Portland State University held a grand opening last week for its new athletics and events center, Viking Pavilion at the Peter W. Stott Center. The $52.1 million building features a 3,000-seat arena that will host Vikings basketball and volleyball games, as well as concerts, graduation ceremonies and other public events.

Fortis Construction served as project’s construction manager-general contractor. The building was designed by Woofter Architecture and Denver-based Sink Combs Dethlefs, which has since merged with Perkins+Will. The two-year project included construction of the new Viking Pavilion arena and the renovation of the existing Peter W. Stott Center, a 1960s-era facility that now houses the university’s athletics offices, a weight room, locker rooms, an OHSU Sports Medicine Center, and five classrooms.

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Portland architect Miles Woofter has never lacked the confidence that he could meet big challenges. Three years after starting his own firm, that faith was shaken when Woofter Architecture‘s first design for its biggest client was shot down in a presentation at Portland State University.

“It affected everything,” Woofter said. “It affected me at home. It affected me at work. I was not able to sleep. I was working too much and irritable. That kind of stress is not good for anyone.”

Just eight months earlier, Woofter Architecture had won the design contract for the $51.1 million Peter Stott Center renovation and expansion. The project includes a 3,000-seat arena as well as athletic offices, classrooms, weight training facilities and a sports medicine office. Construction is now proceeding and on track for completion by February 2018. But the small upstart firm responsible for design had to overcome a rocky start.

“I did not expect Woofter to get the project,” said Dan Zalkow, associate vice president for planning, construction and real estate at Portland State University. “We did not set out to hire a small firm.”

Yet there was little Woofter Architecture, with a staff of three at the time, tackling the highly visible project in downtown Portland. Even with the help of national firm Sink Combs Dethlefs, the job was enormous. Then there was financial pressure. The project accounted for nearly 90 percent of the young firm’s revenue.

Then, eight months after Woofter Architecture took the job, Portland State University officials asked to see early exterior designs. But staffers had been working on interiors and programing.

“We weren’t in a position to present the exterior design to the university,” Woofter said. “We were put in a position to present to the university and it backfired because they weren’t happy.”

That led to questions by stakeholders as to whether the firm could meet the school’s ambitious schedule.

“There were times early on, before he increased his staff, where we did talk about our opinion that he needed to increase his staff,” Zalkow said. “Our schedule was important. It seemed to us that they could use more resources to meet that schedule.”

PSU officials wanted an inviting building that could match the school’s place in the city, within a tight budget. But they didn’t believe Woofter Architecture’s first attempt met those goals.

“The appearance of the exterior wasn’t appealing to most of the decision makers,” Zalkow said. “It didn’t fit in well with adjacent buildings and Park Blocks. Also, it didn’t feel very inviting. There was not enough glass. Entrances and the ground floor didn’t feel like it would bring people in.”

Major changes were needed, and Woofter felt pressure to produce in a way he hadn’t faced in the past.

“If we hadn’t righted the ship and turned it around, I don’t know,” he said. “Portland is a small community and PSU is a big institution. I didn’t have a choice, it had to be successful. It was a challenging time, no question.

“The biggest challenge in my life has been running a small practice and winning a significant project at Portland State University.”

Zalkow said that three main factors persuaded PSU to take a chance on Woofter Architecture in the first place. First, Woofter had a successful history with the school. In 2004, he had performed a design study for creation of a bike facility on campus. That would eventually become the PSU Bike Hub on Southwest Sixth Avenue. In 2007, he created the design for the student recreation center while working for Yost Grube Hall Architecture.

The second reason PSU looked to Woofter Architecture was its presentation.

“We were very intrigued by his proposal,” Zalkow said. “He got how this facility was going to be used for multiple purposes.”

Lastly, Woofter brought in Sink Combs Dethlefs to help design the project. The 50-person firm had designed athletic arenas since 1962.

“We felt very comfortable with the team he put together for the project,” Zalkow said.

Sink Combs Dethlefs was one of the few firms Woofter spoke to that believed his firm could deliver the project.

“Everyone else I talked to was not enthusiastic and thought the project was going to be challenging,” he said. “All the others thought we couldn’t do it.”

But when PSU officials requested revisions, the design team responded. In going back to the drawing board, Woofter leaned heavily on his team, including principal Jonathan Bolch, who also worked for YGH.

“There were a lot of challenging moments,” Bolch said. “(The Stott Center project) has ambitious goals and needs to please a lot of different stakeholders.”

This time, the team looked at the exterior first and modified its focus to meet aesthetic and budgetary concerns.

“It needed to be a majestic civic building and a response to the (Park Blocks) and its place in the city rather than just an athletic building,” Woofter said. “The interior program on that tight of a site starts to dictate the expression of the building on the exterior.”

The new philosophy led to a new design. By October 2015, the team presented a design that PSU officials loved.

“When he redesigned it, it was seen as a beautiful design,” Zalkow said. “We expect the building to be active. He solved all our concerns.”

Woofter was even able to accommodate PSU officials’ late request for four additional classrooms and consolidation of athletic offices into the building.

The Portland Design Commission issued its approval in March 2016. Then the project team secured permits on schedule – a rarity for a project of that size.

Currently, 140 contractors are working under four sets of construction permits and 12 sets of life safety occupancy plans that allow occupation of the building during construction. Currently, the schedule calls for project completion by February 2018.

Now, Woofter Architecture is transitioning to work on smaller projects.

“Because of the location and the size and the team, (the Stott Center) broke down our process and the kind of design firm we want to be,” Woofter said. “We are looking at projects that we can do on our own. There is only so much we can do. We can’t stretch ourselves too thin. When we go after something, we go all out. You have to put 120 percent into everything.”

