Postmodernist architect Michael Graves' Portland Building, which many people believe to be too loud on the outside and too claustrophobic within, has proven so problematic that the Oregon city is considering spending at least $95M to knock it down. In a talk last month, Graves himself himself vehemently defended the work, pinning most of its apparent dysfunction on how the city. Yesterday, design critic Alexandra Lange penned another argument for saving what may be the country's first Postmodern building, if only for the sake of its symbolic façade.
She writes: "Postmodernism is not, now, our style, but are we really comfortable demolishing its most prominent exemplar?" Lange, confident that "history does change perception," is hopeful that better urban design and a redeeming interior renovation will make saving the building now ultimately worthwhile. Read her full column over at Dezeen.
· "History does change perception" [Dezeen]
· Five Ways Michael Graves Would Salvage The Portland Building [Curbed National]
· All Michael Graves coverage [Curbed National]
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