File Photo / Tim Greenway
Mark Bessire, director of the Portland Museum of Art
Updated: August 11, 2022
Portland museum gets closer to expansion with short list of potential architects
COURTESY / PMA
The Portland Museum of Art moved forward on plans for its first major expansion in four decades.
The Portland Museum of Art, which plans an expansion in coming years, has come up with a short list of architects.
Earlier this year, the museum announced plans for an $85 million expansion at 142 Free St. that would incorporate the former home of the Children's Museum & Theatre of Maine.
To find an architecture team for its "campus unification and expansion" plan, the museum worked with New York City-based Dovetail Design Strategists.
On Aug. 11, the museum named four teams in the running for the project. They are:
- Adjaye Associates with KMA, Michael Boucher Landscape Architecture, Atelier Ten, and 2x4
- LEVER Architecture with Unknown Studio, Chris Newell-Akomawt Educational Initiative, Openbox, Once-Future Office, Atelier Ten and Studio Pacifica
- MVRDV with STOSS, the Institute for Human Centered Design, Pentagram, Atelier Ten and DVDL
- Toshiko Mori Architect, Johnston Marklee and Preston Scott Cohen with Hargreaves Jones, Cross Cultural Community Services, WeShouldDoItAll, Buro Happold Consulting Engineers and Arup. This is the group that designed the Center for Maine Contemporary Art in Rockland.
The PMA has committed itself to a mission of “art for all,” and said principles of diversity, equity and inclusion, as well as sustainability, will guide the selection process.
Nearly a third of the lead firms, or 30%, were founded or are owned by people of color; 16% were founded or are owned by women.
“We are deeply moved by the diversity of experience and records of innovation represented in these submissions,” said Mark H.C. Bessire, the Judy and Leonard Lauder Director of the Portland Museum of Art.
“Our aspirations as a cultural institution are far greater than simply ‘building a building,’ and when we launched the competition, we were curious to see if our colleagues in the architectural world were equally interested in the paradigm shift we were imagining. Turns out, they were.”
The museum said it hopes to “create centers of belonging and foster social change.”
“It was vital to us as jurors to ensure our unique character as a region was considered in the submissions,” said PMA board member Kyo Bannai.
“Portland and Maine are international destinations and proudly welcome visitors from around the world, yet this is due to a recognizable, evolving, and renowned cultural landscape that must be elevated and sustained through this new landmark building and competition.”
The present museum has been virtually unchanged for the past four decades. The museum said it has made no increases in the number of galleries, visitor amenities or capacity.
In February, the museum committed to an agreement to “conduct and manage a design competition for the Campus Reunification Project for a contracted cost of $250,000 plus reimbursable expenses,” according to its annual report.
The Campus Reunification Project seeks to unify the museum’s downtown Portland campus through construction at 142 Free St., which is the former Children’s Museum & Theatre of Maine. The PMA paid $2.1 million for the building in 2019.
With the expansion, the museum expects to add 60,000 square feet of flexible space with gallery and community space.
The museum collection includes some 18,000 objects. Its principal structure is the Charles Shipman Payson building, which was designed by I.M. Pei & Partners and opened in 1983. The PMA also owns the McLellan House, Charles Quincy Clapp House and L.D.M. Sweat Memorial Galleries, as well as the historic Winslow Home Studio on Prouts Neck in Scarborough.
Through Jan. 31, the museum had assets of $80.9 million. For the fiscal year ended Jan. 31, it had expenses of $8.6 million, according to its annual report.
Most Recent
Most Recent
0 Comments