WAYNE LYMAN MORSE UNITED STATES COURTHOUSE Eugene, Oregon

06 Judicial Symbolism Reinterpreted 12 The Enlightenment of Justice 20 Transforming Judicial Ideas into Architectural Metaphors 24 Art in Architecture 30 General Facts about the Courthouse 41 Profile: Wayne Lyman Morse 42 Biographies: The Architect and Artists 48 The Design and Construction Team 51 U.S. General Services Administration and the Design Excellence Program Traditional courthouse design speaks to a time when law was synonymous with the stone tablet——frozen, fixed and immutable. This is not resonant with our time. The imperative for me was to make manifest a building that reflects our contemporary understanding of law as fluid, interpretive, open-ended and responsive, while maintaining visceral and emotional connections to the symbols that clearly differentiate an institution of justice from any other.

Thom Mayne Architect, Morphosis

2 3 4 5 JUDICIAL SYMBOLISM REINTERPRETED

In the Wayne Lyman Morse United emphasizing the symbiotic relationship States Courthouse in Eugene, Oregon, between the federal government and the traditions that have long distinguished the community. Its outward shapes are federal courthouse design—symmetrical the direct result of interior functional compositions with soaring porticos, compositions and program requirements. monumental stairs, and representational The architects have created a dynamic artworks—emerge in fresh and unexpected sense of place inside as well as outside ways along with new metaphors for a and transcended the customary boundaries 21st century federal courthouse. Dynamic between them. Copious natural light, intersecting forms express the complex subtle but provocative use of forms environment in which our justice system and finishes, and generous view of the must weigh and ultimately try to resolve surrounding city and mountain landscape conflicting views and human interests. all coalesce to form to a striking example Luminous materials reflect the vibrant and of contemporary judicial architecture. changing community in which the court functions. And, the transparency of the Set on a 5-acre site along a developing building evokes the fundamental principle edge of central Eugene, the courthouse of American jurisprudence: universal forms a new civic nucleus. It occupies part accessibility. of a small district of warehouses that the city plans to replace with a mix of new Several design imperatives come together commercial uses. Just beyond a railroad at once in the building’s expression. It is track to the north is the Willamette planned to provide utmost security and River, with the woodlands of Alton Baker safety for its occupants and users. Yet, Park lining the opposite bank. The site’s rather than assume a defensive posture, perimeter has been designed to identify the the courthouse communicates the ready courthouse as a prominent civic precinct availability of justice to all. Its size and within Eugene’s downtown. Plantings shape achieve an urban identity that of bamboo, serviceberry, incense cedar, befits its location in downtown Eugene, European beech, and quaking aspen

6 soften the landscape in varying colors and that align with the street grid, is meant to textures. Security barriers are practically represent the realm of the everyday. invisible, taking the form of a series of cubic retaining walls holding turf grass. The second part, above the base, is a set of As visitors approach the main entrance three courtroom pavilions whose irregular, from the south, along Eighth Street, the undulating profiles, clad in ribbons of walls have openings periodically to admit stainless steel, indicate the honorific realm pedestrians to a public plaza at ground of justice. The elevation of the courtroom level. From this plaza, the courthouse steps pavilions conveys the idea that the rise 14 feet to a broad terrace that extends activities within them reside on a higher beneath and beyond a large, glass-paneled level than does the routine business of civic canopy and is partly open to the sky. life. While the pavilions connect internally, The steps occupy the right end of a set of each one is a discrete structure. This concrete terraces that provide amphitheater architectural overture pays tribute to the seating and a switchback ramp for historic single-room American courthouse. wheelchair access. The steps and ramp meet beneath the canopy, which has five slender Coinciding with this hierarchy of rectangular columns to create a portico. meaning in the building’s massing, the exterior shapes evolve from the In its size and basic form, the courthouse courthouse’s internal arrangements. The complements the modest density and grid rectangular outlines of the base follow blocks of downtown Eugene. The building the straightforward linear arrangement is composed of two main parts. The first of offices in the lower two stories. The part, at ground level, is a two-story, glass- sinuous exterior shapes of the courtroom clad base containing administrative offices pavilions derive from the paired-teardrop and support functions that establishes a outlines of the courtrooms’ floor plans. comprehensible scale for the five-story building. This portion of the building, When viewed from the ground level, defined by right angles and straight lines the disparate parts of the courthouse

7 merge seamlessly, while still retaining visual autonomy. The fluid lines of the courtroom pavilions intercept the squared base on which they appear to float. Solid rectangular towers, holding elevators and stairs, buttress the pavilions to their roof level. The pavilions’ silhouettes are deeply eroded from the edge of the building’s base. Atop the courtrooms, the top-level spaces for judges’ chambers sit slightly farther back. The circulation spaces connecting the pavilions are clearly delineated on the exterior, especially at the atrium, where a curving exterior wall thrusts forward above the main entrance.

