LADDS ADDITION

This animation is designed as a time lapse to show how construction evolved in the Ladds Addition neighborhood in Portland. What I love about this approach is that you can use the resulting graphics as a tool to discover patterns (like the massive construction boom in 1924 and 1925).

The aesthetic of ladds’ construction is soaked in history. There are the huge homes from decades one and two (1900-1920) and the smaller craftsman of decade three (1920-1930).

PROCESS: EXPORT

Because this is a year-by-year time lapse, I fill the plots for a particular year and then export. Then I use the same map, fill the plots for the following year, and export again.

OBSERVATIONS

While recording these dates, I discovered that the very first structure within the boundary: 1825 SE 12th Avenue, had actually been recorded as the oldest house in Portland. And that it wasn’t until 1903 when construction began in Ladds, which started in the Northwest corner near what’s now 7-11.

The most interesting thing to me, though, was the massive construction boom in 1924 and 1925. By the end of the 1920s 90 percent of Ladds had acquired infrastructure.

PROCESS:RESEARCH

First, I used portlandmaps to locate the construction date of each plot in Ladds Addition and the surrounding area.