2&Taylor

This commercial adaptive reuse project transformed an underused downtown Portland building (the former Yamhill Marketplace) into creative mixed-use office and ground-floor commercial space. The three-story, 70,000-square-foot, 1980s-era building — originally built as a festival marketplace and later converted to commercial office and retail space — had declined to a position of low rental rates and high vacancy.

The redesign totally rebranded the property, opened up its dark interior spaces by replacing small original windows and a synthetic stucco building skin with expansive windows and a new high quality brick and stone skin. A new commercial office entry and lobby replaced the building’s loading dock, and the oversized freight elevator was redesigned to serve creative office space on the upper floors. Original terraced interior atrium spaces were reconfigured, and extra stair towers removed to establish open, efficient, daylit flat floor office space. The original roof terrace was redesigned as an office tenant amenity space incorporating a rich palette of plant materials, a bocce ball court, and catering facilities.

2&Taylor is a deliberately contemporary building with its design roots in the context of the Yamhill Historic District; the design process included Historic Landmarks Commission Review. 2&Taylor received two Green Globes for meeting environmental performance certification standards.