The Portland Art Museum‘s $111 million Mark Rothko Pavilion is nearing completion as construction crews work to meet a Nov. 20 opening date.

Museum Director Brian Ferriso pointed to “punch list” items on Monday that need finishing before the museum’s renovation and expansion centered on a landmark glass pavilion opens to the public.

On a recent visit, workers led by construction manager/general contractor Mortenson Construction were touching up paint, removing tape and sweeping floors.

The project was ambitious from the start: Constructing a new glassed-in pavilion sandwiched between two separate existing buildings, renovating the older structures, and melding it all together into a cohesive and seismically resilient 21^st century museum.

Designers from Hennebery Eddy Architects and Chicago’s Vinci Hamp Architects had to join 11 distinct floors among the three structures. Previously, there were no above-grade connections between the Pietro Belluschi-designed 1932 Main Building and the Mark Building, formerly a Masonic temple, built in 1927. Only an underground passageway joined them, requiring an elevator trip. Visitors complained of getting lost.

“If you’re looking at a map and feeling lost, you’re not looking at art and you’re not feeling welcome,” said Donald Urquhart, the museum’s director of collections and exhibitions.

Soon, a grand staircase will allow patrons to freely circulate around the museum, and additional elevators for both humans and large art pieces have been installed.

The project adds nearly 100,000 square feet of new and renovated public and gallery space. Museum officials have acquired nearly 300 new works to display.

The museum’s design takes transparency literally. Inspired in part by Apple stores, architects made liberal use of fritted glass that was expensively imported from Germany and fritted in Spain before its journey to Portland. It hangs 28 feet high, forming what museum officials call the “jewel box” of the Rothko Pavilion at the museum’s center.

Museumgoers will be able to view the downtown surrounds from indoors. During a tour this week, visitors could see the Portland Streetcar as it trundled by and daily activity at the Eliot tower and Park Blocks on either side of the museum.

“You can feel the city here,” Ferriso said.

Visitors don’t need to go inside the museum to get a taste — a glass passageway through the Rothko Pavilion allows pedestrians to see in. “Everyone will have a museum experience, whether they’re inside or out,” Ferriso said.

Other changes include relocating the loading dock to Southwest Jefferson Street and moving the library to a 4,200-square-foot space on the ground floor of the Mark Building to make way for the Crumpacker Center for New Art, an experiential contemporary art space. A state-of-the-art security center is hidden from view.

On the museum’s West Plaza, Coquelico, a café from Providore Fine Foods, will open in September.

Throughout, museum officials sought to uphold universal design principles to ensure patrons with disabilities can seamlessly experience the exhibits. No longer will patrons in wheelchairs have to enter the museum through a side door.

The design also pays attention to basic human comforts. More bathrooms are being constructed, and additional seating will be installed throughout the museum in response to feedback. “These areas for relaxation and contemplation are so important,” Ferriso said.

Construction crews were challenged by the complexity of linking HVAC and other building systems across the three structures, Ferriso said. Heating and cooling are provided by water tubes located under the slate gray stone floors. In other areas, the flooring is white oak.

No large construction project comes without surprises, and one arrived when workers discovered asbestos in the Main Building. “We ran into asbestos in the 1930s building,” Ferriso said. “That cost us some money.”

Now the project is on track to open to the public Nov. 20 with four days of free admission. Ferriso himself has announced he’ll be leaving shortly after that to take over as director of the Dallas Museum of Art after nearly 20 years helming the Portland museum.

Ferriso sounded a contemplative note as he discussed the Portland Art Museum’s collections. “We’re just stewards for a moment,” he said.

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Project name: Splash

Location: Portland

Completion: November 2024

Size: 335,000 square feet

Owners/Developers: Security Properties, MetLife Investment Management

Architect: Mithun

Interior Designer: Bumgardner

Engineers: SSF Engineers, Tapani Plumbing, Patriot Fire Protection

General Contractor: R&H Construction

Submitting Company: R&H Construction

Other Key Participants: GTG Consultants, Marx/Okubo & Associates, City of Portland – Bureau of Planning and Sustainability and Bureau of Development Services, City of Portland Permitting & Development, Radler White Parks & Alexander