Collectively, the courthouse’s organic shapes and softly reflective surfaces are meant to represent the living, elaborative nature of American law in which new decisions build on extant decisions and precedent is sustained or refracted to suit contemporary factors. The design of the Wayne L. Morse U.S. Courthouse demonstrates enormous faith in American jurisprudence with its innovative reconsideration of the formal principles that have governed the design of courthouses—and the evolution of the judiciary—throughout the nation’s history.

8 9 10 11 THE ENLIGHTENMENT OF JUSTICE

Inside the courthouse, the architecture is street. The approach directs visitors toward intended to serve as a metaphorical passage the left to the entrance vestibule. The from the transient world of everyday entrance is deliberately unceremonious, society to the ordered sphere of justice distinguished only by a glass wall just and its ethos of enlightenment. While the inside the doors that is graphically building holds all the elements required in inscribed with a portion of the Preamble a federal courthouse—including separate and Article 3 of the Constitution. The circulation areas for judges, for the public, queuing area to pass through security is a and for prisoners—the traditional spatial low-height space that subtly turns visitors relationships have been reconceived from toward the lobby, where the height of the the main entrance to the courtrooms. space suddenly doubles and triples. Throughout the building, visitors experience interior spaces that seem to In the lobby, the orthogonal geometries expand and contract as they walk through of the lower two levels meet the irregular, them. In the central lobby atrium and on curving geometries of the courtroom level. the courtroom floor (Level 3), the walls Two walls are clad in ribbons of stainless and ceilings cant and curve into unusual steel identical to the upper walls of the intersecting forms. Also remarkable is the exterior, part of the design strategy to blur seeming disappearance, at certain points, of the line between the building’s inside and the division between the inside and outside outside. Views upward through the daylit of the building as a result of the abundant lobby’s atrium reveal high, flat walls that use of glass walls that provide views of the open into partial walls, cutaway corners, exterior. and open slots through which glimpses of the layered complexity of the spaces leading The off-center arrangement of the main to the courtrooms are visible. courthouse steps leads to a full-height glass window looking into the lobby, which is At the back of the lobby, on the north side, located on Level 2 as a result of the raised is the jury assembly room. This is a quiet, terrace—or piano nobile—leading from the calm room with a palette of gray tile, black

12 carpet, and a cherry-paneled wall on the north side. The assembly room has clear glass walls bearing the illustrated colored circles of the artist Sean Healy’s installation Jury Pool. These walls retract to create a large, open area. Natural light enters softly from full-height windows and from an interior overlook into a bamboo garden that lies one level below.

Visitors reach the third-level courtroom floor either by a pair of main elevators or a monumental staircase. The wide stair, with crystalline glass risers and ceramic tile treads, rises between two inward-leaning walls. In its gradual progression, the stair appears to float above the atrium as it approaches the courtroom floor.

At the top of the staircase, the space opens broadly to reveal organically shaped curved walls and ceilings. Natural light pours in through metal-encased glass walls, clerestories, and strip skylights. The upper walls contort into smooth, white shapes that curve and flare outward from the walls’ edges and seem to be frozen in motion. They are animated by baffled daylight, which also highlights in rich patterns of

13 light and shadow the cubic surfaces and is on the judge and the gallery at the edges of the staggered-height ceiling planes. center, where a trial’s action unfolds. The courtrooms are U-shaped, but this This animated interior landscape leads to is not readily apparent to the naked eye. the courtrooms, which are placed in pairs Within each one, a wood-clad hanging set apart from one another arranged in a wall overhead shaped like a teardrop C-shaped pattern. Two courtrooms on the forms a shell defining an inner zone. The north are District courts; those on the west teardrop’s broad rounded end encompasses hold Magistrate courts, and on the east the spectator seating at the rear, closest to are the Bankruptcy courts. Outside each the entrance, and the narrow end holds the pair of courtrooms is one of three large, judge’s bench on center at the front. The illuminated murals titled Life, Liberty and most significant change has been to place Pursuit by artist Matthew Ritchie. the jury box outside of this inner zone within a sheltered, low-ceilinged alcove. The courtrooms stand virtually alone, This position preserves jury members’ sight except for one jury suite between each lines, yet places them at some remove from pair. Supporting spaces that are usually a trial so that they become, in effect, both adjacent to the courtrooms, such as jury participants and spectators. suites, judges’ chambers and the library, are located on the floor above the courtrooms. Visitors enter each courtroom from the The courtrooms range in size from 1,800 rear through a vestibule. In the vestibule, to 3,000 square feet. The largest is the a window in the center of the wall provides Special Proceedings courtroom, which is a view inside the courtroom to see the also a District courtroom. status of the proceedings. Rather than finding the usual entry along a central aisle, The courtroom layouts are nearly identical. visitors turn either left or right along the Each gains daylight from clerestory outer curve of the teardrop and proceed windows positioned along the outer down either of two side aisles that divide walls. The visual focus of each courtroom the spectators’ seating into three parts.

