Ziba Design

Ziba Design is the original Portland industrial design firm that has grown up. They now engage clients worldwide in experience design, interior design, branding, mobile and web. For instance, the Umpqua bank branch office concept, including WiFi, events and comfortable spots to sit, was created by Ziba. The Art Museum rebranding as well. They have designed sexy backpacker stoves and probably designed your office printer. They have a separate lobby entrance in the Northwest corner of the building that often has design examples on display.
If you need to design any of those, you should interview Ziba.
But this review is about their auditorium event space.
The auditorium has a separate entrance on Marshall in the Northeast corner of the building. The entry is designed to allow a variety of entries into and exits from the auditorium, including discretely while events are in progress. To do so, there are stairs and an elevator to go to the upper floor and enter at the upper rear of the seating area. Handicapped seating would be potentially two full rows: in the front, in front of the zero clearance fold up seats, or in the rear of the auditorium on the reception level.
At the top back of the seating area is an about 20 foot sliding wall. That opens into a large, long, beautiful room with a fully functional kitchen. Adjacent is an outdoor deck. The room also admits a view at the other end to a minimal garden with bamboo.
The auditorium has built in sound and works well acoustically. The lighting is designed for speakers in the front, not theatrical lighting. They have a large floor video display for speakers to see their presentations.
All of the spaces are highly designed, with extensive use of old growth fir and pristine concrete. Unique are the Ziba-​designed folding seats which are comfortable. I believe the auditorium is about 200 occupancy.
I’ve seen the auditorium used for design-​oriented events. Depending on the time of use, it may be necessary to pay for security. Like uses of W+K’s atrium, the agency has a responsibility to protect their clients’ confidential work on future products going on in the rest of the building.
Need design work? Consider hiring Ziba.
Need a pristine, modern space for a design event that includes sitting and listening to a speaker, with catering-​friendly beautiful places for mingling and discussion before or after? Inquire about their auditorium. It’s worth it just to see the sliding walls!