USM | Portland

Mold is the biggest issue with the building. Mold does not go away!!! As with the SOPO Fire House at Cash Corner. It needed to be demolished to take care of the mold and the HVAC issues. I think both buildings were built in the 70's.
 
TC_zoid said:
Basic repairs for $20 million? Why don't other buildings that are 50 years old, including all the turn of the 20th century buildings in the Old Port, in need of $20 million in basic repairs? They simply want new state-of-the-art in EVERYTHING. Cape Elizabeth is going to build some new school buildings, for $127 million. The high-tech Passivehaus Friends school in Yarmouth was built a few years ago for $4 million (Kaplan Thompson). Ask a school system what it needs for money to build something, and they will get the quote that is ten times higher. Always. The Law School building isn't any worse than any other building on the USM campus, and those are doing just fine.
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Unlike the other buildings you argue that don't need $20 million for basic repairs, the original design of the law building has inherent flaws that contribute to the continued rapid degradation of the structure. There is extensive water damage to the building. Also the nature of the structure is not conducive to making internal changes needed to accommodate class sizes and other needed spaces. The place never should have been built as it was.
 
The writer didn't put much effort into this story--simply pulling off-the-shelf pieces from the past to merge into one. How could she not have included the new law school and graduate center on Fore Street? Also, few get this, but if you want to attract college students today the social life has to be PHENOMENAL. Dorms should feel more like tiny apartments, with additional community space and amenities. Gen Z is not going to sleep on military styled bunks and use a community bath. The old days of college life are gone. They want warm and comfy, and the student center has to be only steps away with food offerings and hanging out space that are fun for them. Fortunately, the new dorms and student center in Portland were initially designed by a leading international architecture firm that understands this. The most important facet in architecture is understanding who the occupants are and maximizing their experience. The look of the building is secondary.
Adding dorms and degrees, Portland may soon become a college town | Mainebiz.biz
 
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PlantArch said:
Unlike the other buildings you argue that don't need $20 million for basic repairs, the original design of the law building has inherent flaws that contribute to the continued rapid degradation of the structure. There is extensive water damage to the building. Also the nature of the structure is not conducive to making internal changes needed to accommodate class sizes and other needed spaces. The place never should have been built as it was.
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The nature of this structure is a fortress made of cement and steel. Leaking water is avoided by using sufficient materials in the roofing and windows (I can build a tree house that doesn't leak). Frank Lloyd Wright's houses are infamous for leaking. It's because he prioritized aesthetics over materials quality. He had his exterior masonry formed from the sand on site, to be truly organic, but the quality of this recipe for that masonry was often not up to par. It's why the Freeman house in L.A. is slowly disintegrating (air pollution). Also, the nature of the 1972 built law school building being conducive to making internal changes for the year 2022 is a bit of a stretch. The majority of Maine's housing stock is not conducive to living in 2022.
 
USM Portland needs something similar. It could be built on the parking lot between Sullivan Gym and the science building. This lot is already scheduled to be developed in the master plan.
Think about it. Computing and A.I. is probably the key industry for the future. Notice how the MIT building includes the needs of the community. Forward thinking. Smart. Hey, it's MIT.
Design progresses for MIT Schwarzman College of Computing building on Vassar Street | MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology
 
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Portlander said:
USM has its own separate skyline now, not too shabby!
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It does, and not that I am fond of it, but the law building is classroom space that they will need. It looks like it's coming down and so it will change this skyline. I think that once the new dorms and student center are done, the interest in attending this campus will increase dramatically. I attended this campus for one year a while back and loved its location. I still think a good power wash on the exterior with a cosmetic fix of its crown is all it needs. I don't buy the claim that it has dangerous mold within. I think it's an excuse to tear it down because of the embarrassing anti-accolade of being voted by a prestigious arch magazine as one of the ugliest university buildings in the country. Yes, it is ugly, but so is the library. I think if you look for mold, you find it. Many buildings leak, or can depending on the intensity and direction of rainfall. I also think because it's in the brutalism style of arch, another reason to get rid of it. A group is or was trying to do that with Boston City Hall, which is also in the brutalism style. They want a softer, kinder kind of building. The immediate fix is a near one-hundred mill spend for a complete redesign of the plaza. Gov loves to spend money.
 