14 The seating consists of minimalist armless floor area. In the chamber suites, the offices wood benches. for law clerks are located a modest distance from the judge’s chambers proper so the The plan of the courtroom directs all clerks for various judges can interact with attention toward the judge. From the each other. The closely adjoining District spectator seats, the distance between and Magistrate chamber suites share a the walls of the inner shell narrows central library space. The more distant sharply toward the judge’s bench, a bias Bankruptcy chamber suite, reached across heightened by the walls’ horizontal wood a small skybridge, has a centrally situated bands that echo the steel bands cladding library of its own. Both library spaces have the courthouse pavilions outside. A tall, stacks 48 inches high to allow views across narrow window above the judge’s bench the room and to the outside. illuminates it with natural light. A linear light panel is suspended above the gallery’s Throughout the courtroom floors, there central spine and ends above the judge’s are views to the surrounding city and the bench. When the light panel is turned on, mountain landscape. The interior scheme it can be seen from outside the courthouse works in concert with the exterior to strike as a signal that the court is in session. a crucial balance between the building’s The walls are painted dark gray. specificity of place and the universality of its meaning, between security for its At their center, the courtrooms rise to a occupants and accessibility by the public, height of 24 feet, taking up part of the and between the chaotic events of daily life floor plate of Level 4. In the remaining and the solemn order that overarches the fourth-level spaces are additional jury commission of American justice. and conference rooms. Judges reach their chambers on Level 5 through secured elevators. Each of three pairs of chambers sits atop its respective courtroom, but each is set back and thus is slightly smaller in

15 16 17 We didn’t want to start with the way things always were in courthouses. We wanted to start with the ideas.

Michael R. Hogan Judge, United States District Court for the District of Oregon

18 19 TRANSFORMING JUDICIAL IDEAS INTO ARCHITECTURAL METAPHORS By Honorable Michael R. Hogan

A federal judge intuitively knows what What are the ideas of a courthouse? a federal courthouse looks like: a neo- How does one express those ideas without Classical version of a Greek or Roman describing “what they look like?” structure. Judges are taught to think deductively through a Socratic pedagogy. My first meeting with Thom was raw Facts are considered, compared to past confrontation. He challenged me socially judicial theory and experience (i.e., the and politically—even my faith. I think he doctrine of stare decisis) and with a needed to understand whether or not I was possible slight twist or turn, an answer is adequate as a collaborator, a friend or an more or less apparent. And courthouses, adversary. The honesty was refreshing. well, they are suppose to look like those we have known too—a kind of brick-and­ During long retreat weekends, Thom stone stare decisis. shared his primer on architecture, and I shared my ideas central to courthouses The competition to select a lead designer and the American judiciary. We had to for the federal courthouse in Eugene discover each other’s language and thinking produced Thom Mayne and his firm processes to make communication possible, Morphosis. My normal legal research left let alone collaborate. Words and phrases in me profoundly disturbed. His previous our respective professional vocabularies had work did not resonate “courthouse,” and it developed historically pregnant meanings. was difficult to overlook his already tired His approach to a problem was not moniker: Bad Boy of L.A. Architecture. deductive but swirling vortexes of thought, But Ed Feiner, then chief architect of the sometimes overlapping, sometimes Public Buildings Service in the General vanishing, but always fluid. Thom’s Services Administration, gave me this great colleague Kim Groves described this part advice: “Judge, don’t tell Thom what the of the design process as developing building should look like. Describe the the rules for the building from which ideas that are important, and he will amaze everything else follows. To a judge, this is you!” A prophetic voice indeed. certainly a strange way to develop rules.

