The Portland Museum of Art has announced the four finalists for its campus unification and expansion in Portland, Maine, United States. 

The four finalists are Adjaye Associates, Lever Architecture, MVRDV and Toshiko Mori Architect + Johnston Marklee + Preston Scott Cohen. 

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

Through The PMA Blueprint, it will be the museum’s first expansion in over 40 years. The expansion of PMA will encompass a total of 60,000 square feet (5,575 square meters) flexible, community, gallery, and public space. Once complete, the museum expects to attract 300,000–500,000 visitors annually.

Developed and led by Dovetail Design Strategists, the competition was structured in two stages (Stage 1 and Stage 2). The museum has opened the four projects to a public review on the designs and the four projects are also on view in the lower ground floor of the PMA’s Payson building until 11 December, the public is invited to send their comments on each design. 

The competition has received submissions from 104 teams representing 20 countries, in which the shortlist was announced in August this year. 

The international jury, composed of different disciplines, chose the projects for "their creative and sensitive approach, their distinctive vision, and embodiment of the PMA’s values of courage, equity, service, sustainability, and trust."

After the museum reviews the concepts and the collected public comments with the jury in early December, the museum plans to announce the winner in January 2023.

Read on to examine details and images of the four finalists with their short project descriptions below:

PMA campus unification + expansion. Image courtesy of Portland Museum of Art, Maine / Adjaye Associates / Dovetail Design Strategists

The New Wing seen from Free St. in the Winter. Image courtesy of Portland Museum of Art, Maine / Adjaye Associates / Dovetail Design Strategists

The New Wing seen from High St in the Summer. Image courtesy of Portland Museum of Art, Maine / Adjaye Associates / Dovetail Design Strategists

Arrival at the New Wing. Image courtesy of Portland Museum of Art, Maine / Adjaye Associates / Dovetail Design Strategists

New Wing Interior. Image courtesy of Portland Museum of Art, Maine / Adjaye Associates / Dovetail Design Strategists

The New Wing Rooftop. Image courtesy of Portland Museum of Art, Maine / Adjaye Associates / Dovetail Design Strategists

Adjaye Associates with Simons Architects, KMA, Michael Boucher Landscape Architecture, Atelier Ten, 2x4 and John Bear Mitchell

"The Portland Museum of Art Expansion is conceived as an armature of belonging that weaves community programming, public space, and art into a robust cultural destination. Guided by indigenous knowledge systems applied with 21st-century technology, the building’s primary materials are borne from the land—recycled Maine rammed earth will articulate the extension’s envelope and exposed structural timber beams will act as both interior structure and finish. Both materials celebrate lifecycles within the regional landscape, their expression returning the architecture to the heritage and ecology of the museum’s place whilst reducing the overall carbon footprint." 

Read more about the project here. 

PMA Campus Expansion + Unification. Image courtesy of Portland Museum of Art, Maine / LEVER Architecture / Dovetail Design Strategists

The New Wing seen from Free St., in the Winter. Image courtesy of Portland Museum of Art, Maine / LEVER Architecture / Dovetail Design Strategists

The New Wing seen from High Street in the Summer. Image courtesy of Portland Museum of Art, Maine / LEVER Architecture / Dovetail Design Strategists

Arrival at the New Wing. Image courtesy of Portland Museum of Art, Maine / LEVER Architecture / Dovetail Design Strategists

New Wing Interior. Image courtesy of Portland Museum of Art, Maine / LEVER Architecture / Dovetail Design Strategists

New Wing Rooftop. Image courtesy of Portland Museum of Art, Maine / LEVER Architecture / Dovetail Design Strategists

LEVER Architecture with Scott Simons and Unknown Studio, Chris-Newell-Akomawt Educational Initiative, Openbox, Once-Future Office, Atelier Ten, and Studio Pacifica

"Greeting the Light: For 12,000 years the Wabanaki have welcomed the dawn as a connection to people and place. Our proposal pays homage to Wabanaki worldviews by embracing the light—connecting the PMA with a new urban architectural experience where all people belong. During the summer solstice, the expansion’s curved roof cradles the rising sun; in winter, the sun illuminates the central indoor public space. Generous and airy, the architecture is an expression of the natural world made from regional timber, terracotta, and granite.

Unified Campus: Everything is interconnected. To unify the campus, our design removes barriers—replacing the administrative wing with a free ground floor public space traversing the site. This “Free Street” and the adjoining landscapes form the connective tissue that unites eclectic buildings and programs. The reimagined sculpture court becomes a light-filled, accessible plaza and celebratory entry to a new flexible performance space."

Read more about the project here. 