Subcontractors: Academy Specialties, A-Cut Above Concrete Cutting, A-Line Asphalt Maintenance, Alpha Construction, American Trash Management, Anderson Pool Works, Anderson Sandblasting, Architextures dba DLM, Authority Dock and Door, Bergelectric, BrightService Cleaning, Brix Paving Northwest, Builder Services Group dba JB Insulation, Builder’s Appliance Supply (BASCO), Canby Consulting, Concrete Inspection Services, Concreteworks Studio, Construction Specialties, CPC Equipment, Dallas Glass, DCI Engineers, Desert Sage WalL Systems, Dorothy Tester Sales, Eagle Striping Service, Frontier Door and Cabinets, Geopier Northwest, Graffiti Removal Services, Hills Wet Blasting, Interior Technology, Intuitive Engineering, IRS Environmental of Portland, Jack’s Overhead Door, Kent Crane Inspection Services, Klinger Masonry, Konell Construction & Demolition, LaRusso Concrete, Marion Construction, McDonald & Wetle, Mid-Valley, Morrow Equipment, Mt. Hood Steel & Wood, NessCampbell Crane, Northwest Scaffold Service, Ocean Park Mechanical, Oregon Commercial Painters, Pacific Excavation, Pacific Foundation, Pacific Green Protection, Pacific Stone Installers, Parker Concrete, Patriot Fire Protection, Paulson Floor Coverings, Pavement Maintenance, Performance Contracting, Pioneer Millworks, Pioneer Sheet Metal, Portland Fasteners, Proclean, Railpro of Oregon, Rapid Response Bio-Clean, Red Dog Fabrication, River City Environmental, Sawtooth Caulking, Sign Wizards, Specialty Metal Fabricators, Stealth Monitoring, Sunbelt Rentals, Superior Fence & Construction, Tapani Plumbing, Teufel Nursery, ThyssenKrupp Elevator, Tradebrothers NW, Uncommon Cabinetry, VPI Quality Windows, Westlake Consultants, Westside Drywall, Whirlpool, Willamette Building Services, WMX Construction

The corner of Northeast Sandy Boulevard in Portland’s Kerns neighborhood has undergone a dramatic transformation with the completion of Splash, the first phase of the Pop Blocks development on the former Pepsi bottling facilities site.

The Splash development is comprised of two main parts: a ground-up mixed-use building and the renovation of the adjacent Pepsi pavilion. Splash Apartments is an eight-story mixed-use building divided into two towers united by skybridges on six floors. The bridges feature a DMX controller lighting system that rotates patterns and colors every 15 minutes from dusk until dawn, creating a distinctive visual landmark. The building features 219 residential units in a mix of live/work space, market-rate apartments, townhouse units and affordable housing. The ground floor features commercial spaces.

The development includes 8,600 square feet of community plazas on the east and south sides, filled with planters, architectural wood benches and a 23-foot polished stainless-steel sculpture designed by Portuguese artist Michael Benisty. The 3,500-pound artwork, titled “Splash,” is one of the most significant pieces of quasi-public art installed in Portland in the last 25 years.

Splash was Portland’s first Planned Development and the city’s second five-over-three construction project. Project general contractor was R&H Construction and designer was Mithun.

The project preserved the iconic 1961 Pepsi pavilion, renovating the mid-century structure with its distinctive curved roof while maintaining the original architectural intent. After purchasing the site, Security Properties was given a stack of old drawings of the building, including the original architectural drawings done by Scott & Payne in 1959. Mithun was able to take that information and recreate the original design intent using modern materials. The renovated 8,000-square-foot pavilion is now lease-ready for commercial use.

Splash incorporated several sustainable innovations, including a water heating system using Nyle Reverse Cycle Chiller units that eliminate natural gas and use significantly less electricity than traditional electric water heaters. The system has garnered national attention, with the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance monitoring its performance.

The development has received the largest incentive rebate check ever from the Energy Trust of Oregon and is on track to achieve Earth Advantage Platinum certification. Additional sustainable elements include 40 electric vehicle charging stations, drought-tolerant landscaping, ample bike parking and low-VOC construction materials.

Splash is the first phase of a larger master-planned redevelopment on the 5.5-acre site. A multi-modal woonerf was developed on the north side of the development, a nod to future phases of the site’s masterplan.

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Four Oregon projects that incorporated public art have received from Americans for the Arts.

The Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit organization, an advocate for the arts and arts education, compiled a list of 31 outstanding public art projects constructed in 2014. Three were for the city of Portland: Fire Station 21, a nature playground at Westmoreland Park and improvements to Southeast Division Street. A memorial at the Oregon State Hospital in Salem also was recognized.

The projects are included in the Public Art Network Year in Review database, which annually recognizes compelling public art in the U.S. and Canada.

This year’s jury-selected projects were announced last week during an Americans for the Arts’ convention in Chicago. The 2015 Public Arts Network Year in Review jury included an Oregon official – Peggy Kendellen, public art manager for Portland’s Regional Arts & Culture Council.

Pacific Northwest artist David Franklin was honored for an installation that invokes water ripples on the west façade of Fire Station 21 in Southeast Portland. The building was designed by Whelton Architecture in collaboration with architect David P. Suttle and constructed by Skanska USA Building.

A Portland Bureau of Transportation streetscape improvement project was recognized for including eight sculptures of people by Portland artists Crystal Schenk and Shelby Davis. They were installed along Division Street between 11th and 36th avenues.

Americans for the Arts recognized the Portland Parks & Recreation effort to replace the Westmoreland Park playground with a nature play area designed by Portland-based landscape architecture firm GreenWorks in collaboration with artist Adam Kuby.