20 A federal courthouse must reflect the I decided to go to France to see some Constitution on which our democracy new courthouses, and Thom insisted on is grounded. The DNA of the Eugene going with me. Many lessons resulted: courthouse flows in a pure stream from a deeper understanding of the Cartesian the Constitution and public buildings of grid and the discipline required even earlier centuries to contemporary buildings for organic forms. From the buildings of our time. Its most prominent Classical surrounding Cathedral Square in Bordeaux, architectural element is the piano nobile, I discovered why the elements of base, i.e., locating the main reception area above body, and capital were informed by the the ground floor with access by a grand building materials and methods of their staircase. Taking a cue from buildings of time. In the “machine” that is Richard the Renaissance, the public nature of the Rodgers’ courthouse in Bordeaux, I saw its Eugene courthouse is announced by two modulation of form, sound, and light. I piano nobiles—one for the exterior entrance felt the power of ’s courthouse and another in the building’s atrium with a in Nantes, with its blood red stain and grand staircase ascending to the courtroom harsh blue light. It is a place where justice level. The concrete skeleton is exposed, a must surely seem severe. These and other reminder of earlier public buildings with buildings provided powerful fodder for their massive natural stone construction. discussion and were the inspiration for some of the “rules for the building.” The courthouse in the public square is central to American jurisprudence. Le Corbusier’s Chapel du Notre Dame Locating the courthouse in the midst of at Ronchamps, a serious, meaningful the community allows citizens to readily structure where concrete was brought to understand where disputes are peaceably life by careful use of light, informed the resolved, which reinforces our shared sacred massing of the courtrooms, which rise commitment to live under a rule of law. through a crystal plinth, vivified by a The new Eugene courthouse provides this meticulous use of light. The introduction important iconic image to the community. of light on three sides of the courtrooms

21 LE CORBUSIER’S CHAPEL DU JEAN NOUVEL’S FOUNDATION DE CARTIER IN PARIS RICHARD RODGERS’ COURTHOUSE IN BORDEAUX NOTRE DAME AT RONCHAMPS

brings life and warmth to the space along we are afraid. Our very openness is our with a feeling that the proceedings are most reliable protection: the power of an important in the community. Nouvel’s idea over destructive tools. In Eugene, we Foundation de Cartier in Paris is a crystal moved security to the side so it does not building, ethereal, there but not there. dominate the formal entrance. We raised It floats on a natural river of crushed the site so that bollards are barely evident. granite. You can see into it and out of it. A In short, we have chosen what to secure courthouse should allow transparency for against. a seemingly obscure process. The building should be transparent. The Eugene In the final analysis, our courthouses should courthouse is designed to allow the beauty be sanctuaries where justice is sought, of northwest light to fill the interior and mercy is loved, and everyone demonstrates give every citizen a view to the inside and humility. Out of the relationships of a with it ownership of the judicial process. creative and passionate team, with a strong belief in the possibilities of this courthouse, Security is necessary in today’s courthouses I believe the Eugene expression moves the but not at the price of our freedom. We discussion of what a federal courthouse can are not afraid, and it must not appear that and should be forward.

22 23 ART IN ARCHITECTURE

Art has always been an important feature The vertical elements are atoms of law. of great architecture. For the new Wayne Their concentric structure contains rings Lyman Morse United States Courthouse numbering the articles and amendments in Eugene, Oregon, four artists were of the Constitution and their location commissioned to create works. corresponds to the largest cities and towns in Oregon. The sculpture is fabricated of Stare Decisis interlocking lap-jointed planes of powder- Rooftop outside courtrooms coated aluminum supported by stainless Matthew Ritchie steel gravity set pylons. The cast aluminum heads capping the pylons are based on Matthew Ritchie creates modern-day sculptures made by local children who had versions of the narrative paintings and been asked to imagine the idea of justice. sculptures that have long been essential components of great civic architecture. In Life, Liberty and Pursuit that tradition, Stare Decisis, which literally Public hallways, courtroom floor means “stand by that which is decided” and Matthew Ritchie is the underlying principle of American law, combines references to the history of law Matthew Ritchie conceived a second and the natural world. A three-dimensional work, a group of three related large-scale drawing across a roof open to the landscape illuminated murals that surround Stare on one side, the sculpture’s serpentine form Decisis. Individually titled Life, Liberty, echoes an abstracted map of the Willamette and Pursuit, they take their names from River system. It is supported by staffs, some the Declaration of Independence. topped with heads portraying historical contributors to the legal system, others Each of the three murals are aluminum empty to signify the collective, and often framed lightboxes divided into 8 foot by 4 anonymous, development of the law. The foot sections with multiple colored images map is fused with fragments of text citing on printed film that has been mounted on the precedents for the U.S. Constitution. lenticular prismatic acrylic panels. The art

24 25 fuses the history and landscape of Oregon with an alternate abstract landscape embodying the more than four thousand year long evolution of the idea of law. The story of America and the state of Oregon is joined to the story of the world, overlaid with diagrams and writing that imply some of the relationships among historical, legal, ethical, and moral concepts that are the generators of contemporary law making and interpretation. The images offer a rich and textured visual experience that dynamically combines diverse knowledge systems, beliefs, and geographies.

