Portland Building Yay or Nay

[LaserWolf]

Portland may choose to tear down the Portland Building. In Portland it is much maligned. Hated the most by those who work in the building.

In the rest of the world it is celebrated (or jeered) for being the first Post Modern public building, and Michael Graves greatest building.

What does the strut think?

Cookie Jar, I own one of these.

 

[fishmongerfunk]

i know very little about architecture or art but that thing is fucking hideous. post-modern dreck.





Noah Cross: "whores and ugly buildings get respectable with age"

 

[bassie]

What's going in its place?





Is it a dangerous decrepit building? Tearing it down simply because it's ugly is hardly a reason.





I recently gave a presentation on John Gollings, an architectural photographer, and he had this ringing endorsement,





Q: The dastardly villain (from the history of architecture)?


A: Michael Graves. One of the leading proponents of a noble theory that in practice screwed up a lot of buildings with clich├®d devices and pastel colours in the 70's and 80's and are still around to haunt us today.

 

[Snapping]

When I moved to Portland many years ago I was interested to see the Portland Building in person, having read about it and seen pictures of it in architecture textbooks.


And I was shocked when I saw it in person at just how cheap it looks. It's basically just a big box with some weird decorations pasted on. It is truly the worst of post-modernism.


I hadn't heard that it might be torn down - isn't it on the National Register of Historic Places?

 

[LaserWolf]

It's early yet, no plans for anything are on the table.


The city recently did a study on the costs of needed repairs. $95mil. The true repair costs are only a fraction of that, but it is the number the papers and city council are working with.





It needs seismic upgrades (like most all 80s buildings), at the very least. So yeah, dangerous.





Yes, it is on a national register. The owners still have the right to tear it down if they so choose.





Yes, it was built on the cheap, with the City Council constantly making changes.


Graves did the facade, ZGF* did the interior.





*So I was recently told. I can not confirm this on line. There must have been a local architect of record.

 

[Saracenus]

As a long time PDX native... I really hate this building. It is truly hideous and the only redeeming quality is the Portlandia statue.

 

[dukeofdelridge]

yeah the statue definitely stays.

 

[batmon]

Is the interior funky too?

 

[parallax]

Saracenus said:

Sick statue.





And yes, that is a weird (not in a good way) facade.

 

[LaserWolf]

Raymond Kaskey's Portlandia is the second largest hammered copper statute in the US. Statue of Liberty is first.


Kaskey holds the rights to the statue and will not allow it to be moved or reproduced.


The city of Portland can not use it in promotions.





Is the interior funky?


I've only been in the lobby mezzanine area. You can (or could) see Michael Graves original drawings on the mezzanine, and this makes the trip inside worthwhile. People who work in the building give the interior, especially lighting, bad reviews.

 

[DrWu]

I would pay to hit the detonator button. A true monstrosity. While we're at it let's fix the Rose quarter. It's okay to take down the Coliseum if we have to imho.

 

[jaysus]

Scrap the statue and tone down the fuckin color scheme. This dude must hang his cock out all day long.

 

[Saracenus]

jaysus said:Scrap the statue and tone down the fuckin color scheme. This dude must hang his cock out all day long.




Naw, the penis building in Portland is this one... I give you the U.S. Bancorp Tower...

 

[LaserWolf]

A kind of elegant blending of modern glass and steel with the post modern steps.

 

[twoply]

Saracenus said:jaysus said:Scrap the statue and tone down the fuckin color scheme. This dude must hang his cock out all day long.




Naw, the penis building in Portland is this one... I give you the U.S. Bancorp Tower...

"The Big, Pink Tower of Power: Q105!"

 

[JustAlice]

What with PortlandÔÇÖs overall ÔÇ£progressiveÔÇØ nature IÔÇÖm sure the general consensus will be to change nothing and continue to do the exact opposite of what would excite any actual progress. God forbid anyone with vision for the future and real world capital should see a worthless old building or an empty lot currently filled with goats or drug dealers as having more potential than a fucking city circus or public petting zoo.

 

[Reynaldo]

I like the look of the outside. Lowes sells lighting, so that solves that issue.

 

[Saracenus]

JustAlice said:What with PortlandÔÇÖs overall ÔÇ£progressiveÔÇØ nature IÔÇÖm sure the general consensus will be to change nothing and continue to do the exact opposite of what would excite any actual progress. God forbid anyone with vision for the future and real world capital should see a worthless old building or an empty lot currently filled with goats or drug dealers as having more potential than a fucking city circus or public petting zoo.




Wait, wut? "Progressive nature" has nothing to do with the lack up building in PDX since 2008.





The crash hit the new build market hard and it took over 4 years for the rents to creep up enough with the existing properties for the banks to start financing new rentals. Consider that we have a 2% vacancy rate (it bumps up 1 to 1.5% if you include the suburbs) and you see amazing upside for building rentals. 2012 and 2013 saw a massive approval of new construction in Portland (with little consideration for "progressive" anything, 40+ unit buildings with little or no parking for example). Just look at SE Division, there is construction up and down that street right now.





Unfortunately, there is still a glut of commercial retail space in the city so that is less a less attractive market.

 

[Snapping]

JustAlice said:What with PortlandÔÇÖs overall ÔÇ£progressiveÔÇØ nature IÔÇÖm sure the general consensus will be to change nothing and continue to do the exact opposite of what would excite any actual progress. God forbid anyone with vision for the future and real world capital should see a worthless old building or an empty lot currently filled with goats or drug dealers as having more potential than a fucking city circus or public petting zoo.







I'm guessing you are referring to the Trader Joe's development fiasco on MLK?

 

[LaserWolf]

And the goats on a vacant lot somewhere close in SE.