Alexis Shelindera

2301906672
LB44

Modern Architecture
Portland Building – Michael Graves

Architectural History of the Building

Source : Archdaily.com

Name of the Building : Portland Building

Location : Portland , United States
Architect : Michael Graves
Built in : 1982
Completed in : 1982
Function : Office
The Portland Building was built by Michael Graves and became the first Post-modern building in North America.
The building started to become controversial when many asked about its validity and usefulness among
Portland residents. In addition, The Portland Building also received harsh criticism for its excessive design and
closed interior plans.

The Portland Building, by architect and product designer Michael Graves, is considered the first major
masterpiece built from Postmodernist architecture. Its design, which features many symbolic elements on its
monumental facade, stands stark contrast into the functional modernist architecture that was dominant at the
time. As Graves describes his architecture: it is "a symbolic gesture, an attempt to rebuild an architectural
language and values that are not part of modernist homogeneity."
Plan and Circulation
Basement

The building has a basement level that is mostly dedicated to

Source : https://www.portlandoregon.gov/omf/article/528522
parking, loading and some mechanical / maintenance rooms.
Due to siteslope, the basement is fully underground at the west side
of the building but only partially submerged at the east. The main
entrance to both parking and loading is located on the east side of
the building. Vehicle parking is distributed around the perimeter
walls as well as around the core. The basement also houses bike
storage for building occupants. The bike racks are wall mounted
and line areas of the perimeter between vehicle parking spaces and
the wall. There are two small shower/changing rooms that include
restroom fixtures as well as lockers.

First Floor Plan

The first floor primarily consists of public spaces flanked with

tenants (mainly restaurant/retail). This public spaces on this floor
are historically significant. Main entry lobby is located at the east
side of the building and has an atrium that connects with an open
stair to the second floor public spaces. The main lobby leads to a
central elevator lobby for access to the upper floors. Beyond the
elevator lobby is a public seating area that consists of two platforms
connected with stairs. The seating area looks out over the park at
the east side of the building. These public spaces are flanked on the
north and south by tenant spaces geared towards restaurant/retail
Source : Archdaily.com
uses.

Second Floor

The second floor houses a public gallery space for visual arts
installations that is open to the first floor below. The gallery is
surrounded on the north and south sides by large mechanical
rooms and plenum space that utilizes louvered openings at the
outside of the building. This floor also houses an auditorium and
several large conference rooms at the east end of the building.

Source : Dezeen.com
Third Floor

The 3rd floor houses a large data center located at the west side of the
floor. Facilities dispatch and locker rooms for maintenance staff are
located in the northeast corner. There is anemployee fitness center on
this floor that includes a group exercise room as well as an equipment
room. There is also a large conference room located along the south wall.
The 3rd floor has very small windows and is best suited to unoccupied or
transient uses. Many of the uses already located on this floor are well
suited to this (data center, fitness center, conference rooms, etc.)
Source : https://www.portlandoregon.gov/omf/article/528522

Typical Office Floors (4-15 floor)

The typical office floors consist of the core areas (e.g. elevator lobbies,
stairs, restrooms, etc.) and tenant office spaces. The building core areas
are relatively standardized from floor to floor in terms of layout and
finishes. The tenant areas, however, have been updated in a much more
piecemeal fashion at the discretion of the individual bureau tenants. The
individual floors are usually separated from the elevator lobbies by a pair
of doors located at the east and west sides of the lobby. There is typically
no view to the outside from the elevator lobbies or department reception
areas which makes these areas feel isolated.

Source : Archdaily.com

Influence of Post Modern Architecture on Appearance

Postmodern architecture is a style or movement that
emerged in the 1960s as a reaction to the simplicity,
formality, and lack of variation in modern architecture,
particularly in the international style advocated by
Philip Johnson and Henry-Russell Hitchcock. The
movement was introduced by architect and urban
planner Denise Scott Brown and architectural theorist
Robert Venturi in his book Learning from Las Vegas.
The style developed from the 1980s to the 1990s,
especially in the works of Scott Brown & Venturi, Philip
Johnson, Charles Moore and Michael Graves. In the
late 1990s, it split into many new trends, including high
tech architecture, neo-futurism and deconstructivism.
Source : Archdaily.com

Postmodern buildings seem to dominate the existing residential buildings in this building. Current material
development with local adjustments and ornaments is characteristic of this building. This can be seen from the
use of elements attached to the facade. In modern buildings, geometric shapes are a must. However, this
building shows the incorporation of formations in its façade.
Not all Postmodern architecture has stood the test of time (literally - the Graves Building in Portland, built
cheaply, is needed of restoration until today). But in principle, his human and expressive tendencies look quite
good in retrospect. Maybe it's time to look back.

Concept

Source : Archdaily.com

Graves wanted its facades to be built in terracotta glass - a common material in historic Portland buildings -
colored reinforced concrete and fiberglass used for cladding and decorative elements. Graves felt the
commission's importance outweighed material compromise. "I don't care if it's made from oatmeal, we will
budget," he said about his thoughts at the time. "We didn't make it out of the oatmeal, but very close."

