Paul Ries, Architect (an architecture and design counseling company)

Firm Profile

ries.architecture is a small, highly responsive, community based architectural practice. It was founded as the Design Counsel Group in 1994 on the belief that the benefits of design should be available across all economic boundaries and that the purchase and use of design services need not be a frightening experience for the infrequent user. Though its name has recently been changed, its mission is the same.

Over the years, the practice has evolved around two distinct passions. The first passion is one of community design and enablement. This part of the practice gives people easy access to professional and creative design assistance, helps them through the normally complex design process, and enables the possibility of “just right” design solutions. To make this part of the practice work, a way needed to be found for people to feel as comfortable about purchasing a service as they do about buying goods at the store. Likewise, it had to be easy for people to select a level of assistance and care that not only fit the project scope, but allowed them to feel ownership in their project.

The second passion that anchors the practice is one that understands that larger projects most often have the same needs of enablement as the smaller projects. These public and commercial projects touch the everyday lives of many people, have a complex (and sometimes conflicting) scope of work, and tend to take the idea of community design and enablement to the larger scale. Past projects have included many public and commercial buildings, with owners from among city government, private developers, and non-profit agencies. For the most part, these projects are regionally located, but there is an increasing breadth to the practice with projects completed as far away as New Zealand, and Bamaku, West Mali, Africa.

The founder and principal of the firm, Paul Ries, is a registered architect and has prime responsibility for the work. Besides those of us in the firm, the project group is selected from among many past associates to bring all of the needed skills to the project. The confidence drawn from Paul’s past membership in the construction trades further allows the benefit of working partnerships with builders and specialty subcontractors during design and construction. It is because of these partnerships, and the creativity springing from an open and honest manner of working that the evolution of some truly magical design solutions have been enabled.

In-house capabilities include: all phases of architectural and interior design; permit and construction documentation; material and system research and specification; urban design and neighborhood planning; feasibility and due diligence studies; pre-purchase design review; building/facility programming and planning; and, the ability to provide quick counsel on specific issues of design, code, construction and development. To keep creative time at a maximum on each project, computer technology is used extensively for all typical technical and administrative portions of the practice. A state of the art, object oriented CAD program makes it easy to create photo realistic design visualizations and models of the project for review and virtual walkthrough at any time. Renderings and illustrations can easily be done through the computer or by using typical, hand drawn techniques.

R i e s Advice

Architecture

A r c h i t e c t u r e Construction Management

Community Development & Enablement

Paul Ries, Architect, NCARB

PO Box 3677

Portland, OR 97208 Tel 503.764.2330 Fax 866.936.1119

Email: ries.architecture @ gmail.com