26 Witness From the many images she shot, using Lower level lobby color film in a pinhole camera she Kristin Timke modified from an old medium-format camera, Timken selected five, each from Kristin Timken traveled approximately a different location, for the final work. fifteen hundred miles through the seven The images merge into one another across counties that comprise the Southern a twenty-five foot panel to convey a sense Division of the District of Oregon to of the geographic features of the region. photograph the striking variety and As the title of her work indicates, Timken beauty of the landscape. Beginning with a was the witness of these sites; the images reading of the diaries of Lewis and Clark, are the witness of her presence. she planned four trips with particular locations in mind, modifying her itinerary in response to conditions and conversations she had along the way. She scheduled her travels to occur over several seasons to capture the varied character of the land. Witness is the distillation of her experience.

27 Shortest Distance sculpture. Friction and stress cause eddies, Front Plaza vortexes, countermovements, reversals of Cris Bruch direction, and whirls within whirls—an apt metaphor, Bruch finds, for how human With Shortest Distance, Cris Bruch institutions, such as the courts, develop continues his exploration of form derived in a democracy. Progress often appears from nature, while also introducing a to occur in a straight line—all of the metaphor that can serve as an emblem of diversions and regressions have been edited the evolution of democratic institutions. out, leaving only the clarity of moving Sited at street level in front of the from one point to the next. Bruch reminds courthouse, Shortest Distance with its satin us that the path is not always so direct. finish stainless steel surface reflects the shifting light and color of the surrounding area. At nine feet tall, 17 feet long, and 12 feet wide, the sculpture has a human scale Jury Pool that contrasts with the monumentality of Jury Assembly Room the building. The placement, as well as the Sean Healy intriguing form, encourages people to stop and explore the work. Jury Pool is a dynamic expression of the community and ethnography of southern Shortest Distance changes radically as you Oregon physically realized as an architect- move around it—tightly compressed from ural element within the courthouse. In this one perspective, it appears to gracefully work, Sean Healy celebrates the role of unfold from another. The faceted surface the citizen in the judicial process. Across planes shift with outside reversing to the expanse of glass that forms the entry inside, front becoming back. to the jury assembly area, he has placed an array of colorful round glass lites each An interest in turbulence and flow etched with a portrait. Healy interviewed prompted Bruch’s initial concept for the 108 randomly selected people who reside

28 in the district served by the courthouse, Art in Architecture Program drew their likenesses, and asked them their favorite color and favorite place in Oregon. GSA’s Art in Architecture Program He then translated these preferences into commissions American artists, working visual form: the colors of the disks and in close consultation with the lead the Global Positioning System (GPS) design architect, to create artwork that coordinates etched in the clear glass is appropriate to the diverse uses and correspond to each person’s response. architectural vocabularies of federal A map of the state installed on a nearby buildings. These permanent installations wall indicates with dots that correspond of contemporary art for the nation’s civic to the color disks the locations mentioned buildings afford unique opportunities by the people who were surveyed. for promoting the integration of art and architecture and facilitate a meaningful cultural dialogue between the American people and their government. A panel comprising an art professional from GSA’s national Register of Peer Professionals, an art professional from the city or region, the project’s lead design architect, and individuals representing the federal client, the community, and GSA provides guidance in selecting the best artists for each project.

29 GENERAL FACTS ABOUT THE COURTHOUSE

The Wayne Lyman Morse United States There are six courtrooms in the building, Courthouse in Eugene serves the District all placed on the third floor, paired by of Oregon, which encompasses the entire their purpose: two District courtrooms, State of Oregon as part of the Ninth two Magistrate courtrooms, and two Judicial Circuit. The courthouse occupies Bankruptcy courtrooms. The courtrooms a 5-acre site between the intersection range in size from 1,800 square feet to of East Eighth Avenue and Mill Street 3,000 square feet; the largest of these is the and the banks of the Willamette River Special Proceedings courtroom. Above the on the eastern edge of downtown. courtroom level, there are six chambers for The site, one of a group of warehouse judges, one visiting judge’s chamber, and properties, formerly housed the Agripac two separate judicial library spaces. Cannery plant. The City of Eugene regards the courthouse as an impetus The design provides separate circulation for redeveloping the area around it with systems for the public, for prisoners, and civic and commercial development, and for judges. As a result, there are 10 elevators for forging a stronger connection between in the building: three for the public, one downtown and the Willamette riverfront. for employees, three that are secured for judges, two secured for prisoners, and one Rising 72 feet high, the 270,000-square­ for freight. Throughout the building, access foot courthouse has five stories above floors accommodate the air, data, and grade and a basement level below grade. electrical systems. Courtrooms have plasma- The first and second floors hold offices screen video capability for viewing evidence, for the courts and their clerks, the U.S. allowing remote testimony, and completing Attorney, Probation and Pretrial services, arraignments. the U.S. Marshals Service, the General Services Administration, two U.S. Senators, Strategies have also been incorporated into and one member of the U.S. House of the courthouse for sustainability, including Representatives. natural lighting, displacement ventilations, and radiant cooling and heating.

