BUILDINGS IN NATURE IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST

Follow @icaanorthwest on Instagram and watch their account on Saturday, March 16 for the next installment of 2024’s Virtual Sketching Series, centered on “Buildings in Nature in the Pacific Northwest.”

Here’s how it works:

1. Multiple images of a classical structure in nature will be posted to our Instagram account: @icaanorthwest.

2. Choose an image (or two!) to sketch.

3. When you are finished, share your drawing on Instagram! Make sure to tag @icaanorthwest and we will feature your sketch on our account.

DATE: MARCH 16, 2024.

ATTENDANCE: OPEN TO PUBLIC (members from all chapters are welcome).

SHARE: WHENEVER YOU ARE FINISHED (no deadline).

INSTAGRAM: @icaanorthwest

BUILDINGS IN NATURE - IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST

Follow @icaanorthwest on Instagram and watch their account on Saturday, January 13, 2024 for the first installment of 2024’s Virtual Sketching Series, centered on “Buildings in Nature in the Pacific Northwest.”

Here’s how it works:

1. Multiple images of a classical structure in nature will be posted to our Instagram account: @icaanorthwest.

2. Choose an image (or two!) to sketch.

3. When you are finished, share your drawing on Instagram! Make sure to tag @icaanorthwest and we will feature your sketch on our account.

DATE: JANUARY 13, 2024.

ATTENDANCE: OPEN TO PUBLIC (members from all chapters are welcome).

SHARE: WHENEVER YOU ARE FINISHED (no deadline).

INSTAGRAM: @icaanorthwest

DRAWDOWN - A PLAN TO REVERSE GLOBAL WARMING

Please join the ICAA Northwest Chapter for our next installment in our ongoing Wine & Design Series. On June 12th, 2022, we will be gathering to discuss Paul Hawken’s book, “Drawdown”, billed as the most comprehensive plan ever to reverse global warming. Each Participant will be asked to choose on of Hawken’s 80 sections and lead a short discussion about how their chosen topic could intersect with traditional design and planning principles. Participants will be expected to procure their own copy of “Drawdown”, published by Penguin Books, 2017. This event is free and open to the public. A course syllabus will be provided prior the event.

Meeghan M. Hart will be moderating the discussion. Meeghan is a practicing architect in Portland, Oregon, and has received a Bachelor’s Degree in Architecture from the University of Notre Dame, where she has since served as an adjunct assistant professor and visiting jury member. She is a board member of the ICAA-NW Chapter, a LEED Green Associate, and is very passionate about the restoration and reuse of existing buildings.

DATE: JUNE 12, 2022

TIME: 4:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. (PST)

LOCATION: 1121 NW 21ST AVE., PORTLAND, OR 97209

ADMISSION FREE: OPEN TO PUBLIC (click link below)

REGISTRATION LINK - EVENTBRITE

PORTLAND CHINESE GARDEN - SKETCHING & TOUR

Please join the ICAA Northwest for a tour and sketching event at the beautiful Lan Su Chinese Garden in Portland, Oregon. Our visit will begin with a guided walk through the grounds, after which time will be reserved for individual sketching, tutorial sketching advice, and discussion. We’ll conclude our time with an informal (optional) social gathering at the Garden’s Teahouse. Remaining in the garden afterwards is allowed.

A walled oasis that fills a full city block in downtown Portland, the Lan Su Chinese Garden is a unique treasure of the Pacific Northwest. The Garden is a result of collaboration between the cities of Portland and Suzhou, China, a UNESCO World Heritage site renowned for its rich collection of Classical Chinese Gardens. Built in 2000, with the skill of artisans and designers from Suzhou, Lan Su is one of the most authentic Chinese gardens outside of China and is inspired by two millennia of Chinese art, architecture, and design. A truly inspiring and tranquil environment, the Lan Su Gardens are a complex composition of memorable spaces and processions, filled throughout with hundreds of plants native to China and ornamented with a rich collection of architectural and landscape detail.

Refreshments will be available for purchase within the Garden during our visit, or afterwards at the Teahouse social. Please note that “stainable” art media (such as ink, watercolor, or oil) are not allowed on the grounds. Small portable stools are allowed while sketching, provided they facilitate adequate space for other visitors.

DATE: SATURDAY, APRIL 30, 2022

TIME: 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

ADMISSION: $10.95 @ GATE (payable at gate - you must also register at link below)

REGISTRATION: LINK - EVENTBRITE

SECRETS OF SEATTLE - DISAPPEARING DENNY HILL

Secrets of Seattle - Disappearing Denny Hill - Since Settlers first arrived in Seattle, the city’s citizens have altered the landscape with an unrivaled zeal. We have regraded hills, re-engineered tide flats, and replumbed the lakes to provide better locations for business and easier ways to move through the challenging topography. Weaving together geology and social history, geologist and author David B. Williams highlights the unprecedented Denny Regrades (from 1897-1930) as a way to provide a foundation for understanding Seattle and how its topography shaped its destiny. This talk is based on Mr. William’s award winning book, “Too High and Too Steep”.