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Inspiration for the new Viking Pavilion, a major upgrade to Portland State University‘s 50-year-old athletic facility at the south end of the South Park Blocks, came directly from Portland’s other see-through arena.

But architect Miles Woofter said the project team sought to take the good from (like an arena bowl fully visible through exterior glass walls) while avoiding the maintenance and operability issues that have plagued the former home of the Portland Trail Blazers.

PSU‘s previous basketball/volleyball court was tucked in the back of the former Peter W. Stott Center and away from the park – essentially a nonentity around campus, Woofter said. But the thorough $50 million renovation and expansion was intended to move the court front and center on the Park Blocks.

Early studies by ZGF Architects featured a glass box design similar to Veterans Memorial Coliseum, but this could have led to similar daylighting and functionality issues. So Woofter sought to break up the glass with a vast wooden “metaphor” facing the Park Blocks – a wall resembling the side of a Viking clinker ship.

The wood panels for the composite design will all be reclaimed fir from old houses in the Vancouver, Washington, area.

“We knew that this couldn’t be a glass box that doesn’t work,” Woofter said. “(Veterans) Memorial Coliseum is obviously a precedent, and one that architects love. The vision all along has been to bring the arena forward and have it be right on the Park Blocks. And that’s why we felt strongly that we needed the some warmth and the character of the wood wall.”

This week crews under construction manager-general contractor Fortis Construction are flying in structural steel that will form the 120-foot trusses. Complicating things for Fortis has been a mandate to keep the building as operational as possible for sports-medicine students, student-athletes and coaches.

Other project challenges have included losing 10 work days due to extreme winter weather and reusing more of the 1960s building than originally anticipated – a cost-saving measure nonetheless tricky. In this case, testing of the existing concrete showed it to be far weaker than plans stated, so additional structural upgrades were required.

Despite still being a few days behind schedule, the team anticipates meeting its next main milestone – handing rooms to coaches in time for fall competition, said Justin Cook, project manager for Fortis Construction.

“We are now closing in on a major piece, slowing taking over more and more of the building, and now we’re full-speed on the pavilion, going vertical,” he said. “Slowly but surely, we’re taking over more real estate.”

The open design will resemble Seattle’s Safeco Field in that attendees will be able to look on live game action from the concourse after entering the building, according to PSU project manager Kate Vance.

“What’s really unique about it is it really is an open arena,” she said. “You could stand here at the southeast corner and see the north entrance.”

This has created a few operational challenges. For instance, PSU’s conference, the Big Sky, requires schools to give visiting teams time to familiarize themselves with an away court. The project team is currently designing movable blackout screens for privacy, as well as for daytime concerts.

In addition to 50 home basketball and volleyball contests, the 5,000-seat arena each year will host around 90 non-athletic events, including conferences, academic seminars and commencements. The multipurpose facility will house upgraded academic centers, including sports-medicine facilities funded in part by Oregon Health and Science University.

The project is now one of four major ongoing construction efforts at the university. This taxing load has led to shuffling at the school’s Capital Projects and Construction division, according to Vance.

Viking Pavilion

Contractor: Fortis Construction

Architect: Woofter Architecture/Sink Combs Dethlefs

Cost: $50 million

Anticipated completion: 2018

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After a decade of planning, the $45 million renovation and expansion of Portland State University‘s Peter W. Stott Center is almost ready to roll.

Renovations are in store for the building’s west portion, where maintenance has been delayed. The east portion will be reconstructed with a new multipurpose arena, the Viking Pavilion; it will hold approximately 3,400 seats – almost twice as many as the existing arena. In total, 138,500 square feet will be either renovated or added.

The project, developed by PSU and designed by Woofter Architecture and Denver-based Sink Combs Dethlefs Architects, last week received its first design review. The project wasn’t approved, because of two adjustments; a second review is slated for March 24.

Issues to be resolved are design of the concourse level at the north elevation facing Southwest Hall Street as well as increased ground-floor glazing with more active use at the corners. The project is also awaiting approval from the Portland Bureau of Environmental Services.

The existing three-level Stott Center is not welcoming for pedestrians and does nothing for the South Park Blocks’ public spaces, city planner Grace Jeffreys said. The new design, she added, will be a big improvement.

“It has the potential to turn inward-focused into what could be outward-focused and a building with vitality,” she said.

Dan Zalkow, associate vice president for planning and construction at PSU, called the Stott Center “one of the ugliest buildings on campus.” He is looking forward to its transformation.

“The plans have been in the works for 10 years and we’re excited to transform this eastern half and open it up to the park blocks,” he said.

The transformed building will include a student lounge on the first level; a café and classrooms with athletic uses on the second level and the arena on the third. No provisions for vehicle parking are planned, but more bike parking will be added.

Woofter Architecture principal Miles Woofter told commissioners the site is actually a superblock, but “the building turns its back on the park (blocks).”

“A lot of the existing structure is being maintained, but (when complete) you can see through the entire building from the concourse area,” he said.

The renovation will also bring all PSU athletic offices under one roof, he added.

The building will have three public frontages with full glazing at the corners, said Jonathan Bolch of Woofter Architecture. The size of a canopy planned around the building has been increased from four feet to 10, he added.

“We are prioritizing the pedestrian experience,” he said. “It will connect to the park and you can see all the way through the building.”

Lights on the wooden underside of the Viking Arena will be visible from the street and change colors, depending on the event.

“It’s a metaphor for a Viking ship,” Bolch said.

$300,000 will be devoted to an art project for the building, Bolch said, but just what that will be has not been determined. He said the design team will confer with the Regional Arts and Culture Council in the near future.

Commissioner Tad Savinar shared a suggestion for the art budget.

“I would encourage you to spend it all on one thing and not sprinkle it out,” he said.

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