In addition, its tiny windows, which were meant to also evoke the body - or "one window, one worker," as he
put it in his 1982 lecture - were immediately criticized by the occupants for being too small, leaving the interior
dark and unattractive. "Maybe they are too small, but that's the intention," Graves admitted in League talks.
Graves also lost in beautifying the interior of the building.

Even though the Graves building may look like a cartoon today, it was radical at the time. To win the
commission, he beat finalists Mitchell Giurgola, accompany New York-based, and Arthur Erickson, a-based
architect Vancouver, at the height of his career.

Where Portland is flat with its ornate facades, Humana is sculptural, with a more intricate relationship to the
land and horizon. It filled the street with deep colonnades associated with nearby low-rise buildings. The top
features a cantilevered armature that evokes the closest bridge that crosses the Ohio River. Time magazine
named it one of the best buildings of the 1980s.
 Section

Basement : Parking, Loading & some mechanical / maintenance rooms

First Floor : Lobby , Restaurant & Retails
Second Floor : Public gallery space , Mechanical rooms & Plenum space
Third Floor : Facilities dispatch , Locker rooms & Fitness center
Typical Office Floors (4-15) : Office

The History in General

The distinctive look of Michael Graves' Portland Building, with its use
of a variety of surface materials and colors, small windows, and
inclusion of prominent decorative flourishes, was in stark contrast to
the architectural style most commonly used for large office buildings
at the time, and made the building an icon of postmodern architecture.
It is the first major postmodern tall office building, opening before
Philip Johnson's AT&T Building, and its design has been described as
a rejection of the Modernist principles established in the early 20th
century. Graves' design was selected in a large design competition,
with Johnson as one of the three members of the selection committee.

Portland mayor Frank Ivancie was among those who expressed the
opinion that the modernist style, then being applied to most large
office buildings, had begun to make some American cities' downtowns
look "boring", with most of the newer, large buildings being covered
in glass and steel, and largely lacking in design features that would
make them stand out. The reaction among architects was mixed, with
Source : Oregondigital.org
many criticizing the design while others embraced it as a welcome departure. In 1985, the hammered-copper
statue Portlandia was added above the front entrance.

Beyond questions of style, many structural flaws came to light shortly after the building's completion. The
building's failings are the subject of much humor and contempt by the civil servants who work there, who
describe it as cheaply built and difficult to work in.

Reconstruction

1990 - The difficulties of accessibility plague the fourth, park-

facing facade, which has only two small doors that lead to a
windowless restaurant and a back lobby. Users of the building
also complain that the lobby is narrow and unpleasant, the
office spaces dark and claustrophobic. To make things worse,
cracks meant that the lobby and food court needed renovations
in 1990, only 8 years after its opening.

July 2014 - Some city commissioners expressed the view that

the building should be demolished due to extensive water
infiltration and structural issues. The consensus among the city
commissioners was mixed, with one member calling the
building a "white elephant", while others opposed the
demolition. Michael Graves fiercely opposed demolition. In
2015, city officials were considering spending $175 million to
fully renovate the building.

Source : Wikipedia July 2016 – The plans to renovate the building moved ahead,
with the leasing of office space for around 1,300 city employees who will be temporarily displaced during the
renovation work. The renovation retains the building's basic postmodern architectural style while changing
some of the building materials to better withstand weather and earthquakes. The teal colored tiles of the lower
three floors would be replaced with larger terracotta rainscreen tiles, the existing painted concrete facade
would be covered by a new aluminum rainscreen cladding, the existing dark tinted windows would be replaced
with clear glass windows, and the stucco garlands on the side of the building will be rebuilt using formed
aluminum.

2017 (Fall) -Work on the extensive rebuilding, known by the city as the Portland Building Reconstruction Project,
with interior demolition work, followed by an official groundbreaking in December. The project is expected to
take about three years, with completion around the end of 2020.

September 2019 - The Portlandia statue was covered by a shroud, to protect it from potential damage during
the work; the covering was removed.

September 2018 - the ongoing project until today 2020

Analysis of Post- Modern Architectural Elements in the Building
The structures, designed by Michael Graves at the time, were known for their gigantic mass and for his personal
Cubist interpretation of classical elements such as colonnades and loggias. Although they may feel stiff at times,
these structures are recognized for their strong and energetic presence.

Source : DLRGroup.com

The reflective glass used to surround the pilasters and the capital is one of the less successful elements: it
manages to define the center of the building, but it is very smooth appearance lacks the texture of the rest of
the exterior. A wreath is a playful touch of whimsy, although the simplified design (for cleaning purposes) lacks
the excitement of a shining original swag. The head that was cut off was only a pale reminder of the view of
the roof of the pavilion inhabited from the original image. A rectangular box of services is located within the
square of the penthouse floor. Instead of a small pavilion perched on a ledge overlooking Mount Hood, Graves
had to make do with the 'baldacchino' that opened up to the exterior of the building.