Biography: David B. Williams is an author, naturalist, and tour guide whose new book, “Homewaters: A Human and Natural History of Puget Sound” is a deep exploration of the stories of this beautiful waterway. He is also the author of the award-winning book, “Too High and Too Steep: Reshaping Seattle’s Topography” as well as “Seattle Walks: Discovering History and Nature in the City” and “Stories in Stone: Travels Through Urban Geology.” Williams is a Curatorial Associate at the Burke Museum. Follow him on Twitter @geologywriter.

DATE: APRIL 13, 2022

TIME: 4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. (PST)

ADMISSION FREE: OPEN TO PUBLIC (click link below)

FREE: REGISTRATION LINK - EVENTBRITE

RICHARD SAMMONS ARCHITECT

Classical Architect Richard Sammons explains how material and cultural traditions, place, climate and building typologies inform his design approach.

Richard is a founding partner of Fairfax & Sammons Architects, established over twenty-five years ago, now an award-winning architectural design firm with offices in both New York City and Palm Beach, Florida. He has a rich background in traditional period design and is an internationally recognized expert in the field of Architectural proportion, having taught at the Prince of Wales’s Institute of Architecture in London, Pratt Institute in New York, and the University of Notre Dame in Rome. Among lauded appointments such as being a founding director of the ICAA, a member of INTBAU College of Traditional Practitioners, and an Arthur Ross Award winner, Richard has also sat on a number of Non-Profit boards including The Royal Oak Foundation, The Historic House Trust of New York, The Sir John Soane Museum Foundation, The Merchant’s Houses Museum, and The American College of Building Arts. Richard’s prolific design expertise has been featured in The New York Times, Country Life, Architectural Digest, Southern Accents, Old House Journal, Period Homes, Traditional Building, and New Old House. The office’s first monograph, “American Houses: The Architecture of Fairfax & Sammons” was published by Rizzoli International in 2006, and a second monograph showing recent work is currently under way.

DATE: MAY 20TH

TIME: 5:00 p.m. - 6:30 p.m. PST

ADMISSION: FREE

REGISTRATION LINK

STORIES IN STONE: Travels Through Seattle’s Urban Geology

Stories in Stone - Most people do not think of looking for geology from the sidewalks they travel, but for the intrepid geologist any good rock can tell a fascinating story. On this virtual walk, which incorporates illustrations, photographs, and video maps, you will explore a range of rocks equal to any assembled by plate tectonics, from 3.5-billion-year-old gneiss to 120,000 years old travertine; fossils the size of cinnamon rolls, and rock used by the Romans to build the Colosseum.

In this tour of Seattle building stone, based on the book, Stories in Stone: Travels Through Urban Geology (which was a finalist for the Washington State Book Award), David B. Williams will discuss history, transportation, and architecture to give you a new way to appreciate urban geology. Plus, you’ll even be able to “visit" a couple of quarries and see where the stone originates.

David B. Williams is an author, naturalist, and tour guide whose award-winning book Too High and Too Steep: Reshaping Seattle’s Topography explores the unprecedented engineering projects that shaped Seattle during the early part of the twentieth century. He is also the author of Seattle Walks: Discovering History and Nature in the City and Stories in Stone: Travels Through Urban Geology, which discusses the geological and cultural history of building stone from the United States and Italy. Williams is also a Curatorial Associate at the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture. His upcoming book, Homewaters: A Human and Natural History of Puget Sound, will be published in April 2021. 

DATE: APRIL 15, 2021

TIME: 5:00 to 6:15 p.m. (PST)

ADMISSION FREE: OPEN TO PUBLIC

ZOOM LINK - use at time of event, thanks.

DESIGN OF MOLDINGS: Continuum of Precedent & Practice

The study of moldings is a fundamental component of the language or canon of classical architecture. Practicing architect Stephen Chrisman will examine the systematic aspects for the design, delineation and understanding of moldings, for both interiors and exteriors, which are used in professional practice and are based on everlasting scholarship and the exploration of good precedent.

Topics covered will include methodologies for determining the modulated sizes of moldings within a composition, the celebratory ornamental enrichment of molding profiles, and a review of different influential architectural traditions including Greek, Roman, French and Georgian moldings. Materiality, such as wood, plaster and stone, have an impact on the design of moldings and will also be evaluated.

Examples from professional practice will traverse adaptations of the classical molding profiles from masters such as Palladio, Sir Christopher Wren, Sir Edwin Lutyens, to contemporary architects, and illustrate the use and composition of moldings as an ever-present, evolving and elaborative continuum.  A conclusive discussion will address the topic of pushing our collective skills and wisdom further by creating future collaborations as an ongoing online “forum” for the advancement of molding design.

