PORTLAND ART MUSEUM

NORTH WING/MASONIC TEMPLE

Portland , Oregon

The Portland Art Museum acquired the Mark Building in 1991 which was a former Masonic Temple and is adjacent to the museum's Bellushi Building . Horton Lees Brogden Lighting Design worked with Ann Beha Architects to develop the lighting for the dynamic contemporary design, which preserves this landmark as a renewed cultural and civic resource for the City of Portland . The North Building houses the Museum's new Center for Modern and Contemporary Art. The three historic ballrooms were fully restored and renovated, and a new administrative and curatorial center houses upgraded facilities for the Museum's library, staff offices, Rental Sales Gallery and the NW Film Center.

The challenge for this lighting design was to convert the secretive 1925 Masonic Temple into an inviting museum space for exhibiting modern art. HLB's scope of work covers the Lobby, Library, 3 Grand Ballrooms, Art Galleries , Public Areas, and Exterior Façade Lighting. Over 100 historic fixtures were carefully refurbished, relocated and supplemented with integrated accent lighting and downlights. Energy efficient halogen was used throughout the art galleries, meeting Oregon 's stringent Energy Code while fulfilling the needs of the museum for exhibiting works of art.

Exterior lighting focuses on façade penetrations by featuring windows, entries, open colonnade and new glass features. Additional layers include uplighting sculptures and halos under plinths, creating floating effects while illuminating walkways. Energy efficient ceramic metal halide lamps were used, along with linear fluorescent lamps for good color rendering. This successful lighting design uses fresh solutions uniquely suited to the building, to change an inverted fortress into an extroverted cultural landmark.