Global Construction Review: Adjaye Associates and MVRDV among contenders for Portland Museum of Art expansion

Four teams have been shortlisted to design the extension and renovation of the Portland Museum of Art (PMA) in the New England state Maine.

By Joe Quirke

November 28, 2022

This article appears in Global Construction Review.

The teams vying for the contract are:

Image courtesy of MVRDV/The Portland Museum of Art, Maine/Dovetail Design Strategists

  • Adjaye Associates with Simons Architects, KMA, Michael Boucher Landscape Architecture, Atelier Ten, 2×4 and John Bear Mitchell

  • Lever Architecture with Unknown Studio, Chris Newell, Openbox, Once-Future Office, Atelier Ten and Studio Pacifica

  • MVRDV with STOSS, the Institute for Human-Centred Design, Pentagram, Atelier Ten and DVDL

  • Toshiko Mori Architect, Johnston Marklee and Preston Scott Cohen with Hargreaves Jones, Cross Cultural Community Services, WeShouldDoItAll, Buro Happold and Arup.

The PMA has an 18,000-object collection, including 19th and 20th-century American and European art.

The museum has now outgrown its current home, both in terms of visitor demand and its need for storage and exhibition space.

Mark Bessire, the director of the PMA, said: “We are deeply moved by the diversity of experience and records of innovation represented in these submissions.

“Our aspirations as a cultural institution are far greater than simply ‘building a building’, and when we launched the competition, we were curious to see if our colleagues in the architectural world were equally interested in the paradigm shift we were imagining. Turns out, they were.”

The winning team will be announced January 2023, selected by a jury containing museum and community stakeholders, and architects.

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