Stephen Chrisman is a Principal at Ferguson & Shamamian Architects, New York, where he has worked since 1995. He oversees the design and project management of classical and traditional projects ranging in scale from renovations and additions of historic houses, to large new country houses. He holds a Master of Architecture from the University of Notre Dame, and Bachelor of Architecture from the Oregon School of Design. His teaching focus has been on topics of classical architectural design and composition. Recent courses include: "The Art of The Measured Drawing Sketchbook," and "How to Study Buildings: An Analysis of Architectural Composition and Precedent". Stephen is a long-standing Fellow of the ICAA and serves on the National Education Committee. 

DATE: MARCH 4, 2021

TIME: 5:00 p.m. to 6:15 p.m. (PST)

ADMISSION FREE: OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

MICHAEL RICHARD HARRIS

Please join the ICAA Northwest & ICAA Chicago-Midwest Chapters in welcoming Michael Richard Harris for a discussion and demonstration on one of architecture’s most evocative forms of free hand drawing media - dip pen and ink wash. In this co-hosted chapter event, Michael will present his setup, tools and materials, a detailed look at his technique, and explain why the dip pen and ink wash are ideal for drawing and sketching classical architecture today.

Michael will review the importance of light and composition while taking you through a live drawing and ink wash demonstration that can be used for quick sketches or extended length drawings. All levels of ability are encouraged and welcome. Q/A will follow.

Michael is an artist and architectural designer living in London where he draws and paints the built environment as a way to evoke architecture’s endlessly inspirational qualities. Michael has worked in the contemporary architectural offices of Zaha Hadid, and 1508 London, as well as the traditional architectural offices of Gil Schafer III, Stanhope Gate, and Pier Carlo Bontempi. Today he practices architecture at the Prince’s Foundation where he recently designed the Duke of Rothesay Highland Games Pavilion in Braemar, Scotland.

His love for drawing and painting developed as a student in Rome with the University of Notre Dame, and again grew into increasing obsession during an Affiliated Fellowship at the American Academy in Rome where he drew and painted exhaustively on location throughout the city. He holds a Master in Architecture from Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, and was the recipient of the ICAA’s prestigious Rieger-Graham Prize in 2008.

ATTENDANCE: This Event is Free with Registration

DATE: FEBRUARY 27, 2021

TIME: 9:00 to 11:00 a.m. (PST)

REGISTRATION: CLICK LINK

MICHAEL SMITH, INTERIOR DESIGNER

Michael Smith is considered one of the design industry’s most respected talents with an international profile of residential and commercial clients. Over the course of his career, Smith has consistently developed a style that has been characterized as a delicate blend of “European tradition and American modernism.” Most recently, his work was celebrated in five best-selling books from Rizzoli Publishing: Elements of Style (2007), Houses (2008), Kitchens and Baths (2010), Building Beauty (2013), and The Curated House (2015).

He is the recipient of many prestigious awards and accolades, including over 10 appearances in Architectural Digest’s AD 100, and the 2018 recipient of the Arthur Ross Award from the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art for excellence in the field of interior design. He was also named 2003 Designer of the Year by Elle Décor. In addition, his projects have been featured in such noted publications as Elle Décor, Architectural Digest, House Beautiful, Town and Country, Domino, Metropolitan Home, Interior Design, and W.

A native of California, Smith studied interior design at Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles. In 1984, he continued his studies at The Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Returning to the U.S. one year later, he worked briefly under the tutelage of legendary antiques dealer Gep Durenberger before subsequently moving to New York to work with the well-known designer John Saladino. Three years later, he returned to California and opened a home furnishings store. His design firm was launched in 1990, and he has continued to build his business through the introduction of his signature furniture and fabric lines Jasper and Templeton, sold exclusively in multi-line showrooms throughout the U.S. and Europe.

The same aesthetic of classically inspired modernism is seen in his Signature Lines, collections Michael designs for other top design industry names. He has partnered with some of the finest manufacturers in the business who reflect his values of updated traditional looks, uncompromising craftsmanship and easy-to-live with luxury.

Michael Smith serves on the Board of Trustees for Otis College of Art and Design and has co-chaired the American Friends of the Olympia International Fine Art and Antique Fair. In February of 2010, Mr. Smith was appointed by President Obama to the Committee for the Preservation of the White House.

Michael divides his time between Los Angeles, New York City and Madrid.

BOOK SIGNING:  DOORS OPEN 1:00 p.m.

SESSION I:  MARK FERGUSON 1:30 p.m.

SESSION II:  MICHAEL S. SMITH 2:45 p.m.

