207: Portland Museum of Art announces major expansion

The addition signals a new direction for one of Maine’s leading cultural institutions.

This article appears in News Center Maine 207.

By Rob Caldwell

PORTLAND, Maine — The Portland Museum of Art is ready to embark on its most extensive expansion since it built its flagship building overlooking Congress Square four decades ago.

The plan is to construct a new building next door on Free Street on the site previously occupied by the Children’s Museum of Maine. After spending the last two years evaluating its wants and needs, the museum has developed a detailed outline — but not yet a specific design — for what it hopes to create.

“The first floors [will be] much more like a community arts center than a museum,” museum director Mark Bessire said, ticking off what the building likely will contain. “Community galleries, classrooms on the second floor, photo center, auditorium on the ground floor, and we hope the possibility of having other nonprofits in our community have their offices on one floor and even utilize the classrooms for their programs.”

The expansion is an ambitious undertaking, and it won’t be done on the cheap. The museum hopes to raise $85 million to pay for it. 

Bessire said he loves the museum’s existing three buildings, but this new space will give patrons a chance to experience art, not just view it. Another goal is to design the building to be environmentally friendly.

While the groundbreaking for the building is likely three to four years away, it represents more than just adding space. It’s really about taking the museum in a new direction and opening it up.

“We have served our community well, but there are members of our community who don’t come to the museum,” Bessire said. “We want to be thinking about those who don’t come. Why do they not come? What are we not doing to attract other people to come? And this new model, we think, is going to expand our footprint, as well as the potential for different audiences to be much more interested in participating and having [a] dialogue with art.”

In the News

PMA Magazine
Portland Press Herald: Letter: Bring on the PMA’s expansion
Portland Press Herald: Letter: Bring on the PMA’s expansion

And, while there is something to be said for routine, I am personally looking forward to the expansion into the neighboring property at 142 Free St.

Bangor Daily News: The Portland Museum of Art makes ‘Art for All’ a reality
Bangor Daily News: The Portland Museum of Art makes ‘Art for All’ a reality

Art gives us the chance to see the world through the eyes of someone else, providing a glimpse into their lives, history and experiences, which can be profoundly different than our own. 

MaineBiz: Timber! Portland Museum of Art to host conference on an innovative forest product
MaineBiz: Timber! Portland Museum of Art to host conference on an innovative forest product

"Timber and fine art may seem like an odd combination, but the Portland Museum of Art is promoting itself as the perfect host for a conference this fall on an innovative type of forest product."—MaineBiz

Commentary: Mass timber makes sense for new building in Maine
Commentary: Mass timber makes sense for new building in Maine

The time is now to incentivize mass timber as a go-to building material to maximize long-lasting and positive outcomes for our economies and environment.

Architectural Record: Projects from Around the World Demonstrate Diverse Approaches to Building with Wood
Architectural Record: Projects from Around the World Demonstrate Diverse Approaches to Building with Wood

LEVER Architecture, noted for its pioneering embrace of mass-timber construction, is making its mark on the other Portland—the similarly forest-flanked one in Maine—with a $100 million revamp of that city’s most venerable public art institution.

Hyperallergic: What Does an “Indigenous Inclusion Coordinator” Do?
Hyperallergic: What Does an “Indigenous Inclusion Coordinator” Do?

From the beginning of the project, Newell was brought in to educate the team about Wabanaki culture, worldview, and cosmology to inform the design approach for the expansion.

The Art Newspaper: The Portland Museum of Art picks mass timber design for $100m 'expansion and unification' project
The Art Newspaper: The Portland Museum of Art picks mass timber design for $100m 'expansion and unification' project

The mass timber in the winning design nods to the region’s history of lumber production while gesturing to a future of “environmental stewardship”, positioning Portland’s cultural producers as leaders in sustainability awareness.

ArchDaily: LEVER Architecture Wins Competition to Design the Portland Museum of Art Campus Expansion
ArchDaily: LEVER Architecture Wins Competition to Design the Portland Museum of Art Campus Expansion

The themes of accessibility, equity, diversity, inclusion, and sustainability were central to the design brief, as the competition aimed to push designers to imagine a new type of museum, one that makes art accessible to all.

designboom: Portland Museum of Art selects LEVER architecture to lead its $100M campus expansion
designboom: Portland Museum of Art selects LEVER architecture to lead its $100M campus expansion

The concept materializes as a timber extension with a curved roof that reaches for the sun and generous glazing that offers captivating reflections provides ample indoor illumination and encourages visual connectivity.

arch2o: LEVER’s Mass Timber Design Wins the Portland Museum of Art Extension Contest
arch2o: LEVER’s Mass Timber Design Wins the Portland Museum of Art Extension Contest

The Portland Museum of Art (PMA) in Maine’s largest city has selected LEVER Architecture as the winner of the prestigious worldwide competition to design the PMA’s expansion.

 
newsGuest Userblueprint