PLACE MATTERS Design Competition

To transform Portland State’s public spaces into vibrant people-centered places and strengthen PSU’s place in the city of Portland.

NEWS:

PLACE MATTERS: THREE TEAMS SELECTED TO BRING NEW DESIGNS FOR PSU CAMPUS EVOLUTION

Portland State University announced this week that three teams have been selected to participate in the next phase of the Place Matters Design Competition, developing bold ideas for placemaking on PSU’s downtown campus.

The teams advancing to the second phase of the competition include:

BIG + PLACE, a collaboration between a Danish design firm and Portland-based firm specializing in placemaking. The two have collaborated on projects in Japan and PLACE has had a hand in projects on the PSU campus including on the rooftop of the Native American Student and Community Center and the Vernier Science Center. 

Bionic, a team that also includes a Portland-based architecture firm, Office 52, and placemaking experts from RSM Design Studio. San Francisco-based Bionic is known for landscape architecture and design work on projects such as Fort Mason Center. The team will draw in other experts including Portland-based advisers. 

Walker Macy Collaborative, a team helmed by Portland-based Walker Macy, the site planner and landscape architect behind PSU’s Urban Plaza. The team will tap Henneberry Eddy Architects and other regional design and advocacy organizations.
The three teams will be on campus next week to learn more about Portland State and what makes the university — and its role in the city of Portland — unique. They will have the opportunity to meet campus leaders, ask questions and gain a better understanding of how they will address the challenge of transforming more of PSU’s public spaces into vibrant and people-centered places.

“This competition is about campus placemaking and much more,” said PSU President Ann Cudd. “In addition to ideas that will foster a sense of belonging and delight for those of us who live, work and learn at Portland State, we are interested in designs that reflect our commitment to serving our city in new ways and helping ignite the renaissance of downtown Portland.”

The competition launched in January and teams had until February 27 to submit their entries. Nine teams entered the competition.

During a two-day session, the 12-member jury selected by President Cudd to lead decision making for the Place Matters competition discussed the values and design goals and selected the three teams they felt were most capable of creating the inspired plans and strategies for effective placemaking on campus.

In June the teams’ proposals will be exhibited on campus for the community to review and provide feedback. The jury will recommend the winning design which will be announced in late June. Ideas surfaced during the competition will be phased in over time and funded through philanthropy.

Place Matters at PSU 

Thank you for your interest in helping Portland State make the most of its urban campus to lift up our educational mission and enhance the vibrancy of our city. 

With the largest real estate footprint in downtown Portland, PSU is this city’s bright, beating heart. From the leafy green park blocks to our sleek Urban Plaza, Portland State’s 44-acre campus is the prime social, educational, cultural, and economic hub for our city. 

We are looking to you as creative designers and big thinkers to help us enhance our key campus spaces and more meaningfully connect our public spaces to more people more often. 

This competition is about more than just campus placemaking. Portland State’s ethos is rooted in our motto: Let Knowledge Serve the City. In our minds, placemaking is citymaking. PSU is committed to serving the city in new ways, helping to energize post-pandemic downtown Portland and building a safer, more culturally vibrant and more community-focused central city. 

We know that enhancing PSU’s campus spaces will bolster students’ sense of belonging, improve their learning experiences, and strengthen their lifelong connection to Portland State and commitment to Portland—which will improve the stability and vibrancy of our region. 

I moved to Portland last year from Pittsburgh where I watched a hollowed out city get new life with the help of its urban universities. I am firm in my belief that Portland will have a similar cultural, creative, and educational renaissance and that PSU will help lead the way. 

Thank you again for your interest in our Place Matters competition and I look forward to seeing your visionary ideas for Portland State.

Sincerely, 

Ann E. Cudd 

President, Portland State University

OVERVIEW

Portland State’s placemaking initiative focusing on the PSU campus will help revitalize our city and counter the lingering human effects of pandemic isolation by building a safer, more culturally vibrant, creatively engaged, and community-focused campus to benefit students, faculty, staff, city residents, and visitors alike. It will provide a turning-point moment to expand how Portlanders utilize and value our city’s namesake urban university—and offer a significant opportunity for PSU to enhance students’ learning experiences, bolster their sense of belonging, and strengthen their affinity to both Portland State and Portland.

Through this design competition, Design Teams will take a broad look at possibilities and opportunities, and think deeply about PSU’s educational, cultural, economic, civic, infrastructural, and community functions while considering ways to leverage and re-imagine those functions year-round through the mechanisms of place and space. They will also consider how places can cultivate identities as destination spaces while maintaining a commitment to economic and cultural equity. 

In terms of its physical, social, cultural, and economic footprint, Portland State University is perhaps the most important place in all downtown Portland. It hosts around 5,800 employees and serves approximately 22,000 students a year, delivering an educated workforce to Oregon and social mobility to the region’s most diverse population of public university students. It attracts thousands of visitors a month to its classrooms, theaters, museums, sports venues, park blocks, and the city’s largest weekly farmers’ market. 
 

PSU graduates have long been critical to our city’s growth and vitality. Now, as downtown Portland deals with business flight and houselessness, it is clearer than ever that PSU’s campus is vital to our city’s fortunes and future. 

In addition to the resurgence of retail and workforce, the renewal of Portland’s urban core will be a cultural, creative, and educational renaissance in which everyone can participate.