PRIVATE DINNER 6:30 p.m. exclusively in honor of Mark Ferguson & Michael S. Smith, ICAA Northwest Donors & Corporate Sponsors receive invitation to attend a private dinner following the Rainier Club Lecture Series.  Seating is limited.  For more information, contact  Duncan McRoberts:  duncan@mcroberts-associates.com

Use either register button once - for the same event.

FERGUSON & SHAMAMIAN ARCHITECTS, with Mark Ferguson, Partner

Mark Ferguson is a founding partner of Ferguson & Shamamian Architects, an Architectural Digest AD 100 practice formed in 1988 with Oscar Shamamian, located in New York City. The firm specializes in traditional residential design and works nationally and internationally. Their completed projects are frequently published and have been recognized with several notable awards, including the ICAA Arthur Ross Award in 2003. Mark has been a member of the Board of Directors of the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art since 1992 and served as its Chairman from 2014-2016.

Mark Received a Bachelor of Architecture from Carnegie-Mellon University in 1978 and Master of Architecture from Princeton University in 1982. He moved to New York with his wife, Natalie Jacobs, in 1982. His early work on renovations to houses in Tuxedo Park and Croton-on-Hudson introduced him to the practice of new traditional architecture. The experience led to a position at Parish-Hadley Associates where he collaborated with interior decorators and artisans in the creation of new residences guided by traditional design principles. He met his future partner there and after three years they established a practice to fill an underserved need and to demonstrate the authority of tradition in good design.

BOOK SIGNING:  DOORS OPEN 1:00 p.m.

SESSION I:  MARK FERGUSON 1:30 p.m.

SESSION II:  MICHAEL S. SMITH 2:45 p.m.

PRIVATE DINNER 6:30 p.m. exclusively in honor of Mark Ferguson & Michael S. Smith, ICAA Northwest Donors & Corporate Sponsors receive invitation to attend a private dinner following the Rainier Club Lecture Series.  Seating is limited.  For more information, contact Duncan McRoberts  duncan@mcroberts-associates.com

Use either register button once - for the same event.

RAMSA LECTURE & TOUR, with Partner Gary Brewer

Please join the University of Portland, Soderstrom Architects, and renowned Robert A.M. Stern Architects (RAMSA) for a celebration, lecture and tour of Dundon-Berchtold Hall, the newest addition to the University of Portland campus.

RAMSA Partner, Gary Brewer, AIA, will present a lecture and slide show on the scope of the project from conception to finished product, highlighting the body of knowledge and process required to design and build a new gothic revival building today.

LOCATION:  DUNDON-BERCHTOLD HALL in the BRIAN DOYLE AUDITIORIUM

LECTURE:  1:30 - 2:30 p.m.

SITE TOUR:  2:45 - 3:45 p.m.

Admission is free and refreshments will be provided!

MONTGOMERY STREET RESIDENCES

Join the ICAA-NW chapter as we visit renowned high style classical residences in the S.W. Hills of Portland, Oregon, for a measured drawing class and sketching tour. The event will be led by Ferguson & Shamamian Principal, and Notre Dame alumnus, Stephen Chrisman, who practices in New York City. Stephen will be providing a lecture on French American architecture, as well as on methods & means of performing measured drawings - Saturday evening before the tour.

The tour will focus on historic period houses from the era of American Beaux Arts Eclecticism. It will begin with a private viewing of the very distinguished and authentic A.J. Lewthwaite house, in the French Renaissance Louis XVI style, designed by Albert Parr & Francis Ward of San Francisco (c. 1926).

Other residences on the tour, to name just a few, will include the prominent Max S. Hirsch residence in the Tudor style by Architect Ellis Lawrence (c. 1922); the elegant Leon Hirsch residence in the Jacobethan style by Architects Sutton & Whitney (c. 1922); the formal William P. Hawley residence in the Colonial style by Architect Ellis Lawrence (c. 1927); the unique Coleman Wheeler English Cottage style residence by Architect A.E. Doyle (c. 1923); and the Frank J. Cobb Tudor-Jacobethan masterpiece by Architect A.E. Doyle (c. 1917).

LECTURE: Saturday 06/22 from 5:00-6:00 pm @ Emerick Architects, 321 SW 4th Avenue, Suite 200, Portland.

SKETCH TOUR: Sunday 06/23 from 10:30-3:30 pm @ 1715 SW Montgomery Drive, Portland.

Refreshments will be provided on site and admission is free!

NWCI TOUR, with owner Alan Bridgman

Please join the ICAA-NW for a private tour of Northwest Custom Interiors, with owner Alan Bridgman, who will guide us through his company’s production warehouse and explain everything from intricate profile knife making processes, to cabinetry production, sanding, painting, joinery, shop drawings and custom installation of modern and classical significant architectural elements.

This is a unique opportunity to comprehend the métier of fine craftsmanship in architecture and interior design, and how your design ideas may be made real.

Refreshments will be provided on site & admission is free!