Master in Architecture studio design for a historical archives building located on the corner of Park Avenue and Clay Streets in downtown Portland, OR.

SECOND FLOOR 

The aim of this studio was to design a building for the preservation and public display of documents, articles, and books related to the third President of the United States. The building requirements called for a library, archive room, gallery, reception area, work area, seminar room, private reading rooms, and administrative offices.

STRUCTURAL DIAGRAM - two reinforced concrete boxes protected the archive room and seismically braced the structural steel framework.

My two story structure illuminated interior spaces with filtered light and fresh air from a landscaped glass and painted steel atrium.

FRONT ELEVATION

The building's exterior facade echoed the layers of red brick and white stone of Thomas Jefferson's Monticello home.

Its visual and spatial shapes followed long-standing proportional harmonies, while its simple ornamentation of polished stainless steel trim and colored glass kept the building in character with other public-facing buildings along the park blocks.

The floor to ceiling ground-level windows connected tall interior public spaces to the street by suggesting portico-like protection from the elements, while the smaller windows on the second floor expressed privacy and intimacy.

A slightly protruding wall plane with additional detailing and pyramidal roof announced the building's main entrance, while the archive room's red, white, and blue glass window wall in the shape of a draped US flag alluded to the building's general theme.

ENTRY and MAIN HALLS

White marble floors at street level gave way to wood floors on the second floor. Highly detailed and deeply coffered, uplit white ceilings floated above flat planes of ribbon-like, birds eye maple and glossy white painted wood panel hallway walls.

Several diagrams explained some of the building design rationale.

Book-ending the archive room

My design positioned the building's main attraction front and center to the public view, but safely above day to day foot traffic.

Public rooms at ground level to animate the sidewalk and street

Floor to ceiling windows on the ground floor invited visual connection and communication between busy interior and exterior public activities.

Private rooms at second level to take in light and park views

The more contemplative public spaces on the second floor had numerous windows for daylight and views into the tall trees of the adjacent park.

Front entrance faced west to the tree-lined Park Blocks.

Major rooms lined the street, and the main entry associated with the park.

A solid block corner with major rooms facing street

Building mass intentionally formed a solid street corner for visual continuity and a sense of solidity.