City of Possibility

Southwest

When

Feb. 1–Mar. 22, 2025

Days Vary, Noon–6 p.m.

Where

Expensify Bank and JK Gill Building

401 SW 5th Ave
Portland, OR 97204

The following description was submitted by the event organizer.

City of Possibility (CoP) is an unprecedented look at the ongoing legacy of Portland’s civic ambitions, architecture, and urban design. It will showcase more than 50 architectural models—historic and current for buildings built and visions unbuilt–plus a virtual fly-through of major future new projects underway or being planned.

“No exhibition like this has ever been created for Portland design,” says CoP co-director Randy Gragg. “It’s an opportunity for Portlanders and the world to see how architecture and urban design has shaped, is continuing to shape, and will shape our city.” At the heart of the exhibit is a 12-by-18-foot, beautifully crafted fir model of Portland’s urban center, on loan from the Architectural Heritage Center. City planners created it in 1971 as an urban design tool to implement the city’s 1972 Downtown Plan, the blueprint for the city’s renaissance that blazed the path for urban comebacks across the country.

Other exhibit highlights:

• A virtual flythrough of “Future Portland” showcasing the new districts planned for OMSI, Albina Vision Trust, Broadway Corridor, and Lloyd Center, as well as a glimpse of the new Burnside Bridge and a capped I-5 corridor
• Original models made by Michael Graves and Will Martin for the international design competitions for the Portland Building and Pioneer Courthouse Square
• A “sub-exhibit” of the numerous models used to design the spectacular new PDX Main Terminal
• Designs for other buildings from Portland’s emerging economic cluster of advanced wood construction
• More than 40 models by both leading and emerging architects
• Visionary, sometimes controversial ideas for new neighborhoods
• Visions for a future Portland made by young people participating in Architects in the Schools and Project Pipeline, the latter a summer camp devoted to introducing youth of color to the design profession