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When Michael Graves returned to Portland this week, he visited the building that launched his famed architecture career.

More than 30 years later, the Portland Building still took his breath away.

鈥淚 had a big smile on my face that I couldn’t wipe off,鈥� he said Thursday. 鈥淚t was joy.鈥�

Graves is baffled why Portland residents don’t share his love for the iconic city-owned building. The controversial structure has been both heralded as one defining the emergence of postmodern architecture and criticized as an architectural atrocity.

鈥淚 don’t know where the hostility comes from; that disturbs me,鈥� he told the sold-out crowd for a lecture he gave Thursday at the Portland Art Museum. 鈥淚 think you all would be happy to pick up any history of architecture in the 20th century and find your building. What’s wrong with that? What’s wrong with you?鈥�

The Portland Building, completed in 1982 to house city government offices, was praised as a break from the modernist architecture typical of public buildings. A year later, it appeared on the cover of TIME magazine and in 2012 was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

But earlier this year, a city report concluded that $95 million worth of repairs are needed to fix structural problems and leaks. After considering several options, including building demolition, city officials will soon seek proposals from developers, architects and contractors for a remodel.

In light of plans to renovate the Portland Building, Graves, a principal of Princeton, N.J.-based architecture and design firm Michael Graves & Associates, traveled to Portland to defend his design and offer feedback on how to improve it. Whatever the city decides to do, it shouldn’t demolish the building, he pleaded.

鈥淭he whole idea of tearing the building down is like killing a child for me,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t was a work of architecture and art that so many people participated in.鈥�

Graves is disappointed that the only invitation he has received to share how the building should be renovated has come from the University of Oregon’s John Yeon Center to speak during Design Week Portland. Graves, 80, wondered before the lecture why city officials haven’t yet reached out to him as they proceed with renovation plans.

鈥淭hey’re not talking to me, which seems kind of strange with the architect alive and kicking,鈥� he said.

Kelly Ball, a spokeswoman for the Office of Management & Finance, which oversees city facilities, said plans for the renovation are in the early stages. A committee of local industry leaders will advise the city’s chief administrative officer on the project and it’s unclear at this point what role Graves will play in the process, she said.

Yeon Center Executive Director Randy Gragg said he encouraged Graves to speak publicly about the future of the Portland Building because his insight would be valuable in the debate on its fate.

鈥淲e’re in the process of deciding what’s going to happen to this building, and who better to involve in that discussion than the architect?鈥� Gragg told attendees of Thursday’s lecture. 鈥淢ichael Graves very graciously, and bravely, agreed.鈥�

In 1980, Graves won an architecture competition to design the building for the city of Portland. At the time, he was a little-known architecture professor at Princeton University, and it became his first major project.

Graves went on to leverage this success to win other design competitions. His work includes the Humana Building in Louisville, Ky., the Denver Public Library and lines of kitchen products and furniture first for Target and now J.C. Penney.

After an infection in 2003 rendered him unable to walk, Graves used personal experience to inspire designs for disabled veteran housing and products such as wheelchairs, collapsible canes and showerheads.

It’s odd, Graves said, to travel to Portland where he’s seen as a controversial figure because most of his designs in other parts of the U.S. and international locales are met with acclaim. Criticism of the Portland Building’s dreary interiors and lack of natural light were beyond his control, he said.

鈥淚 wasn’t part of the interiors, and that’s what people blame me for,鈥� Graves said. 鈥淚t’s a bit tragic that I get blamed for the interiors when I didn’t do it.鈥�

Another factor contributing to the building’s current problems was its $24 million budget, he said. This was far below what was needed to construct the building Graves said he imagined.

鈥淚 wanted to create a great civic building and I wanted to make a building that was significant, but the building had a very low budget,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t was very difficult to make a good, civic building with $24 million.鈥�

At the time that the building was constructed, the country was going through an energy crisis and Graves said he was asked to tint the windows. One of the first changes he would make to improve the building would be to install clear glass replacements to expose the building to more light. He also recommended encasing the loggia in glass and turning it into a retail space.

The lobby could use some work, Graves said. He was appalled when he went into the building last week.

鈥淚t’s a mess,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey don’t keep it up. (There were) papers everywhere. There’s no sense of tidiness at all.鈥�

Today’s generation of Portland architects could learn a thing or two from the flair of the Portland Building, Graves said. On his recent visit to the city he was utterly unimpressed with recent additions to the skyline.

鈥淚t puts me to sleep,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t’s completely boring.鈥�

He scoffed at a slide Gragg showed during the lecture of the Edith Green-Wendell Wyatt Federal Building before and after it was renovated.

鈥淚’d rather have the old box, and that’s pretty dreadful,鈥� Graves said.

At least the Portland Building is still being talked about, he said.

鈥淚 just shrug my shoulders,鈥� Graves said. 鈥淲ho else is going to get 400 people to come hear you talk about your building?鈥