Guest Contributor: Artemio Paz, Architect

There is more to architecture than mortar and steel. Cultural and social concerns impact and are influenced by the questions of how and why a building takes shape. Artemio Paz, an architect based in the Willamette Valley, creates public and private buildings that address both the physical and cultural dimensions of the people using the spaces along with a sustainable design approach.

I met Artemio several years ago and got to know him when he took my painting class through Art in the Mountains in Bend, Oregon. I discovered that Artemio is quite the creative renaissance man. He and his wife Edana invited my family to their home on a hilltop blanketed with blueberry bushes and a gorgeous fence of fruit trees pruned to be as 2-dimensional as possible. Old growth timber edges the fields of fruits, cloaking us in the early evening shadows as we picked fruit. It is truly a magical place.

An architect (along with developers) shoulders the responsibility of creating buildings that will likely outlive them while either enhancing or distressing the planet for generations to come. I admire Artemio's creative approach and invited him to share some of his current work. Here's what he had to say about his recent projects:

Here are entry foyer pictures as an example of a recent commercial renovation project, the Oregon State University (OSU) Foundation entry renovation. We have a diverse design project portfolio with an emphasis on a sustainable design approach dating back tothe early 1980's illustrating how to incorporate alternative passive solar daylighting, space heating and domestic hot water heating through to more comprehensive considerations of site, materials and indoor air quality issues and related social / cultural dimensions of frames the issues of the public commons and equity issues of sustainability.

Our office web site illustrates that work, www.apazarchitect.com. In addition, I recently taught an architectural design studio in the UO School of Architecture, this past winter as an Adjunct Professor, and I am currently a member of the Oregon State Board of Education as one of 7 Governor appointed members creating policy direction for the state's 197 school districts and 17 Community Colleges.

Art APAZ Architect, AIA Springfield, Oregon www.apazarchitect.com