The Tree Farm looming over the Morrison Bridge onramp. According to architect Ben Carr, it was likely built atop what once was a 19th century dry dock.
2
The Tree Farm looming over the Morrison Bridge onramp. According to architect Ben Carr, it was likely built atop what once was a 19th century dry dock.
3
Because much of the industrial Inner East Side was once riverfront property later filled with soil, builders had to dig 40 feet below ground to meet the city’s earthquake requirements. The building also sits directly over the Big Pipe.
4
Because much of the industrial Inner East Side was once riverfront property later filled with soil, builders had to dig 40 feet below ground to meet the city’s earthquake requirements. The building also sits directly over the Big Pipe.
5
Carr consulted with city fire marshals and irrigation experts to hang strawberry trees from the building in steel planters. “The fire bureau threw the book at us,” says architect Ben Carr. “They said, ‘We don’t want an Eagle Creek in the Central Eastside.'” Carr and his team allayed concerns by digging up federal research showing that well-watered Christmas trees pose very little fire risk. Each planter is also equipped with a sprinkler.
6
Carr consulted with city fire marshals and irrigation experts to hang strawberry trees from the building in steel planters. “The fire bureau threw the book at us,” says architect Ben Carr. “They said, ‘We don’t want an Eagle Creek in the Central Eastside.'” Carr and his team allayed concerns by digging up federal research showing that well-watered Christmas trees pose very little fire risk. Each planter is also equipped with a sprinkler.
7
The evergreen strawberry trees will grow to about 10 to 12 feet tall, allowing tenants in the windows above to see the city skyline over a green canopy. They will be pruned twice a year. According to a press release: “Each tree is watered by a drip irrigation system, complete with moisture sensors, a fertilization tank and remote controls to enable zoned irrigation based on solar exposure.”
8
The evergreen strawberry trees will grow to about 10 to 12 feet tall, allowing tenants in the windows above to see the city skyline over a green canopy. They will be pruned twice a year. According to a press release: “Each tree is watered by a drip irrigation system, complete with moisture sensors, a fertilization tank and remote controls to enable zoned irrigation based on solar exposure.”
9
The new alleyway off SE 3rd Ave
10
The new alleyway off SE 3rd Ave
11
The west-facing view from the 6th floor of Tree Farm, overlooking City Liquidators
12
The west-facing view from the 6th floor of Tree Farm, overlooking City Liquidators
You’ve probably seen Tree Farm already. It’s impossible to miss, looming over the east side onramp of the Morrison Bridge, as close to the span as city planners will allow.
And you probably already have seen developer Kevin Cavenaugh’s other wild construction, the angled, aggressively colorful Fair-Haired Dumbbell just a little further north on East Burnside. Cavenaugh doesn’t do grey boxes. And Tree Farm is his latest charge in the war against boring architecture.
Sitting next to inner Eastside institutions Le Bistro Montage and City Liquidators and designed by Ben Carr of Brett Schulz Architects, the six-story office building will begin welcoming office tenants in the coming weeks. The ground floor will also be the new home of Lebanese restaurant Nicholas (which is moving from its longtime SE Grand location), a new bar (TBD), and a Cloudforest coffee shop.
But the real talking point of the building is its striking facade, which features a bright blue mural and 56 strawberry trees hung in steel planters from the sides.
Per a press release: “This truly unique project aims to provide an iconic response to the generic status quo of speculative office real estate in Portland today, with below-market rents aimed at smaller startups and companies that would not otherwise be able to afford space in a new construction mid-rise building.”
