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Critic calls for new direction in Oregon's architecture and land-use planning (January 29, 2007)

Randy Gragg, architecture critic for the Oregonian, delivers Commonplace Lecture, "Against Nostalgia," at historic Temple Beth Israel in Portland

In his 17 years of writing about art, architecture, and planning for the Oregonian newspaper, Randy Gragg says he is struck by how many of the state's conflicts in these arenas are rooted in efforts to merely preserve the past rather than build on it.

"Preservation is an easy argument," he says. "Articulating a theory of change is much harder. By holding on so hard to the past, I believe we, as a region, risk becoming victims of the future."

Gragg, the Oregonian's architecture critic, will deliver a free public lecture, "Against Nostalgia: The roots of a new direction for architecture and planning in Oregon," at Temple Beth Israel, 1931 NW Flanders St., Portland, on Saturday, February 24, 2007, at 5 p.m. with a reception to follow. Free parking will be available in designated lots. The lecture is part of the Commonplace Lectures series, sponsored by the Oregon Council for the Humanities (OCH).

In his lecture, Gragg will offer a historic tour of Oregon's 1930s architecture, along with the era's less-widely known efforts in conservation and land-use planning. Gragg argues that this highly progressive and regionally focused period of urbanism and ecology may provide more salient lessons for today than the much-mythologized Tom McCall-era '70s.

In particular, Gragg will revisit the career of John Yeon. Best known as the architect of the 1937 Aubrey Watzek House, a seminal example of 20th-century Northwest regional architecture, Yeon also played important roles in early conservation efforts for the Columbia Gorge and Olympic range.

Gragg believes Yeon should be considered Oregon's first architecture critic. "In his design work and writing, Yeon consistently articulated an overarching design philosophy that encompassed planning, landscape ecology, architecture, and historic preservation," Gragg says. "Yeon was entirely knowledgeable and respectful of the past but totally unbound by nostalgia."

Gragg has written for the Oregonian since 1989. He was a 2005-06 Loeb Fellow at Harvard University's Graduate School of Design and a 1994-95 National Arts Journalism Fellow at the Columbia University School of Journalism.

OCH interim executive director Carrie Hoops says that the Council specifically chose Temple Beth Israel as the venue for Gragg's lecture because of its architectural and historical significance. Completed in 1928, the temple is considered one of the finest examples of Byzantine architecture in the Northwest and is designated on the National Register of Historic Places.

Gragg says that Temple Beth Israel is also symbolic because it was designed by Herman Brookman, the architect for whom Yeon worked as an office boy. Yeon was largely self-taught as an architect and got much of his education while working for Brookman.

Hoops says, "We hope the public will seize this opportunity to experience one of the region's most stunning buildings, while learning about Oregon's history and imagining its future with one of the Portland's most well-regarded architecture critics."

"Against Nostalgia" is part of OCH's Commonplace Lectures, a series that connects ideas and places. Commonplace Lectures are offered three times a year throughout the state and are also published as chapbooks.

Past presenters include Portland writer Matthew Stadler, who talked about community at the historic Liberty Theater in Astoria; Whitman College professor Don Snow, who spoke about rural development at the Slickfork Saloon in Pendleton; and University of Puget Sound professor Mott Greene, who discussed science and democracy at the Jean Vollum Natural Capital Center in Portland.

Contact: Kathleen Holt, Editor, (503) 241-0543