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Found a recent aerial. Also, discovered that the design architect is Elkus Manfredi. He designed the super cool stunner New Balance Headquarters in Brighten (Boston). Wow. This USM build only happened because of the public/private deal (P3) scenario. We need more of that.

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Very interested to see this finished - I didn't realize they created a courtyard (quad?) in the housing in addition to the quad in front of the Career and Student Success Center. Will be interesting to see how they tie this together.
 
Impressive transformation and USM is becoming an attractive urban campus with even more projects on the horizon. Is that a formation of porta potties on the roof?
 
Now if they can only find a way to remove that Oakhurst Dairy monstrosity. The street behind the residence hall would make for an ideal student promenade, and they could keep the longish older brick building to the west. They will eventually need more housing and perhaps an expansion of the biology/biotech programs. Several big companies in Maine are focused on only that--biotech. They need fresh recruits. Dairy doesn't have a bright future, if you really look into it, like local journalist Avery Yale Kamila has. She grew up on a dairy farm, and don't get her started. She argues that dairy is a poor source for a good diet (or can be replaced with vegan options), contributes to global warming, and terrorizes and injures the mother cows and calves. She's one of Portland's super moms, with an impressive PPH column resume and all-around track record for fighting things like this along with pesticides. The dairy is also simply a bad connect with the oncoming USM buildings, of which one will be LEED certified, and the other a highly insulated Passive House (of which the latter will be the second largest academic one in the country).
 
Oakhurst whipped cream in the silver can is the best!

Agreed about dairy milk though....I am an almond milk guy.
 
mainejeff said:
Oakhurst whipped cream in the silver can is the best!

Agreed about dairy milk though....I am an almond milk guy.
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Soy milk for me. I'm a bit lactose intolerant.
On another note, if I had the funds, I would be buying fixer uppers around USM. The design of the new buildings has brilliantly captured what will become a dynamic social experience for the school. And today, with Gen Z, it's mostly about that. The convenient train ride to Boston is another factor. When I did my one year here, I lived in a house a few blocks away and even then, enjoyed the area. Already some houses are being renovated on the street behind the law building. Some students, especially grads, will choose that. My prediction is that five years from now, the homes close to the campus will have nearly doubled in price. You heard it here.
 
Random thought - if they wanted to bring more of the athletics from the Gorham campus to Portland, they could totally fit a soccer field on top of the parking garage. I think a standard pitch is 225' x 350' but can be smaller, and that garage is 250' x 320' (at least based on measurements from Google Maps). There's similarly a field (though it may be a field hockey or lacrosse field) on top of a shorter parking structure on the Boston University campus.

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If I was "Dictator of USM" with an unlimited budget....
  • I would aim to build a multipurpose "Fitness and Recreation" center on the recently vacated law school site. That parcel is large and flat enough for a facility with an indoor multipurpose field, a running track, gym, locker rooms and possibly even a pool. There's really no other place on the Portland campus big enough for that kind of facility.

  • I would buy a large parcel of undeveloped land out in the Riverton Industrial park, gift it to Oakhurst Dairy, and then tell them to "F-off" from their Forest Ave facility.

  • I would also buy the single-story "university plaza' building at the corner of Bedford and Forest. That would open up the entire block bordered by Forest, Bedford, Falmouth and Durham St.

  • I would redevelop that entire block into a truly urban university campus with ~120 ft. height frontages along Forest Ave. Durham St. would be turned into a bike/ped-only street and have space for food trucks and outdoor dining.

  • I would build a new 8-10 story "Enginering and Life Sciences" center, which would have world-class classroom, lab and research facilities.

  • I would build a new 10-12 story graduate housing building on the corner of Forest and Falmouth.

  • The only part of the Oakhurst milk plant I would keep would be the original 2-story brick building along Durham St, which would be renovated into additional classroom and spaces for student use.
 
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All kinds of possibilities here. Perhaps Fitzpatrick Stadium could be renovated for track and soccer use, as high school football seems to be on its way out. I do think that the Graduate Business school will move back to the campus (makes sense), but not the law school. Why would they with the courthouses and prestigious law firms so close? And, it's technically part of the University of Maine, so not the University of Southern Maine. Perhaps someone could elaborate on that?
 
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