Posts Tagged ‘naming’

Off to the Races: The Turbine Energy Challenge

08.17.09

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Okay, in the past few days as we have been putting up the wind turbines, we have started to test the systems that tell us how much energy we have been producing from the wind we have gotten so far… for lack of loftier phrasing, it could be about the coolest thing I have ever seen. You can actually monitor each of the individual turbines and calculate which one is putting out the most energy at any given time. So, after being completely BLOWN AWAY (no pun intended)  by how cool that was, we said… holy heck… PDX did such a good job with naming our building why not name the turbines and create a competition out of them. So here is how it works…

Portland… we need names. Think the Kentucky Derby. Think horse racing. Think competition. Rocky. The Windy Rider. Breaking Wind… Anything goes. You can text. Tweet. Email. Or comment. Here:

Text: 503.929.6129
Email: matt.edlen@gerdingedlen.com
tweet: @indigo12west (but you should be following that already…)
Comment: here of course!
Anyway… help us name. In a few weeks we want to have these suckers titled and ready to go. Then we are off to the RACES!

photo by Jonathan Stephens www.jonathanstephens.com

photo by Jonathan Stephens www.jonathanstephens.com

Next. I will create twitter profiles for each of our turbines. Tweet them. Encourage them. Pep-talks. Whatever it takes to get your turbine to the finish… I will  pick points in the day to go check their status and tweet it out to you. End of the week I’ll have graphs… getting fancy now!!!!!! See if your turbine is winning. Place bets. It will be a race to save (energy of course).

PDX… We’re all about you. Let the race begin!

Come See the Wizard

07.31.09

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So Portland has spoken. And so have a few of you from well outside of town. We got some great name submissions, and a lot of good interaction. We had over 14,000 visitors to the site. A total of 830 people suggested over 1,800 names for the building. We gathered piles of feedback from people letting us know which names they liked, and which they did not. Overall, it was a fun process to watch, and to be a part of. From all of us here behind the scenes, we’d like to express a sincere Thank You to all who participated.

Name submission and feedback are now closed. Our crack team of experts is evaluating the top list of choices and determining the final name. We’ll be unveiling the final choices of names for the building, the roof garden, the theater, and the gym at a party for the public this coming First Thursday, August 6th. The festivities will begin at 5 p.m. We’ll gather in the street-level retail space inside the southwest corner of the building for some live music, beer, wine, and eats for all to enjoy. We’ll showcase the opening night of the Hybrid Gallery: A Roving Project Space brought to you by Gerding Edlen Management and the Pacific Northwest College of Art. Take a little peek at the wizard behind the curtain as we hear remarks from Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Architects, the building’s designers and main residents, as well as from Gerding Edlen Development and the Pacific Northwest College of Art. It’s our little way of saying again, thank you, Portland.  The unveiling of chosen names for the building will begin at 6 p.m. Don’t miss it!

Why are we doing this?

07.01.09

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The idea came to one of us early in the morning before dawn. We’d been hired to do the first phase of marketing for this amazing building at the intersection of 12th and Washington Streets. After meeting with the architects, developers, and investors to learn as much as we could about the design of the building both inside and out, the character of the neighborhood, and the profile of the people who’ll live and work in the building, we set out to give it a name.

One of the core principles that the design and development team stressed continually was authenticity. The West End neighborhood has a diverse and edgy personality, and it was important to preserve and enhance that quality throughout the process. Another key principle was the desire on the part of everyone involved to have a collaborative process that ensured the best of all ideas would be able to surface and thrive. Collaboration is one of Portland’s great qualities, and it forms the bedrock upon which the city has grown—and grown well.

Portlanders have a long history of engaging one another about the issues surrounding the kind of city we live in now, and what kind of city we want in the future. These conversations are not always easy, but they are increasingly the thing that differentiates the incredible livability of this city compared with so many across the country.

Fast forward to a moment before dawn when the path for naming the building became clear: we should ask the people of Portland for their help: Portlanders, whose thoughtful, imaginative and creative intuition and thoughtfulness would reveal a clear, authentic voice. We wanted Portland to take a seat at the table, add their two cents into the mix, help come up with an authentic name for a building that, as the first mixed-used building in the nation to seek Platinum LEED certification, will be a sterling example for cities elsewhere.

So that’s the story, and we’re hoping you will jump in and join the conversation. Let us know what names you like, and what names you don’t think make the cut. Throw your own creativity into the mix and see how it measures up in the eyes of your fellow Portlanders. We’re listening, and we’re glad you’re talking.