Architecture
traditional
Art Deco canopy
Wells Fargo Center
The Wells Fargo Center is an office building located in
Portland, Oregon, United States. The tower rises 546 feet (166.4 m) with 40
floors of office space and three levels of parking below the surface. When the
structure was completed in 1972, the center became the tallest building in the
State of Oregon.
The building and a connected four-story building were designed by Charles
Luckman and Associates. It was dedicated on May 25, 1972. Originally known as
the First National Center, the name was changed to the First Interstate Tower in
1981. The current name was adopted after Wells Fargo purchased First Interstate
Bancorp in 1996. Upon opening in 1972, the Wells Fargo Center dwarfed all other
existing high-rise developments in downtown Portland. Public outcry over the
tower's scale and the potential of new development to block views of Mount Hood
led to height restrictions on all new development.
The public areas went under extensive renovation in 2001 including room for more
retail space. Renovations were completed in 2002 at a cost of $35 million.
Focused on the lobby area, it included the addition of a display on the bank's
history. The center had been the headquarters of Willamette Industries until
2003, when that company was bought by Weyerhaeuser.
Architectural details include extensive use of marble. There is a total of 60,000 square feet (5,600 m2) of marble in the building, with the base utilizing 1/16-inch thick marble. The exterior of the building has columns of black glass separated by columns of white marble running the entire height of the building. The design of the building has been criticized for a variety of architectural issues.
US Bancorp Tower
The US Bancorp Tower is the second tallest skyscraper in Portland, Oregon. It stands at 536 feet (163 m) with 42 floors. The building has nearly 1.1 million square feet (69,000 mē) of office space inside, making it the largest office building in Oregon in terms of volume, and the second tallest building in Oregon, with only the Wells Fargo Center exceeding its height.
Construction of the building was undertaken by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM) with Pietro Belluschi as a consultant. The tower opened in 1983 with construction costs of $128 million. At first the building served as the national headquarters of U.S. Bancorp, then the regional headquarters of that organization after a 1997 merger moved the corporate offices to Minneapolis, Minnesota. U.S. Bancorp has 480,000 square feet (45,000 m2) leased until 2015.
Perhaps the most unusual features of the building are its shape and color. Pietro Belluschi was most concerned about the play of light and shadows on its surface; meanwhile, the SOM team had to work with a uniquely shaped lot due to the street grid. The meshing of these two concerns led to what has been called Portland's most dynamic building. Because of the street grid, the tower features no right angles in its parallelogram footprint. This, in turn, makes it look either extremely slender or wide depending upon your viewing angle. Belluschi carefully selected the glass and granite for the exterior facing. The windows can absorb or reflect light depending upon how much light is upon them, while the surrounding granite may appear darker or lighter than the window pieces depending upon the time of day. The building can be described as being pink, orange, purple, or even gray all in the same day. The unusual pinkish color earned the building the nickname "Big Pink", after an album by The Band.
KOIN Center
KOIN Center (left tower)
KOIN Center is a multi-purpose
skyscraper in Portland, Oregon, USA. At a height of 509 feet (155 meters), it is
Oregon's third tallest building. It was designed by the firm of Zimmer Gunsul
Frasca Partnership and opened in 1984 at a cost of $48 million.
The building was originally named Fountain Plaza, but it quickly came to be
known as the KOIN Center, or KOIN Tower, reflecting the name of its
highest-profile occupant, KOIN television. The building was controversial while
being constructed because its location blocked the view of Mount Hood that had
long been seen by drivers emerging from the Vista Ridge Tunnel under Portland's
West Hills going eastbound on U.S. Route 26.
The building was sold on July 3, 2007, to a group of California investors for
$108 million. In August 2009, these investors that included the California
Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) and CommonWealth partners
surrendered control of the KOIN Center after defaulting on their mortgage of $70
million from the New York Life Insurance Company. The condos on the upper floors
are owned separately and were unaffected by the default
Fox Tower
The Fox Tower is a 27-story office building in Portland, Oregon, USA. It opened in 2000, making it Portland's most recently opened major office building. Thompson Vaivoda and Associates designed the building and Tom Moyer developed the property. The building is named after the Fox Theatre which occupied the site from 1911 until the late 1990s.
The building is most notable for the contrast between its curving east side and
boxy west side. The juxtaposition of the building's angles create a unique
profile from each side. This multiplanar and set-back design is meant to prevent
as much of the building's shadow as possible from falling upon Pioneer
Courthouse Square on the opposite corner.
The ground floor houses retail stores, and Regal's Fox Tower 10 movie theater is
located on the second floor.
Standard Insurance Center
The Standard Insurance Center
(Originally the Georgia-Pacific Building) is a 27 story office building in
Portland, Oregon. It currently serves as part of the headquarters of The
Standard (the brand name under which Standard Insurance Company and other
subsidiaries of StanCorp Financial Group, Inc., do business).
The building was commissioned by Georgia-Pacific and designed by the firm of
Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill (SOM). At the time of construction, it was the
tallest reinforced concrete building in the world. The Georgia-Pacific Building
was completed in 1971
One of the most infamous pieces of public artwork in Portland sits prominently on the granite plaza in front of the Standard Insurance Center. Count Alexander Von Svoboda's The Quest features a fountain with nude figures intertwined in a sort of a "swim". However, some Portlanders over the years have drawn their own conclusions as to what the figures are doing and nicknamed the work "Three Groins in a Fountain", "The Grope", "The Quest for the Breast", or "Family Night at the YMCA". At some point a person vandalized the statue, spray-painting a "circle-slash" across the breast of one of the figures. It can still be seen - faded, but still noticeable.
