As professor of Architecture at Princeton University, Michael
Graves is obviously a man of substantial curiosity. However, it is
the translation of curiosity into imaginative intellect, capable of
being understood by the public, which has eluded Graves in the
Portland Building and which is the central issue of this paper.
Graves believes the Portland Building to be " a symbolic gesture,
an attempt to re-establish a language of architecture and values
that are not part of modernist homogeneity. " 2
Graves is right, but only to a certain point. The Portland Building
is indeed a symbolic gesture, and it does attempt to establish