Posted May 14, 2024, 5:11 PM
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Moderator
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Join Date: May 2005
Location: Portland
Posts: 7,532
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My heartstrings are getting yanked in two very different ways. On one hand, a state of art complex with two large auditoriums and fresh development would be a huge win for downtown. But losing the Kellar and it's proposed connection (finally) to the fountain would be tremendous. Ugh, hard to see a win-win solution here.
From Oregon ArtsWatch https://www.orartswatch.org/psu-doub...ance-hall-bid/
Quote:
PSU doubles down on its performance hall bid
The university’s revised design proposal for a Keller Auditorium replacement offers two venues in one: a Keller-sized 3,000-seat hall and a versatile 1,200-seat companion space.
MAY 13, 2024
BRIAN LIBBY
ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN, CULTURE
Main entrance to Portland State University’s proposed performance complex at the south end of downtown. Rendering courtesy of Bora Architects.
This month, as Portland City Council begins deliberating the future of Keller Auditorium and which of three finalists will be selected—a renovation of the existing venue or one of two new-build options—one of the finalists, Portland State University, has upped the ante on its proposal and offered a first glimpse.
For its University Place Hotel & Conference site on Southwest Lincoln Street at the south edge of downtown, PSU has unveiled a design by Portland architecture firm Bora for not just a 3,000-seat performance venue to replace the Keller, but also an adjoining 1,200-seat theater, in addition to a hotel tower and restaurant space.
The revised double-venue plan — which will be presented to the City Council on May 29, as will proposals for a newly constructed performance hall at Lloyd Center and renovation of the current Keller Auditorium — resulted from the university’s conversations with existing Keller Auditorium tenants and other local arts organizations.
While Keller’s approximately 3,000-seat capacity and accompanying large stage are ideal for touring Broadway Across America shows as well as popular ballets such as The Nutcracker each December, “really what folks are looking for is 1,200 seats for some of the more intimate gatherings,” explains Jason Franklin, PSU’s associate vice president for planning, construction and real estate. “That’s one thing that we’ve certainly been hearing over and over again. There’s this hole in the market.”
Re-examining their own proposal for a Keller replacement on the 4.25-acre University Place Hotel site, they found there was room for a two-venue configuration as well as a new hotel building, and asked Bora to move forward with a revised design.
DOUBLE BENEFIT
Interior view of the proposed center’s main lobby space. Rendering courtesy of Bora Architects.
Creating a second venue adjacent to the larger auditorium brings added benefits. In those same conversations indicating the need for a 1,200-seat space, stakeholders expressed a need for rehearsal space on a stage of equal size, so Bora’s design accordingly gives the smaller venue an equal-sized stage to its larger neighbor, meaning it can be utilized for rehearsals when not hosting performances of its own. And by committing to two venues, PSU’s new plan also creates correspondingly spacious twin adjacent loading docks, which could then become one large loading dock for the largest touring shows.
“You could get as many as six semis in the back of the house at one time, as well as places where you can park them or park buses for touring venues back here,” explains Bora principal Michael Tingley, who has led the design for PSU. “Major Broadway productions now come with 10 or 12 semis. It takes them a week to load into the Keller, and three days to load out. In most venues they can load in in two days and load out in a single day. At Keller, that really reduces the number of performances and shows that you can put on.” At PSU’s double venue, with its six-semi-truck capacity, he adds, “You could probably get one and a half times the number of performances that you can put on in the Keller, just in the large venue, not even counting the 1,200-seat venue.”
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Additional renderings in linked article:
Conception of how a new performance center (near middle) at Portland State University would fit into Portland’s downtown. Rendering courtesy of Bora Architects.
The design for the theater’s interior creates a more intimate large-capacity house, with balconies pushed closer to the stage and the most distant seats 50 feet closer than in the current Keller Auditorium. Rendering courtesy of Bora Architects.
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make paradise, tear up a parking lot
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