Ankrom Moisan Portland Office

Our Mass Timber Creative Office

In 2014, it was time for us to reimagine our workplace and leave the confined spec office we had outgrown over 26 years. So we partnered with developer Gerding Edlen to build 38 Davis on a vacant urban site in Portland’s Old Town Chinatown District. It would be the district’s first ground-up construction in over a decade and one of the first buildings in the world certified by the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) v4 rating program. Part office, part classroom, part home, and part retail, 38 Davis is a six-story mid-rise that does more. It paved a clearer code path for mass timber buildings in Portland. It gives 13 low-income households a healthy, transit-connected home. It saves 202,800 gallons of water every year. And it gives us a home base that’s purely us.

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Portland, Oregon
  • 65
  • 6 stories
  • 140,617 sq. ft.
  • Completed in 2017
PROGRAM

Workplace Interiors , Mid-Rise , Classroom and Office

PROJECT CONTACT

Architecture: Murray Jenkins

Interiors: Karen Bowery

Brand: Sara Van Dyke

officemsc@ankrommoisan.com


Architecture Story

Honest. Communal. Us.

As Old Town’s first ground-up construction in a decade, we created a true mixed-use offering where people live, work, learn, and play that adds to the character and vibrancy of the district. The structure of 38 Davis capitalizes on a historic method of a traditional 3×4 tongue-in-groove system with locally sourced Douglas fir timber beams and exposed columns. Inside, you can see where the beams come together—the joints, and the brace frames—in an energetic display of raw materials and craftsmanship that mirrors the work we do. The post-and-beam system permitted the large interior spaces, high ceilings, and large window openings, achieving our vision of a “warehouse” space that is modern and utilitarian, yet historic and comfortable. Large, open floor plates were what we needed to create dynamic communal spaces. Thanks to a unique, inter-use greywater reclamation system, 38 Davis saves 202,800 gallons of water every year. One of the first ever LEED v4 certified developments, the entire building is a tool for sustainable education. Located along the Willamette River in Portland’s Old Town district, 38 Davis is a destination for students, residents, our staff, and guests. Each day, we all flow through the ground floor communal lobby, where reclaimed wood wraps the threshold to shared elevators and guides visitors to our offices on the third and fourth floor. 38 Davis represents what we aspire to deliver to each of our clients: vibrant, community-centered designs that support authentic culture and inspire every person that uses them, every day.

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Interior Story

Where Communities Converge

Our headquarters at 38 Davis epitomizes who we are, what we stand for, and where we’re going together. The interiors are just as kinetic, compelling, and signature to us. Located along the Willamette River in Portland’s Old Town district, 38 Davis is a destination for students, residents, our staff, and guests. Each day, we all flow through the ground floor communal lobby, where a custom, back-lit art wall expresses the topography of the iconic, adjacent river. Reclaimed wood wraps the threshold to shared elevators, guiding visitors to our offices on the third and fourth floor. 38 Davis represents what we aspire to deliver to each of our clients: vibrant, community-centered designs that support authentic culture and inspire every person that uses them.

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Brand Story

Threads of True Essence

We chose the name 38 Davis for its auspicious meaning: The number 8 in Chinese is a homonym for “wealth” and “fortune,” appropriately summing up how fortunate we felt to be creating 38 Davis from an owner's perspective and our aspiration for the district. As the first building raised in the district in over a decade, 38 Davis was an opportunity to bring together the architectural styles and art of both Old Town and Chinatown in a modern reinterpretation. The exterior architecture of the six-story midrise is an elegant nod to the area’s rich historical forms. The interiors continue the experience using honest materials like brick, wood, metal, and cast iron. Brand is the thread that weaves them both together, translating the language of nearby historic and natural elements into accessible moments at a human scale. Eight artifacts from the Eric Ladd Cast Iron Collection are an invitation to the building's most public, eastern face. Pedestrians heading to and from Tom McCall Waterfront Park can walk among salvaged iron columns, arches, and other decorative pieces from the Italianate-style and cast-iron buildings of Portland's Skidmore/Old Town historic district. Along Davis Street, the 38 Davis logo signals the building’s main entry. An abstraction of an infinity sign, the logo follows the shape of the river, inspired by the fluidity of Chinese calligraphy and the layers of a brush stroke. It alludes to the layers of community and experiences within. Along with our offices, the mixed-use building houses retail on the ground floor, office space on the second through fourth floors, and workforce housing on the fifth and sixth floors. Students, our staff, residents, and guests—they all converge in the communal ground floor lobby, where a back-lit metal art wall serves as an abstract representation of the Willamette River.

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