The Ladd Tower will share a single city block with the Victorian Era landmark, the Ladd Carriage House and a historic church. This project is within Portland’s Cultural District – bordered to the west by the historic South Park Blocks and to the east by SW Broadway, the city’s primary urban artery.Featuring a stone clad podium inspired by the surrounding historic buildings, the lower 3 floors of the tower will be comprised of retail and church spaces. The upper levels will engage a structural glazed glass curtain wall system providing daylight to the condominium units while creating a beautiful addition to the skyline – simultaneously transparent and reflective, changing with light conditions throughout the day.
The landscape design challenges include the effort to find unity between all three of the block’s buildings with their contrasting styles and ages, the accommodation of church and day care activities and the providing for public use and respite in this culturally active neighborhood.
KLA’s unique approach includes creating a podium for outdoor church services, reuse of an alle’ of architectural remnants from the Rose Friends Apartments that once inhabited the site and the use of a rich pallet of natural stone and distinct plantings to enhance an open play space for small children. Locations for additional culturally significant art are also an integral part of this semiformal design response.
