Building. Once again, Graves' incorporation of h istory into architecture
has been given only cursory attention and has limited the
building's title of public service to a purely bureaucratic definition.
Finally, it is the absence of useful proportion, relative to users
and clients, which fails to displace architectural pedantry with the
functional needs of the public. The massive references to history
which adorn the exterior of the building take on an almost puny
quality when one first confronts the main lobby. Granted, the
exquisite marble floor and effective use of deep blues and pastel
pink colors hark back to the art deco and images of F. Scott waltzing
(or fighting) Zelda across the floor, but the lobby is small,
almost an afterthought, when contrasted with the dominance and
order implied in the exterior. The lobby comprises only a fraction
of the building's ground floor and causes one to wonder, where
does the building go? The mezzanine, surrounding the lobby,
attempts to relieve the unknown with suggestions of openness, and
in this respect it succeeds; but the narrow corridor leading to the
elevator doors soon compresses one's hopes of a grander space.
A glance beyond the corridor reveals a room filled with a stage,
dressed in tables and chairs and in search of patrons who wish to
eat, elevated, and in full view of the building's commuters. The
space remains mostly empty.
Had Graves given as much attention to the size of the lobby as
to historical detail, the room could have more adequately reflected
the importance of this building as a meeting place and as a decision
center which connects Portland's past with the present and
the future.
The story of the Portland Public Services Building continues to
confront the architectural profession. It is a story without an ending
and one which will be tc;>ld over and over for different purposes
and with different meanings. I have tried to shed some light
on only one aspect of this important work of architecture. I have
tried to show that by limiting himself to an ideology based almost
exclusively on an historical dialectic between modern architecture
and the past, Graves has produced a building which is more
private than public, more illusory than allusive, and less functional
than its title implies. But these shortcomings are not meant
to say that that the building is a failure. In fact, it is a grand success.
For, although Graves has replaced a one-dimensional tradition
in architecture with another, he has also created a juxtaposition
of lessons to be learned in the mind's imagination. Sitting
beside its international neighbors, the Portland Building shows,
beyond a shadow of a doubt, the need to incorporate more than
history or function into our buildings and cities. Together, these
contrasting styles show that we are not one-dimensional people;
and the many comparisons and debates about style and tradition,
which these buildings jointly nurture, confirms that observation.
Whether he intended it to be or not, Michael Graves has done us