June 10, 2015

On Friday, Nick was honored to serve on the jury for this year’s “Stitch II,” an AIA Portland Ideas Competition. 

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is a national organization that provides education, community development and advocacy. The Portland chapter sponsored Stitch II.

“Stitch” is an open competition, where participants propose new, creative uses for underused urban spaces. This year, for Stitch II, competitors offered ideas for how to use the space under I-405 between NW Lovejoy and Kearney. Their objective was to build an innovative project design that utilizes public space for those most in need in our community.  

As the City’s former housing commissioner, Nick was honored to be asked to judge the 33 submissions from all over the world.

Tuesday night, at the Center for Architecture, the winners were announced. ‘Unclouded Vision’, submitted by a team from Opsis Architecture, scooped up first prize for its compelling vision of building environmentally-friendly housing with support services.

Jon Creighton received third place for his innovative idea to place portable showers under the freeway.  

Nick was inspired by the thoughtful, creative and humane ideas generated by the competition.

Special thanks to Amy Sabin, Lucas Gray, Jonathan Dunn, and AIA Portland for organizing the event.

And congratulations to all the winners!

Check out AIA Portland’s website to learn more about the competition.