Seattle-based art and architecture firm Lead Pencil Studio was honored for designing a memorial that holds the 3,456 cremated remains of patients who died at the Oregon State Hospital and were never claimed by family members.

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Southeast Portland residents won’t have to worry whether two new buildings going up in the area will have parking.

That’s because the buildings will actually be pieces of art funded by the new eastside streetcar loop.

The buildings, which will be located along Southeast Grand Avenue, will be towering sculptures shaped to mimic the appearance of the old industrial buildings in the Central Eastside Industrial District. The sculptures will be made out of weathered steel angle iron.

The artists behind them, Annie Han and Daniel Mihalyo of Seattle-based , call them “ghosts” of two buildings that use to stand in the area.

The sculptures will be part of the Percent for Art Program, which requires that two percent of all city construction projects go toward public art. They are expected to be completed by the end of this year, according to the Regional Arts and Culture Council.

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As the son of an artist, I’ve  tried to look for a story topic that would allow me to tie the art world with the built industry. I thought the best place to start would be the Percent for Art program, which was established in 1975 and requires that all high-priced city construction projects devote at least two percent of funding (started as one) to public art.

While I wasn’t able to get a full story out of it – as it turns out, most cities have similar programs in place and many got them before Portland – it was still interesting hearing about its history and its effect on the built and art industries in town.

At any given time, 20 or 30 city projects are participating in the project, according to Kristin Calhoun, public art manager for the Regional Arts and Culture Council, which runs the program. And it varies by year, but usually $500,000 to $800,000 a year is devoted to the program. Currently, the program is involved with the Sellwood Bridge Project, the Streetcar, the Morrison Bridgehead Project and many other large-scale city projects.

The local built industry benefits from it because architects and engineers are able to add high-quality pieces of art to their designs that will greatly improve both the appearance and the aesthetic of their projects. The local art industry benefits because local artists are often hired for projects, according to Calhoun. As a result, they get high-profile work that will be on display for long periods of time.

And, as Calhoun pointed out, the public really benefits from the program, too.

“It’s artwork that’s accessible to everyone in the community,” she said. “You don’t have to pay to go into a museum or other venues. It’s there for everyone to enjoy.”

The program is responsible for well-known pieces like Portlandia , the glass “spectral light dome” in the Portland Center for Performing Arts and even the “Umbrella Man” in Pioneer Courthouse Square.

It’s not talked much about these days because it was passed nearly 30 years ago, but it has undoubtedly had a big impact on Portland as a whole.

Photo by e via Flickr

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The Oregonian’s Molly Harbarger was : the giant baby-faced deer statue, a project in consideration as a “public art” portion of the Portland-Milwaukie Light Rail project, has been killed. Apparently the artist had to back away, so a plaza in unincorporated Clackamas County has been deprived of “Rebirth’s” disturbing fantastical whimsy.

And why? According to this memo from TriMet, the artist Seyed Alavi pulled the project from consideration because of technical and financial reasons – materials that would have been sturdy enough for such a public sculpture were more expensive than the art budget allocated by TriMet for the project.

As we all know, I love this statue. I love it a lot. And I think we can save it.

There are lots of places in Portland that could use some beautification, and a little public art can go a long way. Our photographer and Photoshop expert Sam Tenney and I put together this set of “photo illustrations” to show you what we mean.

More ideas after the jump!

What do you think? Where should we put this statue? Or alternatively… could you design something to go in its place?

Portland building photo from on flickr, OccupyPortland camp photo from on flickr. 419 “grid” building photo by Sam Tenney, Park Avenue West photo from the 91��Ƶ archives.

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The engineers and workers who are intimately familiar with Portland’s bridges will be given a new voice during a temporary public art installation that premiers Thursday.

Artists Ed Purver and Tim DuRoche collaborated with the Multnomah County Bridge Section to reveal the inner workings of the bridges that span the Willamette River. The team interviewed the people who engineer, operate and maintain the bridges, recorded sounds of the Hawthorne Bridge, and explored the insides of the Morrison Bridge.

“,” sponsored by the Regional Arts & Culture Council’s artist-in-residence program, will use large-scale video projections on the piers of the Morrison Bridge. It will be visible from the north side of the Hawthorne Bridge, Waterfront Park and the Eastbank Esplanade between 9 p.m. and 11 p.m. until Sept. 10.

The sounds of buses, cars, bikes, and anything else that crosses the Hawthorne Bridge will trigger projections of the various sound waves, interspersed with audio clips from the interviewees. The audio will be available until Oct. 9.

“This project has been a great collaboration between the artists and the Bridge Section employees,” said Peggy Kendellen, Public Art Manager for the Regional Arts & Culture Council. “Their expertise and willingness to share that expertise has really made this whole project possible.”

“The Hidden Life of Bridges” will be the last project through the RACC artist-in-residence program, which began in 2000 with funding from the purchase of Multnomah Building at Southeast Hawthorne Street and Grand Avenue.

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