COMPETITION PROCESS

Stage 1 is an open call for Design Teams that include design leadership, engineering specialties, artists, historians, planners, and others that can undertake this challenging task.
 

In Stage 2, the selected Design Teams will create conceptual designs in response to the Design Program, work with the Technical Advisory Group, and present design proposals to the Jury and public. Stage 2 Design Teams will receive a $25,000 honorarium. 
 

Philanthropy will help bring winning ideas to fruition. Design refinement and implementation of components of the selected scheme will be contracted separately as funds are raised. 
 

DESIGN PROGRAM

The challenge to Design Teams is to create inspired plans and strategies that achieve the mission of PSU’s Placemaking Initiative, reflect the Competition Placemaking Values, and meet the Competition Design Goals.

Placemaking Mission

To transform Portland State’s public spaces into vibrant people-centered places and strengthen PSU’s place in the city of Portland.

Design Goals

Strengthen Physical Identity: Enhance Portland State’s identity as an urban university and its symbiotic relationship with the city of Portland.
 

Foster Belonging and Affinity: Encourage human connections, cultivate a sense of belonging for all students, and strengthen their affinity to PSU and Portland.
 

Celebrate Diversity: Honor PSU’s diversity of people and cultures and promote equity, access, and inclusion for all students, staff, faculty, and visitors.
 

Boost Vitality and Welcome: Create more vibrancy and attractions to increase visitors and round-the- clock safety and engagement.
 

Catalyze Revitalization: Leverage PSU’s successes to catalyze revitalization and contribute to Portland’s urban renaissance.
 

Recognize Distinction: Demonstrate PSU’s national reputation for integrating learning with local and regional resources to create meaningful educational and cultural opportunities.
 

Phase Implementation: Create realistic strategies that can be implemented in distinct increments to assist in fundraising and financing.

Placemaking Values

• The diversity of people and cultures is an integral part of how we define PSU and promote access, equity, and inclusion as pillars of excellence. Existing areas of cultural vitality and heritage should be respected.
• The spirit of place is rooted in the geology, history, and culture of the broader area and the specific land on which PSU sits and acknowledges the heritage of those who came before us and the diversity of people and cultures that currently inhabit the place.
• Collaboration with local partners and the broader community can positively impact educational and amenity access.
• The university can be a place of healing. The public and natural spaces can imbue belonging and improve physical and mental health.
• The city and natural areas surrounding PSU are a living laboratory for interactive learning.
• Learn from the past while looking to the future.
• Portland State can be a model in addressing the diverse and emerging urban challenges that Portland and many other cities face including equity, housing, climate change, transportation, and livability.

DESIGN CONTEXT 

Schedule

Stage 2

JURY

Alisa Pyszka, President, Bridge Economic Development

Donnie Oliveira, Director of Planning and Sustainability, City of Portland

Ethan Seltzer, Emeritus Professor, Urban Studies and Planning, Portland State University

Han-Mei Chiang, AIA, Community and Professional Leader, Architect on Sabbatical

Jeff Schnabel, Professor, School of Architecture, Portland State University

John Russell, President, Russell Development Company

Judy Bluehorse Skelton, Associate Professor, Indigenous Nations Studies, Portland State University 

Michael Curry, President, Michael Curry Design

Nancy Pelayo-Colores, Co-founder of NOMA PDX & 2023 AFO Hatfield Scholar

Robert Northman, Graduate Student, Urban Studies, Portland State University

Todd Ferry, Associate Director and Senior Research Associate, Center for Public Interest Design, School of Architecture, Portland State University

Yousif Ibrahim, Undergraduate Student, President, Associated Students of Portland State University (ASPSU)

COMPETITION MANAGER

Donald J. Stastny FAIA FAICP FCIP, Stastny : architect llc
Jennifer Mannhard AICP, communicate.design
 

QUESTIONS

All questions must be submitted via the form below. Direct communication with the Jury or Technical Advisory Panel regarding this competition is grounds for disqualification per the Competition Regulations. 

TECHNICAL ADVISORY PANEL

Thank you to our Advisory Panel for your guidance and input.

PORTLAND STATE UNIVERSITY

Sonya Moody-Jurado, Board of Trustees
Wally Van Valkenburg, Board of Trustees
Chuck Knepfle, Vice President, Enrollment Management
Ame Lambert, Vice President, Global Diversity & Inclusion
Christina Williams, Director of Strategic Communications, University Communications
Jeff Schnabel, Professor, School of Architecture
Judy Bluehorse Skelton, Associate Professor, Indigenous Nations Studies
Yousif Ibrahim, President, Associated Students of Portland State University (ASPSU)
Tyler Smith, Student, Master of Urban and Regional Planning

Management Group
Jason Franklin, Associate Vice President for Planning, Construction & Real Estate
Daryl Pierson, Director, Planning & Sustainability
Liz Hoekstra, Assistant Director, Campus Planning

PORTLAND PARTNERS

Troy Doss, Senior City Planner, Central City District, City of Portland
Andrew Hoan, President & CEO, Portland Metro Chamber
Matt Johnson, Executive Managing Director, Cushman Wakefield

PSU FOUNDATION

Sarah Schwarz, President & CEO
Lisa Skiles Smith, Chief of Staff
Cate Soulages, Vice President for Engagement & Communications
Lauren Clark, Senior Director of Development

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