30 31 Main Entry Level

32 Courtroom Level

33 34 35 Location Mechanical A 5.17-acre site in downtown Eugene, at the Fan-wall air-handling system supplies corner of East Eighth Avenue and Mill Street. underfloor air distribution in most spaces through low-level, low-velocity Size displacement ventilation and partial 270,000 Gross Square Feet cooling. Radiant-heating and cooling are 72.6 Feet High cast into floor slabs of the atrium, public Five Floors Above Grade corridors, and jury assembly room. Space- One Basement Level Below Grade humidity and floor-slab-temperature sensors prevent condensation of the floors. Time Frame A heat-recovery chiller in the server room transfers heat loads to a hot-water system, Design Awarded: April 2001 supplemented by condensing boilers. Design Completed: August 2004 Construction Started: June 2004 Finishes Dedication: December 2006 Exterior: Stainless steel, concrete, glass Major Building Components curtain wall, plaster. Total Rentable Area: 230,230 Square Feet Main Lobby and Public Areas: Painted U.S. Courts: 97,534 Square Feet drywall, stainless steel panels, exposed Tenant Office Space: 48,880 Square Feet concrete, tile and carpeted flooring, limited Parking areas of rubber and linoleum flooring, cherry wood paneling, stair railings in glass, 80 Spaces stainless steel and cable. Foundation Offices: Painted drywall, carpets, exposed Spread Footings concrete, acoustical tile and painted drywall ceilings, cherry wood paneling and Structure casegoods, fabric panels. Basement to Level 2: Concrete Courtrooms: Painted drywall, carpets, Levels 3 to 5: Steel wood (cherry and walnut) paneling, BASWAphon ceiling.

36 37 38 39 40 PROFILE: WAYNE LYMAN MORSE October 20, 1900–July 22, 1974

Wayne Lyman Morse, a United States His tenure in the U.S. Senate paralleled Senator who represented the State of turbulent times in Washington, not least, Oregon from 1945 to 1969, made his the communist-hunting tactics of Senator home in Eugene. He was born into a Joseph McCarthy during the 1950s. farm family in Verona, Wisconsin, and In 1964, Morse was one of two U.S. as a young man first formed what would Senators to vote against the Gulf of Tonkin become his progressive political views. resolution that authorized a deepening of During his school years, he became well the American involvement in the Vietnam regarded as a speaker and fiercely partisan conflict. He remained an ardent opponent debater. He attended the University of of the war in Vietnam. He lost his seat in Wisconsin, earning a bachelor’s degree the election of 1968. in 1923 and a master’s degree there in 1924. He received his law degree from One of his most commonly cited the University of Minnesota in 1928. achievements was breaking the record at In 1930, he became an assistant professor the time for a filibuster attempt to block of law at the University of Oregon, where the Tidelands Oil legislation in 1953. he became the youngest law school dean He sustained that filibuster effort for in the nation in 1936. 22 hours and 26 minutes.

Despite his liberal leanings, he successfully Today, his family’s 26-acre property, ran for the U.S. Senate as a Republican formerly named Edgewood Farm, is in 1945 in his first campaign from his a National Historic Site. It has been adopted state of Oregon. Once he became renamed Morse Farm and is now a park a Senator, however, he would be best run by the City of Eugene. known as the “maverick” who left the Republican Party in 1953 to become an independent; two years later, he joined the Democrats, which gave their party a one-vote majority in the chamber.

