The Pacific Northwest College of Art teamed with Allied Works to develop a master plan for centralizing the school’s facilities while enhancing its offerings to current and future students. Needing a large facility that allowed for a combination of innovative studio and classroom space with administrative and faculty office units, PNCA found a perfect match with the vacated historic post office and federal building in downtown Portland. The six-story building was originally opened in 1919 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.

The building’s status as a historic site presented several unique challenges for Glumac’s MEP engineering team, who were tasked with upgrading the facility’s nearly century old—and in some cases, non-functional—systems, while maintaining the Renaissance Style interiors, particularly in the grand entryway on the first floor, and the marble-walled corridors on the second floor. To meet the PNCA’s budget and address its high sustainability goals, several passive solutions were implemented, including natural ventilation on floors 3 through 6, and the simple application of a new HVAC system that did not require any major architectural revisions. Additionally, expansive sawtooth skylights that had been previously concealed in the Commons area of the two-story federal building were uncovered to flood the space with natural daylighting. The structure was also outfitted with solar panels, and achieved LEED Platinum certification.

Additional creative spaces designed for the Pacific Northwest College of Art include lighting and sound studios, and advanced animation, video and sound editing facilities.

Size: 145,000 sf
Cost: $34,000,000
Completion Date: 2015
Architect: Allied Works Architecture
Contractor: Howard S. Wright
Services: MEP Engineering, Lighting

Images courtesy of Mario Gallucci