ShoeBOX Lofts
Portland, Oregon

Owner:  Jon Gustafson
Area:     15,000 sf
Cost:     $3,080,000

The ShoeBOX project was designed to provide flexible retail space and genuine compact “lofts” to an emerging urban neighborhood well served by public transportation.  This development aimed to provide a visual relationship with the pedestrians and home-owners by offering a “sneak peak” into the central residential courtyard. This landscaped courtyard would encourage interaction between the homeowners by breaking away from the normally enclosed circulation and exposing the central stairs, individual unit entrances, and outdoor bike and scooter parking.  Each loft unit is designed simple and compact including appropriately sized appliances and equipment.  Each unit would also contain a full width overhead garage door bringing the outside in, whether it is the eastern landscaped yard or the western view of the city.  The goal of this project was to develop small units attractive to first time home-owners that rely on all modes of transportation while increasing the sense of community with the street, neighborhood, and within the development itself.