About seven years ago, the Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA), the oldest art college in Portland, Ore., was evaluating its master plan with an eye toward expanding and upgrading its campus facilities to match its enrollment and endowment growth goals.
A board member brought to the attention of the college a nearby 134,000-sf building that had once served as the city’s original post office (it opened in 1919), and for the past two decades had been used as office space for federal agencies such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
The building was on the government’s disposal list and, according to Gus Baum, PNCA’s senior director of planning, was available “gratis” as long as it was used 100% for education.
Next February, that building is scheduled to reopen as the Arlene and Harold Schnitzer Center for Art and Design and become the college’s new hub, into which it has consolidated several of its other facilities around town. Over the four years of its $32 million redevelopment, the school, its architect (Allied Works Architecture), and development consultant (Gerding Edlen) had to overcome a number of design, logistical, and financial challenges.
This project’s architect, Allied Works Architecture, carved out new areas for exhibitions, productions, and classrooms, including the facility’s Black Box Theater, pictured here. Rendering courtesy Allied Works Architecture
For one thing, it took ICE a while to find new offices and vacate the premises. And the building’s configuration posed some unique design issues. Its north end was an open warehouse with no circulation, while the south end was a six-story tower. Baum says that a light well was removed from the roof of the warehouse to recreate a 5,000-sf skylight that illuminated the center of the building and created an atrium space.
The distance between the first and second floors of this building is about 24 feet, so the Building Team introduced a mezzanine that added 11,000 sf of usable workspace. The team also added design flourishes, like a cable system suspended from the ceiling.
Allied Works’ design highlights new areas for public programs and arts education, with spaces for exhibitions, lectures, and events in addition to classrooms, production facilities, an elegant library, and innovation studio and incubator called Media Tech.
This project’s greatest challenge may have been the building’s historic landmark status, which made such things as replacing door hardware for ADA compliance tougher. That status also posed seismic upgrade limitations that the Building Team resolved by installing a Viscous Dampening System, a bracing apparatus built into the walls that dissipates energy and allows the building to shift a bit in the event of a seismic event.
The building’s historic status made financing this project more complicated, says Jill Sherman, a vice president and partner at Gerding Edlen. Her firm, she explains, was hired specifically for its expertise in helping the college get through the rigorous approval process to qualify for New Market and Historic tax credits.
“We specialize in public-private partnerships, and this turned out to be one of the more complex because of the number of players involved,” she says.
Related Stories
Government Buildings | Apr 26, 2018
DLR Group’s design for the new Lansing Correctional Facility focuses on energy-efficiency
JE Dunn will manage the design and construction of the Kansas-based facility.
Reconstruction & Renovation | Feb 7, 2018
Renovations begin on an underground facility that is investigating the nature of dark matter
This LEO A DALY-designed project makes way to produce the world’s most sensitive detector to this point.
Government Buildings | Dec 11, 2017
Is this the world’s most humane prison?
The C.F. Møller-designed prison’s architecture supports the inmates’ and staff’s mental and physical well-being.
Architects | Oct 11, 2017
Architects to policymakers: Buildings are infrastructure, too
Left out of this ongoing national debate over infrastructure are the nation’s other public buildings: the libraries, community centers, courthouses, community college buildings, affordable housing developments, and justice facilities.
Giants 400 | Oct 2, 2017
Delicate balance: Needs vs. capital for government agencies
John Caulfield, Senior Editor
Giants 400 | Sep 28, 2017
Top 85 government construction firms
Turner Construction Co., PCL Construction Enterprises, and Clark Group top BD+C’s ranking of the nation’s largest government sector contractors and construction management firms, as reported in the 2017 Giants 300 Report.
Giants 400 | Sep 28, 2017
Top 55 government engineering firms
WSP, AECOM, and Arup top BD+C’s ranking of the nation’s largest government sector engineering and EA firms, as reported in the 2017 Giants 300 Report.
Giants 400 | Sep 27, 2017
Top 95 government architecture firms
Stantec, HOK, and Gensler top BD+C’s ranking of the nation’s largest government sector architecture and AE firms, as reported in the 2017 Giants 300 Report.
Government Buildings | Jul 26, 2017
Spector Group unveils new law enforcement center for Nassau County
The center will serve as a regional training center for all Nassau County Police personnel.
Building Team Awards | Jun 13, 2017
Government campus reimagined: Intelligence Community Campus
Building Team converts 1940s campus into a sleek, modern home for U.S. intelligence agencies.
