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Cloepfil: The dialogue of architecture is so much broader there. In places like The Netherlands, the government actually helps fund the [architecture] offices. There are all kinds of programs for starting what they call "cultural work." It's a big issue here in the United States: how you initiate new work, new practices. It's very hard for young architects to get work here.

Libby: As you've moved up the hierarchical ladder, when you hire young architects to work for you, have you seen certain skills present or lacking?

Cloepfil: There's a lot of talent out there. I think problems with the architecture profession are at the top, not the bottom.

Libby: How does coming from Oregon affect your sensibility?

Cloepfil: The inspiration for my work comes from growing up and living and working in the Pacific Northwest: looking to the landscape for that sense of evocative space rather than the cities, because the cities don't have it here. I don't mean landscape in just a romantic sense — trees and flowers — I mean looking at the physical, spatial qualities of the land.

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Born and raised in Portland, Cloepfil studied at the University of Oregon and Columbia University before working with Skidmore, Owings and Merrill in Los Angeles, Mitchell/Giurgola in New York, and Mario Botta in Switzerland. His work seems particularly influenced by Botta's emphasis on craftsmanship and geometric order.

Although Cloepfil's unbuilt Seattle Brewing Company and Sitings Project attracted significant attention from architecture magazines, it is his headquarters for the award-winning Wieden + Kennedy advertising agency that has secured his reputation.

Fashioned from a historic warehouse that had previously served as a cold-storage facility in Portland's industrial-chic Pearl District, the restoration is an extraordinary integration of concrete, wood, and light in an atrium-centered layout.

Though still under construction, Cloepfil's FCA has already justified its benefactors' bold choice for an architect. The building is a poetic study in angles and curves, its smooth concrete skin and sculpted shape and displaying the power of simplicity that marks the best of contemporary architecture.

Brian Libby is a Portland-based freelance writer who has also published in Metropolis and Architectural Record.

The Wieden + Kennedy building was one of 11 winners at this year's Business Week/ Architectural Record Awards. Photo: Sally Schoolmaster In keeping with the Northwest Style pioneered by Pietro Belluschi and others in the mid-20th Century, Cloepfil's design incorporates abundant light to counterbalance Oregon's rainy climate. Photo: Sally Schoolmaster The three-dimensional, translucent quality of the interior de-emphasizes the traditional hierarchy of the American office. Photo: Sally Schoolmaster Composite diagram, Wieden + Kennedy building. Image: Allied Works Architecture Spatial diagram, Wieden + Kennedy building. Image: Allied Works Architecture Structural diagram, Wieden + Kennedy building. Image: Allied Works Architecture Layering for light, Wieden + Kennedy building. Image: Allied Works Architecture   Click on thumbnail images to view full-size pictures.