre-finished panels, titled "Wilderness Cabin #1", was selected for exhibition at Gallery 100 at the Rhode Island School of Design, Division of Architecture.

The prototype is a 144 square-foot model made from milled pine boards. The project explores concepts for structural connections and geometries that can be used in full-scale architectural applications without reliance on construction industry skills.


Research Grant (Re: Tool-Kit for Detroit)


Ann Arbor MI
2012

Heidi was awarded funding for a major research grant through the University of Michigan Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, along with collaborators Julia McMorrough (Professor of Architecture) and John Marshall (Professor of Art and Design).

The year-long project is called Re: Tool-Kit for Detroit. The study questions the often-heard assertion that "you can get anything made in Detroit." Research includes interviewing fabricators working in Detroit in an effort to create an up-to-date map showing who is making what and where in the city today.

The project concluded in November 2012 with an exhibit at University of Michigan's Liberty Annex, unveiling a web-based map and a printed manual aimed at facilitating communication and connection between designers and fabricators working in Detroit.

Grant recipients were selected by an independent panel which included representatives from the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation and the Guggenheim. The grant was made possible by Alan and Cynthia Berkshire.


PRESS Two Story Four Square


Architecture + Design Festival
Portland OR

Two Story Four Square, a glassy residential addition located in the heart of North End Historic District in Boise ID, was selected for a 2011 Merit Award from the American Institute of Architects, Portland Chapter.

The jury of prominent visiting architects included Merrill Elam of Mack Scogin Merrill Elam Architects (Atlanta GA), Lisa Iwamoto of Iwamoto Scott (San Francisco CA) and Vanessa Kassabian of Snøhetta (New York NY).

The project was also featured in the October, 2012 print issue of Dwell magazine and on Dwell's website, with an article written by Jaime Gillin and photography by Lincoln Barbour.


New Projects


Portland OR
2012

Beebe Skidmore is beginning work on two residential commissions located in the Irvington and Alameda/Beaumont neighborhoods in Northeast Portland.

One project is a top-to-bottom transformation of a 1911 two-story Salt Box, for a family that relocated to Portland from Chicago. The other is a modernized second floor for a 1908 Craftsman, creating a new owner's bedroom suite with custom closets, new bathroom and studio space.


APPOINTMENT Professor of Architecture


Detroit MI
2012

Doug is appointed Assistant Professor of Architecture at Lawrence Technological University College of Architecture and Design. He joins a faculty of 26 teaching architectural design studio and core curriculum. LTU was founded in 1932 and remains closely tied to the construction, engineering, design and manufacturing sectors in the Midwest.


Oregon Design Conference


Salishan OR
2012

In April, Heidi presented her in-progress research for the Re: Tool-Kit for Detroit, and moderated a panel discussion at the bi-annual Oregon Design Conference at the Oregon Coast. The panel explored three ways in which the rise of digital fabrication is expanding not only how architects imagine, but also opening up new areas for work and research, locally and nationally. Co-presenters included Susanna Hohmann of Terrazign and Professor Nancy Cheng of University of Oregon.


ON THE BOARDS


Pontiac MI
2012

Beebe Skidmore is developing plans to replace a dilapidated wood garage with a new mixed-use loft space featuring a monumental double-hung window wall. This project is the first part of a multi-building multi-phase project to renovate a contiguous group of historic properties located on a prominent intersection near downtown Pontiac. The master plan also includes site planning, 30 duplex loft apartments, and upgrades to historic structures.


Starter House


Bloomfield Hills MI
2011

Doug was awarded Second Place in an invited competition to re-envision the entry-level tract house for the Pulte and Centex homebuilding companies at a price point of $160,000. The design proposal addresses three formal problems often associated with recent suburban housing found in subdivisions: 1) bulky massing; 2) flat facades with thin synthetic sheathing; 3) dead-end garages with outsized overhead doors.

Pushing the potential of conventional light framing, the design creates a streamlined massing and updated sightline with planar shifts to the roof and walls. The exterior sheathing is composed of lapped floor-to-ceiling panels of OSB, asphalt compounds and sealant. The garage is an asymmetrical volume with a pass-through configuration to provide flexibility for vehicle types and lifestyles.

