PMA Magazine

The Portland Museum of Art is a postmodernist landmark on the city’s Congress Square. The museum is now planning an even more dramatic architectural landmark that may upstage the handsome brick façade with its signature quartet of arches.

The project aims to unify the museum’s downtown Portland, Maine campus through the design of a new building at 142 Free Street.

Four finalist concept designs were just unveiled by the Portland Museum of Art for a planned expansion of the institution set to be completed by 2026 in the thriving New England cultural capital.

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

The museum is now soliciting public feedback on the designs—which include proposals from groups including Adjaye Associates and MVRDV—through 11 December

The project includes a 60,000 square feet expansion in the form of a six or seven-story structure planned to accommodate an increase in the number of visits and a growing collection of art.

The museum has outgrown its downtown campus due to an increase in visitors and major gifts to its collection, museum officials say.

The winning design will be announced in January.

"Right now, because of our growth, the real risk is not to build," Director Mark Bessire explained. "If museums don’t continue to grow, if you fall back, it can take a generation to recover."

"The vision is more conceptual in that we want to be the center of the arts of our community. We want to be green, and we want to be sure everyone feels like it's their museum,” Bessire said.

While at first glance the design proposals are visually quite different, they each promote similar themes, use sustainable materials, and wholeheartedly embrace unifying the campus buildings and the surrounding streetscape.

Each of the four designs unveiled Friday depicts a large, contemporary and architecturally striking building that would be constructed on that site adjacent to what is known as the Payson building.