PMA Campus Unification + Expansion. Image courtesy of Portland Museum of Art, Maine / MVRDV / Dovetail Design Strategists

The New Wing seen from Free St., in the Winter. Image courtesy of Portland Museum of Art, Maine / MVRDV / Dovetail Design Strategists

The New Wing seen from High St., in the Summer. Image courtesy of Portland Museum of Art, Maine / MVRDV / Dovetail Design Strategists

Arrival at the New Wing. Image courtesy of Portland Museum of Art, Maine / MVRDV / Dovetail Design Strategists

New Wing Interior. Image courtesy of Portland Museum of Art, Maine / MVRDV / Dovetail Design Strategists

New Wing Rooftop. Image courtesy of Portland Museum of Art, Maine / MVRDV / Dovetail Design Strategists

MVRDV with Simons Architects, STOSS, Institute for Human Centered Design, Pentagram, Atelier Ten, and DVDL

"The Beacon. Our team’s concept for The Portland Museum of Art’s Campus Unification and Expansion will turn the museum inside out. We open the museum to the city by inviting the public into the campus and enabling access from all sides. The campus becomes part of the streetscape, the city, and the community. We create a new heart for the campus, a gathering place that solidifies the connection between the current museum and the new wing, between art and people."

"With only a light touch, the PMA’s new wing is stitched into the campus with respect for the existing buildings. It becomes a collection of community and museum programs stacked vertically, each floor with a distinctive use, atmosphere, and appearance. Publically activated spill out spaces weave around and overlap with these new programs. They are connected vertically with a public route that juxtaposes adjacencies and cultivates synergies. These interstitial areas give the people of Portland a space for creativity, for display, for gathering, and for all manner of public expression. The new wing promotes exchange between the creative program and the community." 

Read more about the project here. 

PMA Campus Unification + Expansion. Image courtesy of Portland Museum of Art, Maine / Toshiko Mori Architect / Dovetail Design Strategists

The New Wing seen from Free St., in the Winter. Image courtesy of Portland Museum of Art, Maine / Toshiko Mori Architect / Dovetail Design Strategists

The New Wing seen from High St., in the Summer. Image courtesy of Portland Museum of Art, Maine / Toshiko Mori Architect / Dovetail Design Strategists

New Wing Arrival. Image courtesy of Portland Museum of Art, Maine / Toshiko Mori Architect / Dovetail Design Strategists

New Wing Interior. Image courtesy of Portland Museum of Art, Maine / Toshiko Mori Architect / Dovetail Design Strategists

New Wing Rooftop. Image courtesy of Portland Museum of Art, Maine / Toshiko Mori Architect / Dovetail Design Strategists

Toshiko Mori Architect + Johnston Marklee + Preston Scott Cohen with Simons Architects, Cross Cultural Community Services, Arup, Buro Happold, Hargreaves Jones, and WeShouldDoItAll

"Our proposal fulfills the PMA’s Art for All mission through generous community spaces interwoven with 21st century galleries in a campus setting. Our design combines the urban scale of downtown in generous galleries with intimate settings at the visitor scale in new harbor spaces and a living room for local communities. The diaphanous building evokes Maine’s historic marine industry buildings as well as the artist studio typology while remaining flexible, adaptive, and future-forward.

The unique quality of Maine’s natural light is a source of inspiration for Maine’s artists. Our scheme invites visitors to experience this light in an authentic way. The sawtooth skylights and glazed facades filter light into the interior galleries and community spaces, while the porous atrium informally flows between the north and south entries, the new building, Payson, McLellan and Clapp House."

Read more about the project here. 

The jury is composed of:

• Kyo Bannai, Board of Trustees 
• Mark H.C. Bessire, Judy and Leonard Lauder Director 
• Milton Curry, Della & Harry MacDonald Dean of the University of Southern California School of Architecture, Principal, Milton Curry ProjectStudio 
• Eileen Gillespie, President, Board of Trustees, Visual Artist 
• Cyrus Hagge, Chair, Board of Trustees, Owner, Project Management, Inc. 
• Jocelyn Handy, Board of Trustees 
• Elizabeth Jabar, Board of Trustees, Lawry Family Director of Civic Engagement and Partnerships, Colby College 
• Márcia Minter, Board of Trustees, Co-Founder and Executive Director, Indigo Arts Alliance 
• Theresa Secord, Board of Trustees, Executive Director at Maine Indian Basketmakers Alliance 
• Jack Soley, Board of Trustees, Partner, East Brown Cow 
• Monica von Schmalensee, Partner, White Arkitekter 
• Sara Zewde, Founding Principal, Studio Zewde, Assistant Professor, Harvard Graduate School of Design 
• Susanna Sirefman, Competition Director and Jury Advisor, President, Dovetail Design Strategists 

Top image: PMA campus unification + expansion. Image courtesy of Portland Museum of Art, Maine / Adjaye Associates / Dovetail Design Strategists.

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