The proposal includes a full-scale physical prototype of a corner of the building, used to explore construction details and tolerances. The prototype demonstrates full integration of sheathing, flashing, stock window components, and a carefully integrated gutter design that relies on standard aluminum profiles.


Climate Canopy: An Evolving Memorial


San Jose CA
2008
 
Beebe Skidmore collaborated on a technological public artwork with artist Maggie Orth of International Fashion Machines and Josh Smith of Intel. The project is a response to the San Jose Climate Clock Initiative: an international competition aimed at using art and technology to communicate local climate data.
 
Our proposal creates a 200-foot long open-air gathering place in downtown San Jose. Climate change data is depicted overhead on the horizontal surface of this lightweight canopy structure. A robot suspended from a recycled industrial gurney slowly etches circular patterns in the carbon-laminate panels that form the canopy ceiling. Bigger circles represent cleaner air. Smaller circles represent current pollution levels. Over time, as the atmosphere gets cleaner, the structure will be increasingly perforated with daylight.
 
Our team was selected as a finalist and presented the project at an invitation-only colloquium for artists and scientists held at San Jose State University. Other finalists included artists Bill Fontana, Mel Chin, Chico MacMurtrie and Usman Haque. 


Project Update - Historic District Addition


Portland OR
2011


Weather Wall


Bloomfield Hills MI
2011

This prototype wall assembly serves to stop wind, trap heat and transmit daylight. The construction concept explored in this prototype could be used in a range of cold-weather applications from ice fishing to emergency shelter. The wall is assembled from common foam cups bonded to form air pockets and squeezed together inside a plastic shrink-film envelope. The wall prototype stands 14 feet tall.


Hybrid Kitchen


Portland OR
2010

This contemporary space combines custom framing details with off-the-shelf components. Pre-fabricated, modular cabinets coordinate neatly with site-built shelving, seamless quartz slab, recessed lighting and period hardware. The result is an efficient kitchen with a clean, fitted appearance and unobstructed flow of daylight.


Air Force Village Chapel


San Antonio TX
2009

This design competition called for an 11,500 s.f. non-denominational chapel at the center of a park-like retirement community located near San Antonio, Texas. The design is intended to serve as a symbol of the community and a focal point of the grounds.

Given the site and stated budget, we took an economical approach to the problem: re-purposing portions of the adjacent buildings as much as possible and using a conventional construction system (of lightweight steel framing and boxed beams) to create light monitors that form a volumetric and luminous gathering space. The light monitors are organized in an overlapping and ascending composition that evokes flying in formation.


Chair


Bloomfield Hills MI
2011

Doug designed and fabricated this prototype chair at Cranbrook Academy of Art. The chair assembles by hand without mechanical fasteners and is made of portable, polished 2" square aluminum tubes. The geometry of the chair is a function of calculated slots and tabs cut into the tubing at precise angles. As furniture, the piece is completed with fitted rubber shock cords and a pliable seating surface. As a structural investigation, the piece comprises of individual trusses, each of which is a free-standing element and could be used in architectural applications on a larger scale.


Sagacity Media Headquarters


Portland OR
2008
 
Beebe Skidmore teamed with Lorraine Guthrie Architect on this 20,000 s.f. corporate office and event space for SagaCity Media, Inc., publishers of Portland Monthly, Portland Spaces, and Seattle Metropolitan. The space is located on the top two floors of a converted warehouse and is an anchoring component of a LEED Gold, adaptive-reuse, mixed-use development.
 
The loft-like design organizes writers, producers, and business staff around dynamic open work areas--striking a balance between private and collective workspaces. Open areas are subdivided by sculptural pin-up walls to be used for magazine layout. The project also includes an indoor/outdoor event space on the roof level with a commercial kitchen and broadcasting platform.
 
We provided architectural details for glass office enclosures and a dramatic internal staircase, along with facility programming and selections for finish materials and furniture systems.


AstMOCA


Astoria OR
2009

The Astoria Museum of Contemporary Art is a creative initiative to establish an international art destination in the historic maritime town of Astoria, Oregon. Due to its broad wharfs, downtown Astoria has a tiered structure resulting in numerous vacant lots located on the "main drag"--many with steep grade changes and dynamic ramped platforms. The proposal identifies a network of these underutilized urban sites as well as formal strategies for how they might be occupied and organized into a decentralized sequence of outdoor art venues and galleries.