Wednesday, January 09, 2019

Integral Design Institute

I'm not sure that's exactly the name, which is reminiscent of Ken Wilber's thing, but then we have only so many ways of permuting academy names with "integral" and "design" in them.  I think of an architecture firm, but the goal is outreach and skill sharing, in a way Oregon says it would like: make vocational work great again.

Glenn is the principal in that he has the most capital, in terms of knowledge and tools.  He's set up an entire factory in an old mining town, after most had moved away.  He knows about the issues around unreinforced masonry buildings in earthquake subduction zones -- the kind of thing we talk about at Wanderers all the time.

The one he has his eye on today is in a good place and would be ready for business tomorrow were his backers to make a successful bid.  These plans are completely distinct from Linus Pauling House scenarios, which are ISEPP business, a different institute with a long track record of educating Oregonians.  Terry has brought a lot of the heavyweights through here, not just to speak in auditoriums but to visit the schools.

Speaking of schools, I'm interested in alternatives to driving to other counties (sometimes) when delivering after school content.  A lot of the costs are borne by the instructor, in terms of both time and mileage.  An alternative model is where students come to the venue.  Yet another model brings another principal into the loop via closed circuit TOIP (television over IP), i.e. using Zoom or one of those.

Nirel and Glenn are having a meeting about the property in question.  But does Portland as a city have an existing plan to assist creatives.  In the face of high rent, finding studio space just to work on projects has become difficult, especially if you need to sleep somewhere else.  Boathouses have some serious drawbacks.  A lot of apparently vacant commercial space has issues.

The thriving business in Portland is storage units.  As creatives get pushed into downsizing, they fill the units, but aren't able to work in them.  ActiveSpace was to be a solution.  We couldn't sleep there.  Portland Knowledge Lab rented digs, but then the promising WiFi solution fell through (Metro chapter).

Glenn and I went through a chapter looking for a kid-friendly training space when we thought AFSC was trying to expand (quite the opposite).  The commercial space on Hawthorne, near the School of Rock, would have been much higher profile than most Quakers could handle I think.  AFSC isn't built to be that front and center, except in Philadelphia perhaps.  Or am I wrong?