Black Sheep Gathering continues. See June 20.
SUNDAY, 6/21
Prost8K, 8K run/5K walk, 8am, Oregon Urology
Institute, Spfd. eclecticedgeracing2.com $15-$35.
The Wiz
Monroe Park
Aug. 7
Greater Goods
515 High St
485-4224
g reater g oods o nline .com
Father’s Day Family Challenge Course, ages 9 & up,
10:30am-3:30pm, Spencer Butte Challenge Course.
682-5329. $40, one child FREE per adult.
grads & dads
Obsidians: Dog Mountain, hike, 6 miles/3000 ft.
736-7498. Sign up at Eugene YMCA.
Scandinavian Studies Potluck Picnic, with wreaths,
folk dancing, Scandinavian music, 11am-5pm,
Shelter 1, Alton Baker Park. scan@oregon.edu
H A T S
Go Skateboarding Day, demo equipment, hot dogs,
prizes, more; helmets required, 3pm-7pm, Cal
Young Middle School. 682-6321. $3.
Summer Solstice Celebration, Norma Fraser, fi re
dancers, more, 7pm, Sweet Cheeks Winery. www.
sweetcheekswinery.com or 349-9463. $10.
Peter Pan continues. See June 20.
hemp wallets&bags
Ems vs. Salem-Keizer Volcanoes continues. See June 20.
Black Sheep Gathering continues. See June 20.
MONDAY, 6/22
Ems vs. Salem-Keizer Volcanoes continues. See
June 20.
TUESDAY, 6/23
Oregon Bach Festival: Bach’s Circle ensemble with
OBF performers, 7pm, Tower Theatre, Bend. $17,
$22. www.oregonbachfestival.com or 541-317-0700.
Grandkids Ice Cream Social, noon-3pm, Campbell
Center, 155 High St. 682-5318.
WEDNESDAY, 6/24
Obsidians: Roads End, hike, 2.8 miles. 541-994-
2337. Sign up at Eugene YMCA.
Theme Swim: Jungle Day, 1:10pm-3:40pm, Echo
Hollow Pool. 682-5525. $2.50 incl. lunch.
THURSDAY, 6/25
2009 USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships,
with world-class runners, sprinters and more,
today through June 28, Hayward Field, UO. www.
tracktown.net or 346-4461. $15-$30 single-day; $65-
$100 all-session pass.
hammocks
clothing
f air t rade Imports
t
textiles
Design Is All Around Us
EYEING LOCAL ARCHITECTURE By Jerry Diethelm
I
t’s wicked fun to declare the built environment we live in here in Eugene,
“rump ugly.” Was that the phrase? But turn that butt around and you’ll fi nd
many worthy and admirable contributions. And not just buildings — as though
design started and stopped with isolated objects. There are also many artful
items, spaces and sequences that sparkle with memorable design moments.
Here’s just a start:
Downtown, take 10th Avenue from the Overpark in both directions. Look out
from the rooftop, which is the only “park” and open space — unless you count
holes — in this sector of the downtown. The views here are rooftop-garden-like
in all directions. An idea for a new park?
Next door, the Downtown Athletic Club is a classy remodeling of the old
Ax Billy Department Store and National Theater buildings. Across the street, the
Schaefers Building has an interesting stepped-concrete arch and some multi-
colored brickwork in chevron motifs on the upper fl oor that are widely admired.
Further on are the Atrium Courtyard, LTD Transit Station and Eugene
Public Library, each with something special to offer. The three-story indoor
Atrium courtyard with its fi g-tree café is a lofty and unique public service center
as well as a surprisingly pleasing venue for intimate musical events.
Across the street, the LTD Station delivers a dynamic cross-block layout of
bus pavilions and features our two “great arches” of arch-itecture.
The brickwork and windows of the new library are particularly fi ne, especially
its stained glass John Rose windows. The sky-lit interior stairwell and two-story
airy reading spaces at each end of the library overcompensate for the building’s
odd Gothic tower and Quonset-hanger roof.
At the west end of 10th are the Lincoln Street Townhouses with their calliope
of colored chimneystacks. These and the High Street Row Houses next to Skinner
Butte plus The Tate on Olive compose the best of downtown urban living.
East on 10th Avenue is the four-story 10th and Mill Building, one of our best
new downtown offi ce additions. Its careful detailing and high quality materials —
tile panels, colorful brickwork, bronze windows and special fi xtures — set it above
and apart from the usual commercial architecture of Eugene
Some prefer the new U.S. Courthouse, but I still admire the EWEB
Headquarters Building. I like the way it sits so gracefully just beyond the
DeFazio suspension bridge along the downtown riverfront. Its bifurcated siting,
which forms a gateway to the river, and its soft sculptural assemblage project an
unmistakable civic signifi cance. It’s an elegant entry sentinel to our city center.
Lillis Hall is certainly the best new building on campus. It completes the
Memorial Quad and enhances the glorious campus sequence that is 13th Avenue.
Step into the Lillis stepped-glass enclosed coffee bar in the entrance atrium and
look out at the wind sculpture toward Dads’ Gates, or walk out the high glass
entry doors that point past Ellis Lawrence’s JSMA and through the English oaks
to the cherry-covered terrace of his Knight Library.
Hope Abbey at the Eugene Masonic Cemetery is a must see while you’re
still alive. The recently restored Abbey is a little known Lawrence masterpiece. Its
historic cemetery setting is our best example of a native plant-oriented, “English
country-style” resting place as attested to by many famous Eugene and Oregon
pioneers.
And for those of U still obsessing over the largest O that ever ducked a
sign ordinance: That’s not a sign, it’s a war memorial. Just be grateful that our
university wasn’t named Holy Cross.
Jerry Diethelm is a Eugene architect and landscape architect, and planning and urban design consultant.
www.eugeneweekly.com
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