The Portland Art Museum campus renovation and expansion transforms the Museum, increasing access to PAM’s collection and exhibitions, creating a more streamlined and holistic visitor experience, and updating amenities to meet audience needs. The project encompasses the addition of 100,000 square feet of new or upgraded public and gallery space, and the addition of the new 24,000-square-foot Mark Rothko Pavilion, which connects PAM’s two historic buildings and establishes a dramatic new main entry to the Museum.

The centerpiece of the Portland Art Museum’s (PAM) campus transformation, the Rothko Pavilion welcomes visitors with universal access, transparency, and a strong connection to its urban neighborhood. Bridging the former right-of-way between Pietro Belluschi’s original museum complex (1932-72) and the Mark building, a former Masonic Temple (Fred Fritsch, 1927) now home to the museum’s contemporary art collection, the pavilion establishes a new main entry and links previously discontinuous circulation and disparate floor elevations, creating an intuitive and cohesive venue for art.

The crystalline, contemporary form of the Rothko Pavilion projects a distinctly Modernist character but respects its historic partners. Its transparent entry creates a welcoming front door to the museum’s admission-free Community Commons, conceived as a gathering space for all. Its upper facades, monumentally clad in white, ceramic-fritted glass, acknowledge Belluschi’s iconic travertine trim and the Mark Building’s vertical proportions, while reducing solar gain and meeting bird-safe standards. On the interior, the Pavilion has a limited palette: extensive glazing, art display walls with minimal detailing, white oak gallery floors and granite pavers in public spaces that also extend out onto the exterior plazas and building terraces.

As another key component of the campus transformation, PAM’s galleries have been reimagined and expanded, with a design approach that puts art first. The Belluschi galleries, with their traditional plans and detailing, have been refreshed and a new infill addition, located between the Belluschi’s 1932 Ayer and 1936 Hirsch wings, includes the museum’s new art receiving dock and a new second floor gallery with views overlooking the neighborhood. Across the complex, galleries in the Mark Building have been simplified and the museum’s former library is now the Crumpacker Center for New Art, PAM’s largest gallery at 2,700 square feet dedicated to emerging contemporary art. PAM’s Library & Research Center has been relocated to the first floor of the Mark Building, allowing for greater ease of access, and the interior of the Whitsell Auditorium has been refreshed. Binding these together is the Rothko’s overarching circulation path, connecting all levels of the two-city-block-long museum into an understandable whole.

The updated campus balances the needs of its urban neighborhood and the city and reinforces the Museum’s role as a cultural beacon of downtown Portland. The Rothko Pavilion provides an open-air street-level passageway through the building, maintaining a tradition of pedestrian and bicycle traffic passing through the site. The passageway connects the east and west entry plazas where key pieces from the museum’s sculpture collection are accessible to the public, establishing a uniquely Portland feature that offers passersby sheltered views into galleries and extends the museum experience into the public realm. Additionally, the pavilion’s second and fourth floor terraces offer the museum visitor the opportunity to step outside and take in Portland’s skyline and iconic South Park Blocks.

The campus transformation project improves every aspect of the visitor experience and solves decades-old challenges with a new, coherent visitor pathway and gallery sequence throughout. Spaces for the conservation and education departments and the café/museum store have been expanded and re-designed. The project also adds needed visitor amenities, including new ticketing and coat check areas, restrooms, and lobby spaces. The addition of the Rothko Pavilion and resulting campus transformation spurred a comprehensive rethinking of how the architecture of the Portland Art Museum supports its connection to its downtown neighborhood, its visitors and patrons, and the community at large.

Designed in partnership by Portland’s Hennebery Eddy Architects and Chicago-based Vinci Hamp Architects, the $111 million expansion is one of the most significant capital investments in the arts in the history of Oregon.

Project Team
Architecture: Hennebery Eddy Architects with Vinci Hamp Architects
Contractor (CM/GC): Mortenson Construction
Structural / Civil Engineer: KPFF Consulting Engineers
Mechanical / Electrical Engineer: Interface Engineering
Landscape Architect: Walker Macy
Landscape Architect: Andrea Cochran Landscape Architecture
Façade Consultant: Studio NYL
Lighting Designer: Lux Populi
Elevator Consultant: EWCG
Code Consultant: Code Unlimited (now Jensen Hughes)
Kitchen Equipment Designer: Halliday Associates
Sustainability Consultant: Brightworks Sustainability
Traffic Engineer: Kittelson & Associates
Daylight / Glare Consultant: RWDI
Café / Retail Concepting: The Felt Hat

Photography: Jeremy Bittermann