AIA-SWO President’s Message
February 2011

Our next chapter meeting will be held on March 16th in the Wildish Theatre in downtown Springfield. We’ll enjoy a nice, tidy little performance space, done up well by Otto Poticha and some friends.

Some of you may not know that I had a career in theater before becoming an architect. So of course I got to thinking about the separation or convergence between theater and architecture. There was a time about 30 years ago when this town was in dire need of a new civic theatre; the auditorium at South Eugene High School was all we had — a two thousand seat shoe box that had acoustics and a thermal envelope quality worthy of a shoe, but not the arts. Some folks back then worked hard to do something about it. They became a formidable force behind bringing us the Hult Center.

The Lane County Auditorium Association was led by Ed Ragozzino, who at the time was the Drama Director at South Eugene High School, He and his cohorts, David Sherman and Jerry Williams, were re-producing Broadway musicals at South, but the need to raise money and bring awareness for a new civic auditorium became paramount.

Finally a bond measure was passed and the $28 million facility was built. It was designed by Hardy Holzman and Pfeiffer, at the time a premier performing arts center architecture firm. They had recently completed the Boetcher concert hall in Denver and were selected to design the Eugene Performance Hall as well the Anchorage Performing Arts Center. Jerry McDonnell came to Eugene to manage the project and stayed.

We easily forget about the folks who started the movement to build the Hult. Ed Ragozzino moved his operation to Lane Community College and Otto designed the performance Hall there.

A small group of people with a vision attained a greater goal.

It’s 30 years later and now I think about the built environment and the profession of architecture. How can we raise AIA-SWO’s visibility in the community? How can we better share our opinions and visions with our neighbors? Looking back at that bit of theater history inspires me.

There are civic and community decisions being made right now that will affect us for many years to come.

Please get involved, learn about these and add your voice. Our members are geared towards solving problems and looking for solutions.
We are looking hard at what it means to have good design in and around our community.

I ask that you all have a look at the issues because all it takes is a small group to do big things!

Here are some current relevant community discussions.
Transportation:
The EMX

Growth:
Envision Eugene
SWOregonArchitect.blogspot.com

I hope to see you all at the Wildish Theatre in Springfield. We will get a tour of the theatre, have a dinner together, share some drinks and discussion about the arts and our community.

And then we’ll have Design Spring’s third edition of 10Square, a rapid-fire retelling of design problems and passions that it exciting, engaging, and inspiring. You won’t want to miss it!


Paul Dustrud, AIA
AIA Southwestern Oregon, President.
541.338.8544