41 BIOGRAPHIES: THE ARCHITECT AND THE ARTISTS

Thom Mayne founded the - in Klagenfurt, Austria; Sun Tower, a retail based architecture firm Morphosis in office building in , Korea; and the 1972 as an interdisciplinary practice ASE Design Center in Taipei, Taiwan. involved in rigorous design and research Morphosis has received 25 Progressive that yields innovative, iconic buildings Architecture awards, 60 American Institute and urban environments. Today, the of Architects awards, and numerous other firm consists of a group of more than 40 honors. professionals who are committed to the practice of architecture as a collaborative Mayne is an educator as well as a enterprise. With projects worldwide, the practicing architect. He co-founded the firm’s work ranges in scale from residential, influential Southern California Institute institutional, and civic buildings to of Architecture and has held teaching large urban planning projects. Among positions at , Harvard its recent government projects are the University, , the Berlage National Oceanic and Atmospheric Institute in the Netherlands, and the Administration Satellite Operations Facility Bartlett School of Architecture in London. in Suitland, MD; new Federal Building Currently, he holds a tenured faculty in San Francisco, CA; and Caltrans position at the UCLA School of the Arts District 7 Headquarters in Los Angeles, and Architecture. CA. Educational projects include the Dr. Theodore T. Alexander, Jr. Science In 2005, Mayne was awarded the Pritzker Center School, Los Angeles, CA; Diamond Architecture Prize, the profession’s highest Ranch High School, Pomona, CA; and honor. His distinguished honors also the soon to be constructed Albert Nerken include a Rome Prize from the American School of Engineering of the Cooper Academy in Rome (1987), the Alumni Union for the Advancement of Science of the Year Award from the University and Art in New York City. International of Southern California (1992), Member commissions include the Hypo-Alpe-Adria Elect from the American Academy of Arts Center, a mixed-use bank headquarters and Letters (1992), the 2000 American

42 43 Institute of Architects/Los Angeles abroad. Among his public commissions Gold Medal in Architecture, and the are works for the Massachusetts Institute Chrysler Design Award of Excellence of Technology in Cambridge and the (2001). Mayne received his Bachelor of Shiodome City Center in Tokyo. He has Architecture degree from the University developed several web projects, including of Southern California and his Master of ones for the San Francisco Museum of Architecture from . Modern Art, the Walker Art Museum in Minneapolis, as well as MIT. His work Matthew Ritchie was born and reared in a in is in the permanent collections of London suburb. He received a BFA from the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Camberwell School of Art in London. the Museum of Modern Art, and the As a number of British artists of his Guggenheim Museum, all in New York, generation, he moved to New York City and the Museum of Art in Texas. but on arrival had no job, no prospects, and no strong sense of his future. Sean Healy has been an active member Something of an autodidact, he used his of the Portland, Oregon, art community spare time as a building superintendent for a number of years. Originally from to research a variety of subjects initially Syracuse, New York, he received a BFA inspired by books found on the street, in printmaking from Alfred University. left there by nearby graduating NYU His artwork explores his fascination with students. These subjects included science, layered transparency and often deals with philosophy, physics, and mythology. This themes of belonging and nostalgia. Most of combination of chance and discipline his work combines photographic or drawn has fueled his thinking about his art images encased within glass and cast resin, and the layers of complexity that can be supported by metal hardware. incorporated in its forms. He has exhibited work in the Oregon Ritchie has been featured in a number of Biennial (1999) and galleries in the solo exhibitions in the United States and Northwest. He has also completed several

44 public commissions and is working on Cris Bruch received a BFA from the another GSA art project for the FBI University of Kansas in Lawrence and both headquarters in Houston, Texas. an MA and MFA from the University of Wisconsin in Madison. Over the course Kristin Timken is a graduate of Stanford of his career, Bruch has produced work University and also has a BFA from the in a wide variety of media: paper, steel, California College of the Arts. Born in wood, clay, cloth, glass, light, and sound. Ohio, she raised her two sons in Oregon. Uniting his stylistically diverse artwork is a In an age of rapidly changing technology, set of core concerns: an interest in material Timken chooses to work with a modified transformations, in making time and pinhole camera, a simple optical imaging labor visible, in demonstrating care and device whose principles have been known attentiveness in building, the relationship for centuries. It has neither a lens nor between mass and volume, and the use of a viewfinder, only a small aperture that repetition and variation to arrive at form. allows light onto the film. Unable to look through the camera and preview her His work is in the collections of the results, Timken relies on experience and Henry Art Gallery at the University of intuition to guide her. She also accepts that Washington, the Tacoma Art Museum in surprise is an important part of her process. Washington, the New York Public Library, Combining old and new technologies, and the Stadtsparkasse in Dusseldorf, she then reproduces the images using the Germany, among others. He has received digital printing processes. commissions from King County, Washington; the University of Washington; While her principal medium is photography, and METRO in Seattle. He is the recipient she also creates drawings and monotypes of a number of awards, including an (a variety of single-edition print). She has alumni achievement award from the exhibited her works in galleries in Oregon University of Wisconsin, the Neddy and California and her photographs are Fellowship from the Behnke Foundation, featured in a number of books. and the Betty Bowen Memorial Award.

