Eugene/Architecture/Alphabet: N

Ninkasi Brewing's Administration Building, 155 Blair Boulevard (my photo)

This is the next in my Eugene/Architecture/Alphabet series of blog posts, the focus of each being a landmark building here in Eugene. Many of these will be familiar to most who live here but there are likely to be a few buildings that are less so. My selection criteria for each will be threefold:

1. The building must be of architectural interest, local importance, or historically significant.
2. The building must be extant so you or I can visit it in person.
3. Each building’s name will begin with a particular letter of the alphabet, and I must select one (and only one) for each of the twenty-six letters. This is easier said than done for some letters, whereas for other characters there is a surfeit of worthy candidates (so I’ll be discriminating and explain my choice in those instances).

This entry’s selection begins with the letter N, for which my choice is Ninkasi Brewing.

Ninkasi Brewing's Administration Building, 155 Blair Boulevard (photo from Albrecht Architecture's website)

Ninkasi Brewing

The craft beer movement swelled during the early years of this century, with Oregon reigning supreme as a locus for some of most flavorful and decorated craft brews to be found anywhere. Jamie Floyd and Nikos Ridge founded Eugene’s Ninkasi Brewing Company in 2006, riding the crest of that wave. The two moved their burgeoning operation to its current location in the Whiteaker neighborhood in 2007, which they believed was the ideal site to realize their vision of a business focused on community and culture. Today, the company’s production and lab facilities, marketing and administrative offices, and its Better Living Room restaurant and gathering space occupy three buildings.
 

Ninkasi's Tasting Room at 272 Van Buren Street (photo from Albrecht Architecture's website)

Ninkasi was the Mesopotamian goddess of beer and brewing. Befitting the worship of the mistress of beer, architects Chuck Bailey and Kurt Albrecht designed Ninkasi’s collection of facilities in a manner intended to both venerate the production and consumption of ales, IPAs, pilsners, porters, and stouts, and add to the Whit’s vibrancy. Toward this end, they succeeded in spades. The Ninkasi buildings sit within the neighborhood rather than apart from it. Each is architecturally distinctive, while at the same time unified by a palette of common colors, eclectic forms, and quirky details. They mirror the neighborhood’s spunk, texture, and eccentricity. The buildings are very contextual—they simply would look out of place anywhere else in Eugene.
 

Ninkasi's brewery facility at 220 Blair Boulevard (my photo)

You can see the workings of the brewery as you walk, cycle, or drive by the facilities. A bridge conveying batches of the company’s liquid gold crosses over Blair Boulevard. Decorative metalwork pieces, such as at gates and fences, reinforce the company’s branding. Ninkasi’s signature teal color carries from the exterior into the buildings, appearing consistently throughout: in the furnishings, accents, and the like. The overarching mise-en-scène is that of a raw, industrial stage set, utilizing exposed steel trusses and railings, snaking ductwork and piping, and suspended lighting to deliberate effect.

 

The Better Living Room (my photo)

Located inside the administrative building, the Better Living Room is a singularly impressive indoor place. It is the community hub Jamie Floyd and Nikos Ridge imagined when they first staked their claim in the Whiteaker neighborhood. The soaring space is at once awesome and welcoming, a comfortable hangout within which to enjoy good company, good beer, and mouthwatering comfort food. Portland-based creative agency Murmur developed the vintage living room aesthetic that plays well against the brewery’s industrial character.     
 

Expressive structural detailing (my photo)

I’m not a craft brew aficionado, but I do appreciate the earnest efforts of Ninkasi Brewing to position their business and utilize idiosyncratic architecture in a way that is of its place. Bolstering the Whit’s distinctiveness through design—not to mention unique craft beers—has created the sense of community Ninkasi’s founders sought, in the process helping people connect with their neighbors, genuine experiences, and shared identity.