As reported in today's Oregonian by Ryan Frank and Brent Hunsberger, the Trail Blazers have decided to revisit the idea of redeveloping the Rose Quarter area. That, the report says, could include retrofitting or demolishing the Coliseum.
It's true that the Rose Quarter is a dismal place unless there's a Blazer game happening, and even then it's only because of the game. At the same time, one of the city's biggest transit centers is here, so it would be good for the city for this area to be used more efficiently and smartly.
The successful recent Davis Cup match at the Coliseum not withstanding, it seems like overkill both in terms of function and in terms of architectural scale to have two large arenas sitting next to each other. But for virtually any architectural enthusiast, the Coliseum is a far more elegant, attractive and historic building than the larger, newer Rose Garden. It was designed in 1960 by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill at the height of their mid-20th Century prowess, and the glass enclosure gives the Coliseum a wonderful transparency that few other arenas can even come close to.
The above photograph was taken by the legendary architectural photographer Julius Shulman and is from the book Modernism Rediscovered. Inside, Pierluigi Serraino writes of how the building's roof system of steel trusses on four concrete columns produces a 270x240-foot clear span of glass. As a result, the structurally independent arena is "completely contained within a glass box patterened with 78-foot high wooden mullions". This is easily the most impressive glass structure in the city.
And speaking of history, remember that Memorial Coliseum is where the Trail Blazers won the 1977 NBA championship. It's also where The Beatles played their only Portland concert. We're talking sacred ground here.
I was disappointed to read in Frank and Hunsberger's article that Commissioner Randy Leonard has gone on record saying "he could support razing the Coliseum as long as another appropriate veterans' memorial was erected on the site." Even though veterans should indeed be honored, the memorial at Memorial Coliseum is the least special and unique thing about the place. We could easily replace that memorial. We can't replace the exquisite architecture of the arena.
There have in past years been ideas about how to renovate and renew the Coliseum, from the awful, very un-Portland idea of making it a big-box retailer to the very fine idea to make it an amateur sports Mecca. The latter plan, though, depended on a huge grant from McDonald's billionaire Roy Kroc's widow that was up for grabs at the time. That money is long gone, but why not revisit that idea with a new revenue stream?
There also could, and arguably should, be a housing and office presence somewhere within the Rose Quarter. That's the only way it will have life beyond a few events at the Rose Garden.
How about a design competition to generate new ideas for the facility? It could be an 'ideas competition' and non binding in terms of building. But between tearing down one of the most loved structures in Portland and turning it into a Home Depot, there has to be a third way that we can get behind - something that's a slam dunk.
Every time I hear about the Coliseum being remodeled I have very mixed feelings. It is a wonderful building, but it is also woefully under appreciated and slightly under used.
My feeling is that is mostly location driven. It is really in a no mans land between the steel bridge, the Broadway bridge and I-5. No matter what the development is here, this will always be an isolated chunk of town.
Should we really gamble millions on redevelopment here when there are other prime targets that would certainly make more sense as urban centers?
Posted by: Mike | February 13, 2008 at 10:25 PM
I love the fact that the Memorial Coliseum's association with the sacrifices made by war veteran's has been able to successfully stall the neighboring, pro-sports conceived Rose Garden building from overwhelming and hastening the Memorial Coliseum off to a much earlier demise. This accomplishment by the coliseum, in addition to the achievement its design represents, argues for a continued presence and a great, renewed life for it in Portland.
The RG is newer, and better appointed. No disputing that, but this doesn't particularly redeem that structure's odious presence. Never the less, it fulfills a practical need, and that need seems to be hosting a pro basketball team. That seems to be what people want more than keeping around what seems to most of them to be nothing more than an architectural oddity. A white elephant.
I wondered some time back whether the coliseum could host bicycle racing in a velodrome. Can't remember for sure, but it seems like the central arena was a little too small for current standard Olympic distance. In this type of elegant, graceful building, the sport of bicycle racing (cleaned up of performance enhancing drugs, of course) could be an excellent compliment.
Posted by: ws | February 14, 2008 at 02:00 AM
Brian, you should pick up on the story in yesterday's DJC about the pedestrian bridge in the South Waterfront. It sounds like dumming it down is the order of the day.
Posted by: Aneeda | February 14, 2008 at 10:30 AM
dumbing...how dumb
Posted by: Aneeda | February 14, 2008 at 10:31 AM
Many University of Oregon thesis design studios over the years have tackled the Rose Quarter, proposing a wide range of exciting ideas. It would be great if this backlog of ideas could be exposed to the public.
Posted by: tim | February 14, 2008 at 10:57 AM
It really would be a crime to demolish. Sports arenas seem to have a short lifespan in this country and they've become a disposable commodity, only good when they're new. The MC is a classic and the view of it at night from the Broadway Bridge when it's all lit up is classic Portland.
Posted by: PG | February 14, 2008 at 03:42 PM
The Memorial Coliseum seats on some prime real estate, and being that lots of developers are pushing the need for increased housing development, how about it get turned into high rise,high density housing , without any corporate tax breaks ?.
Posted by: Lilly | February 18, 2008 at 04:27 AM
The beauty of the Memorial Coliseum is that the glass enclosure could enclose virtually any kind of interior function. I prefer a public/civic type function (arena, music hall, market, museum, aquarium, railroad station) to private uses (big box store, hotel). But there's no reason to get rid of the building when it could be part of a mixed-use neighborhood.
The reason the area is a dead zone except during games is that there's NOTHING else going on there. If the Memorial Coliseum was turned over to some kind of daytime use (market, museum, aquarium, public sports palace) it could generate foot traffic all day. That would at least get some activity during the day.
But what's more important to bringing the area to life is the space around the Coliseum. Put in housing, office space, retail and restaurant space, a hotel or two, and it won't matter whether the Coliseum is used seven days a week or intermittently in the evening for concerts and sporting events.
(My own preference would be to see if there's a way to add 5 to 6 thousand seats to the arena. If so, it could be the home arena for a potential major league hockey team.)
Posted by: Douglas K. | February 19, 2008 at 12:03 AM
Next time you use the skybridge between the two Pioneer Place shopping complexes, stop mid-span and look north, straight up 4th Avenue. There, poised prominently in the distance, is the clearly modernistic Coliseum.
It's combination of simple glass grid and contrasting curve of the interior seating structure offer welcome relief from the busy detailing of all other visible buildings leading up to it. It looks big. Makes me think of the Acropolis in Greece.
Posted by: ws | February 19, 2008 at 10:57 AM
Great Views, Huge open spans, Great transportation connections, 2 blocks from the convention center, the answer seems obvious to me. We should build the convention center hotel inside it. Space for hundreds of rooms with plenty left over for great wide open atriums too. Visitors can take the max straight from the airport to the hotel, walk downtown, catch a game, and sleep late cause they only have to walk a few feet for their meetings.
Keep the landmark, get the hotel, and save a ton of money.
Posted by: Shadrach | February 25, 2008 at 09:48 PM
The beauty of the Coliseum is not solely in its glass curtain walls, but also in the contrasting sweep of the top of the arena bowl within in those walls.
Any reuse that would gut the interior but save the shell would do a great disservice to this architectural landmark.
Posted by: Steve R. | April 07, 2008 at 01:04 PM