page_title: Portland Building
section_title: Reconstruction
hierarchical_section_title: Portland Building / History / Reconstruction
caption_attribution_description: The Portland Building (in downtown Portland, Oregon), undergoing rebuilding in October 2018. The work began in December 2017 and is expected to last about three years. This view is from the west-southwest, across the intersection of 5th Avenue and Madison Street.
context_page_description: The Portland Building, alternatively referenced as the Portland Municipal Services Building, is a 15-story municipal office building located at 1120 SW 5th Avenue in downtown Portland, Oregon. Built at a cost of US$29 million, it opened in 1982 and was considered architecturally groundbreaking at the time. The building houses offices of the City of Portland and is located adjacent to Portland City Hall. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2011. The building is currently closed for reconstruction, which began in December 2017 and is due to last about three years.
context_section_description: In 2014, some city commissioners expressed the view that the building should be demolished due to extensive water infiltration and structural issues. The consensus among the city commissioners was mixed, with one member calling the building a "white elephant", while others opposed the demolition. Michael Graves fiercely opposed demolition.  In 2015, city officials were considering spending $175 million to fully renovate the building.
  In July 2016, plans to renovate the building moved ahead, with the city council choosing a contractor and setting a maximum cost of $140 million for the work, not including estimated non-construction expenses of up to $55 million, such as for the leasing of office space for around 1,300 city employees who will be temporarily displaced during the renovation work.  The contractors for the project are architecture firm DLR Group and Howard S. Wright Construction. 
  The renovation retains the building's basic postmodern architectural style while changing some of the building materials to better withstand weather and earthquakes. The teal colored tiles of the lower three floors would be replaced with larger terracotta rainscreen tiles, the existing painted concrete facade would be covered by a new aluminum rainscreen cladding, the existing dark tinted windows would be replaced with clear glass windows, and the stucco garlands on the side of the building will be rebuilt using formed aluminum. The Portland Docomomo International chapter decried the building's renovation, claiming that the replacement of the building's material would threaten the building's landmark status.
  Work on the extensive rebuilding, known by the city as the Portland Building Reconstruction Project, began in fall 2017, with interior demolition work, followed by an official groundbreaking in December. The project is expected to take about three years, with completion around the end of 2020. The Portlandia statue was covered by a shroud, to protect it from potential damage during the work; the covering was removed in September 2019. As of September 2018, the ongoing project remained on-schedule.
  The George Floyd and police brutality protests in Portland were centered near the building.
caption: Reconstruction under way in October 2018
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