45 46 47 THE DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION TEAM

Owner GSA Project Team U.S. General Services Administration Patrick Brunner (Senior Contracting Officer) Regional Office: Auburn, WA Richard Broderick (Project Executive) John Bland (Project Manager–Concept Phase) Design Architects Chuck Koval (Fire Protection Engineer) Morphosis Chris Helmer (Construction Engineer) Los Angeles, CA Frank Krawczyk (Financial Manager) Mike Sciacqua (Realty Specialist) Architect of Record Guy Cannova (Property Manager) DLR Group Carmie Simons (Interior Designer) Portland, OR Peter Gray (Account Manager)

Artists Design Competition Jurors Michael Fifield Matthew Ritchie Robert Ivy New York, NY William Pedersen Sean Healy Portland, OR Design Excellence National Peers Barton Phelps Kristin Timkin Michael Fifield Oakland, CA Andrea Leers Cris Bruch Joseph Giovannini Seattle, WA Mark Tortorich Peter Schaudt Carol Mayer Reed

Art in Architecture National Peer Tamara Thomas

48 Construction Management Landscape Architecture Low Voltage/Audio/Visual Glazing Jacobs Facilities Richard Haag Alta Consulting Services Inc. Harmon Inc Sacramento, CA Landscape Design Bellvue, WA Bolingbrook, IL Construction CPR Seattle, WA Eugene, OR Cost Estimating Fire Protection Move Coordination Davis Langdon MasterFire Construction Manager Heery International Portland, OR Clackamas, OR as Constructor Seattle, WA J E Dunn Northwest Metal Wall Panels Vertical Transportation Portland, OR Elevators A. Thyssen-Krupp Elevator Lerch Bates & Associates Kansas City, MO Corporation Civil and Structural Engineering Snohomish, WA Portland, OR KPFF Structural Steel Fabrication Portland, OR Acoustics Canron Western Constructors Testing/Inspection McKay Conant Brook Inc. Portland, OR Professional Service Industries Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing Westlake Village, CA Springfield, OR IBE Structural Steel Installation Sherman Oaks, CA Geotechnical Carr Construction Roofing West Coast Geotech Portland, OR Umpqua Roofing Company Inc. Electrical West Linn, OR Eugene, OR DLR Group Earthwork/Sitework Seattle, WA Fire/Life Safety Delta Construction Mechanical Tuazon Engineering Eugene, OR Total Mechanical Inc. Cherry City Electric Renton, WA Portland, OR Salem, OR Millwork Blast Consultant Ebenisterie Beaubois, LTEE Drywall HVAC and Plumbing Hinman Consulting Engineers Villa de Saint George, Western Partitions Inc. Glumac International San Francisco, CA Quebec, Canada Tigard, OR Portland, OR

49 50 U.S. GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION AND THE DESIGN EXCELLENCE PROGRAM

Public buildings are part of a nation’s legacy. Guiding Principles for Federal Architecture: They are symbolic of what Government is (1) producing facilities that reflect the dignity, about, not just places where public business enterprise, vigor and stability of the federal is conducted. government, emphasizing designs that embody the finest contemporary and The U.S. General Services Administration architectural thought; (2) avoiding an official (GSA) is responsible for providing work style; and (3) incorporating the work of environments and all the products and living American artists in public buildings. services necessary to make these environments In this effort, each building is to be both an healthy and productive for federal employees individual expression of design excellence and and cost-effective for the American tax- part of a larger body of work representing the payers. As builder for the federal civilian best that America’s designers and artists can government and steward of many of our leave to later generations. nation’s most valued architectural treasures that house federal employees, GSA is To find the best, most creative talent, the committed to preserving and adding to Design Excellence Program has simplified America’s architectural and artistic legacy. the way GSA selects architects and engineers for construction and major renovation GSA established the Design Excellence projects and opened up opportunities for Program in 1994 to change the course emerging talent, small, small disadvantaged, of public architecture in the federal and women-owned businesses. The program government. Under this program, recognizes and celebrates the creativity and administered by the Office of the Chief diversity of the American people. Architect, GSA has engaged many of the finest architects, designers, engineers, The Design Excellence Program is the and artists working in America today to recipient of a 2003 National Design Award design the future landmarks of our nation. from the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Through collaborative partnerships, GSA Museum, and the 2004 Keystone Award is implementing the goals of the 1962 from the American Architectural Foundation.

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PHOTOGRAPHY: FRANK OOMS