Portland Museum of Art Expansion | Portland

Play the video. Much better! I kept screaming and screaming about not defacing the perfectly fine Cobb building and apparently they heard me--no more hole. And I like the "7" set within the old entrance. But we have one big error though. They have the sun setting in the southeast! They gotta fix that (but just for the video, of course--lol).


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I believe that once the addition is finished and the museum becomes a popular and dynamic community asset again, the old Children's Museum building will be for the most part, forgotten. The new iteration design posted above is much better than the original one, or the one that was going to create a giant hole within the facade of the Cobb/I.M. Pei design. The net positive here is considerable. But any architect can f*ck up, or if you let them. Frank Gehry designed the Museum of Pop Culture in Seattle. One prominent arch critic said "It looks like something that just crawled out of the sea and died." I wouldn't argue with that--at all.
 
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I believe that once the addition is finished and the museum becomes a popular and dynamic community asset, again, the old Children's Museum building will be, for the most part, forgotten. The new iteration design posted above is much better than the original one, or the one that was going to create a giant hole within the facade of the Cobb/I.M. Pei design. The net positive here is considerable. But any architect can f*ck up, or if you let them. Frank Gehry designed the Museum of Pop Culture in Seattle. One prominent arch critic said "It looks like something that just crawled out of the sea and died." I wouldn't argue with that--at all.
Boy, you ain't kidding...
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If the new building is going to connect and activate the Clapp House, I'll at least give them credit for that.

That nightmare-inducing thing, though, gives a whole new meaning to "Sleepless in Seattle".
 
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According to today's paper, they aren't starting actual demo as they haven't gotten the permits yet. They ARE working on prep work, abatement of asbestos and lead and that sort of thing.
Is that even a thing anymore with RFK Jr. & Co. in charge?
 
Some renderings of the proposed temporary outdoor space - since PMA has no timeline for replacing it with the new addition it has to be reviewed as a permanent structure. Going before the HPB on Wednesday.

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Unsurprisingly, the PMA expansion has become an disappointing fiasco. The PMA prematurely demolished the Children's Museum and created a big hole in the urban fabric of Congress Square to make way for a "temporary community space" that will probably become permanent. It's become increasingly clear that their expansion is a wishful vanity project, not a real plan.

They could have easily kept the Children's Museum building and used it as a "temporary community space" that would have been usable year-round...but doing that would highlight that the building was a functional and worthwhile space...so they'd rather tear it down and silence the critics for good.
 
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