Hailed as the first post-modern high-rise building, it has also been criticized for merely covering the delusion
of modernist buildings. The metaphor may be apparent because it is difficult not to see the pilaster and the
keystone, but the proportions remain beyond the human scale. The interior does not present an innovative
alternative to office space and has been criticized for maintaining the open-space standards of the interior as
developed by modernists.
 Source : DLRGroup.com

The building itself is a fifteen-story symmetrical monumental block that is regularly covered with off-white
stucco and sits on a two stage plinth of blue-green tiles. The building's style is expressed through applied
paints and ornaments that convey classic architectural details, including terracotta and keystone tile pilasters,
mirror glass, and flat, stylish garlands, among other elements meant to convey multiple meanings. For example,
the buildings are arranged in a classical triple division, bottom, middle, and top referring to the human body,
legs, middle, and head.

At the same time, the colors of the building represent parts of the environment, with blue-green tiles at the
base representing the earth and light blue on the top floor representing the sky. This building uses a reference
layer to physically and symbolically tie it to the place, its uses, and the traditions of Western architecture. This
fifteen-story square building is located in downtown Portland, Oregon, occupying a 200 by 200-foot city block
right next to City Hall.

Source : DLRGroup.com

The building is noted for its regular geometry and fenestration as well as the architects' use of classical
decorative features that are too scale and highly stylized on the building's façade, including the copper
sculptures mounted over the entrances, garlands on the north and south facades, and giant pillars and stone
elements locks on the east and west facades. Whether one judges the building to be beautiful or even fulfills
Graves' idea of being humanist in nature, it is undeniably important in the history of American architecture.
This building has been evaluated heartlessly in various scientific works on architectural history and is closely
related to the rise of the Post-Modern movement.
The History that influenced by political & social event
In May 1983, the building won an honorary American Institute of Architects Award.

The building style remains controversial among Portlanders as well as throughout the architectural field.[ In
1990, The Oregonian states “it's hard to find people who don't like Pioneer Courthouse Square… it's even
harder to find anyone who claims to like the Portland Building.” Nearly a quarter of a century later, Oregonian
columnist David Sarasohn revisited the theme, noting that “tile The massive blues, stained glass, and whimsical
pastels that flourish intended to evoke early modern French painting "actually resemble" something designed
by the 'art student brother' of a Third World dictator.

Source : Wikipedia

These laypersons' appraisals were bolstered by Italian-born modernist architect Pietro Belluschi, who calling
the building completely wrong and declaring: “This is not architecture, this is packaging. I said at the time that
there were only two good things about it: 'This will put Portland on the map, architecturally, and it will never
repeat itself. '”

Not all comments are negative. In the estimation of architectural critic Paul Goldberger's:" Good or bad, the
Portland Building shelters other things. It is more significant for what it does than how well it does. It had a
profound effect on American architecture and brought back to classicism which brought us better buildings. "

In October 2009, Travel + Leisure Magazine called the Portland Building "One of the most hated buildings in
America".

The History that influenced by economic event

Many structural flaws came to light shortly after the building's completion. The building's failings are the subject
of much humor and contempt by the civil servants who work there, who describe it as cheaply built and difficult
to work in. Only eight years after it was built, the lobby and food court were in need of remodeling. In July
2016, plans to renovate the building moved ahead, with the city council choosing a contractor and setting a
maximum cost of $140 million for the work, not including estimated non-construction expenses of up to $55
million.
Opinion & Criticism
There are also those who call this building a
beautiful building, but there are also those who call
this building very ugly. As the first building in the
Post-Modern Era, this building not only received
favorable reviews, it also received criticism. The
post-modern form Graves uses in the Portland
Building carries a traditional meaning. Graves'
determination broke the once sacred design rule
that “Form follows Function” encouraged other
architects to be more creative.

Source : Archdaily.com

In my opinion, there are several elements that pose a significant problem:

• On structural and operational systems that cost millions of dollars to overcome that should have been
considered by the building designer.
• The small windows make the office gloomy. Decorative elements cut out the view. The lighting in the
room was gloomy and there was no lighting.
• Disproportionate public space.

Overall, the quality of the sustainable architecture of Graves' buildings has not been achieved in reality.

Reference

https://www.archdaily.com/407522/ad-classics-the-portland-building-michael-graves
https://www.dezeen.com/2015/09/12/postmodernism-architecture-portland-municipal-services-building-
michael-graves/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portland_Building
https://djcoregon.com/news/2012/02/22/portland-building-still-controversial-after-30-years/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postmodern_architecture
https://pmapdx.com/blog-pmafindings/766/post-modern-buildings-the-portland-building
https://tocapu2017.wordpress.com/2017/10/03/michael-graves/
https://www.architectural-review.com/archive/michael-graves-portland-building
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portland_Building#:~:text=The%20Portland%20Building%2C%20alternatively%20re
ferenced,architecturally%20groundbreaking%20at%20the%20time
https://www.portlandoregon.gov/omf/article/528522
https://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=1
334&context=hp_theses
https://www.oregonlive.com/trending/2018/01/the_ugliest_building_in_oregon.html
https://oregondigital.org/catalog/oregondigital:df67qh599