When Brian Ferriso became executive director of the Portland Art Museum in 2006, he inherited a staggering $20 million deficit and a deeply confusing architectural layout. The previous renovation had connected the museum's elegant Pietro Belluschi-designed complex to a neighboring Masonic temple, but the result was disastrous. Galleries were poorly proportioned, with one curator comparing them to bowling alleys, while visitors struggled through a dimly lit underground passage that required breadcrumbs to navigate. The expansion also turned its back on the surrounding city, ignoring Portland's newly restored streetcar line, which was America's first built since World War II. Resolving these issues would require nine years to retire the debt and twenty years total to complete a $116 million architectural solution.
The Chicago-based firm Vinci Hamp Architects and Portland-based Hennebery Eddy Architects collaborated to create the Mark Rothko Pavilion, a 24,230-square-foot addition that opened in November. The pavilion is named after the famous painter who grew up in Portland, first exhibited at the museum, and whose heirs will provide rotating loans through 2036. Rather than building a third structure that competed with the existing landmarks, the design team created a wide, fully glazed breezeway that links all four floors of both buildings. The glass is specially fritted to control light, save energy, and prevent bird collisions, while the setbacks preserve the rhythm of both buildings' original windows.
The architectural mission centered on connectivity and creating what founding principal Tim Eddy calls a "giant welcome mat." At ground level, paved in simple gray granite, the pavilion acts as an intimate street through the museum, featuring an enlarged café and bookstore that open to both the linear park and the streetcar line. Two upper-floor decks offer treetop views of the city. The design honors Belluschi's original vision from 1932, when he created a friendly urban invitation with a travertine-framed entrance just seven shallow steps from the sidewalk. The new expansion builds on this legacy of accessibility and community engagement.
Numerous technical challenges threatened the project but ultimately became opportunities. The original loading dock, awkwardly situated between the buildings, had to move to a busy bike and transit corridor. Wealthy neighbors and disability advocates demanded 24-hour through-block access, resulting in a costly tunnel beneath the pavilion. Because both buildings have landmark status, the pavilion had to be structurally isolated, touching them only with nine-inch-wide seismic joints. The sloping site meant none of the floor plates aligned, even at ground level. The designers turned the tunnel into a glazed showcase for the new 6,270-square-foot Black Art Experiences Gallery, which displays major artworks and hosts workshops.
The architects carefully preserved historic elements while adding modern functionality. They repurposed the Masonic temple's most beautifully proportioned room into a black-box gallery, preserving its ornamented beams and painted ceiling. They capped the new loading dock with a gallery featuring a large window that perfectly frames the Gothic church across the street. The team skillfully managed complex level changes with stairs, ramps, and barely noticeable grade adjustments, creating clear axial views deep into both buildings' galleries. This intricate navigation system firmly positions the pavilion as the museum's organizational center.
Despite some compromises—Belluschi's original entrance is now a secondary control point, and some spaces remain dead ends—the project succeeds in its core mission of visual generosity. Ferriso, who has since become director of the Dallas Museum of Art, left his successor with a dramatically improved institution that reverses his predecessor's mistakes. His favorite spot is the fourth-floor deck, where watching the streetcar pass by represents Portland values. The Mark Rothko Pavilion transforms the museum from an inward-looking institution into a true crossroads between art and urban life, healing old wounds while creating new connections.
