This summer, two wooden porches appear in the fields around Pendarvis Farm. Positioned at Pickathon’s arrival and departure points, they receive travelers coming and going from the festival. Set against the open horizons of farmland, each Long Porch presents itself as an unexpected and incomplete structure: a facade without a building, a streetfront without a town, an entry to an open horizon. Conjuring memories of train stops, rural barns, storefronts, and ghost towns, the Long Porch makes clear you have arrived. But where you have arrived is not so clear, and that invites deeper exploration.
A Straightforward Structure in a Rural Landscape
Collaboratively designed by the architecture practices Big-Marks and DRAWINGS, the Long Porch is built in a straightforward manner fitting its rural context. “We both grew up in rural Oregon,” says Jonathan Heppner of Big-Marks. “There’s a matter of fact, resourceful way of building we intuitively channeled with these structures.”
The Long Porch is assembled from a repeating, self-supported cantilever of stick-frame wood. In the hot expanse of the open summer fields, the roof provides necessary shade over a raised deck, a place to drop off and gather belongings, people, and the necessaries of a long festival weekend. Just as straightforward to assemble, the structure is meant to be taken apart. Like the ephemeral experience of a festival, the pavilion is present, until it is not.
“Rural Oregon is full of these structures that provide meaning to us beyond their initial use,” says William Smith of DRAWINGS. “A barn might sit empty or be missing a wall, yet still serve as an orienting memory on our horizon.”
At Pickathon, the Long Porch orients its travelers. Preparing to come and go, everyone gathers at the Long Porch: the entry to a place built to disappear.
Where the Porch Goes Next
True to the Creative Neighborhoods mission, the Long Porch is built to live on. After the festival, its lumber begins a new journey. A portion will be repurposed as a garden greenhouse for a retired nurse in Milwaukie living on a fixed income. Another portion will travel to North Portland to frame a gallery installation for a community-planning project, where the material will support neighborhood conversations about the future of the district.
The Design and Build Team
Big-Marks is an architecture practice based in Portland, Oregon, founded by Jonathan Heppner, AIA. At the forefront of timber innovation, Jonathan has contributed to first-of-their-kind wood projects across the U.S. The studio strengthens the connection between natural landscapes, material systems, and the built environment to create projects with enduring value, making thoughtful, well-loved buildings by clearing the barriers to participation and creativity.
DRAWINGS is an architecture practice based in Brooklyn, New York, and Portland, Oregon, led by Daniel Garcia and William Smith. The studio creates buildings and civic structures that feel at once unexpected and inevitable: clear in form, yet layered in experience. Seeking an architecture that invites discovery rather than revealing itself all at once, their work uses simple forms that contain hidden complexities and, in turn, activate and support the landscapes they inhabit.
Schommer and Sons Construction has set the standard since 1937. Based in Portland, Oregon, the family-owned team is a trusted building partner for quality craftsmanship and exceptional care, helping clients tackle complex projects with tight timelines while setting the highest standards for safety and craftsmanship across the Pacific Northwest and beyond.
