Adjaye, MVRDV, Mori, and LEVER among the newly-announced Portland Museum of Art expansion shortlist

A quartet of high-design heavyweights will vie for the chance to author the Portland Museum of Art’s new campus unification and expansion after the institution unveiled its shortlisted Stage II finalists on Wednesday.

The competition’s brief yielded a total of 104 submissions from 20 countries and including 250 different firms. The shortlist was then boiled down to four proposals led by Adjaye Associates, Toshiko Mori Architect, MVRDV, and LEVER Architecture. The PMA shares that “the Finalists stood out for their collective experience with innovative campus, civic, and cultural projects, and for their deep consideration of the unique qualities of Portland, Maine, and surrounding communities [and] an understanding of the city and region’s history, rapid recent growth, and shifting demographics."

USC School of Architecture Dean Milton Curry and White Arkitekter Partner Monica von Schmalensee were among the 13 jurors who selected designs based on their “creative and sensitive approach, distinctive vision, and embodiment of the PMA’s values of courage, equity, service, sustainability, and trust.”

The following four teams will now be advancing to the final round: 

• Adjaye Associates with KMA, Michael Boucher Landscape Architecture, Atelier Ten, and 2x4
• MVRDV with STOSS, the Institute for Human Centered Design, Pentagram, Atelier Ten, and DVDL
• Toshiko Mori Architect + Johnston Marklee + Preston Scott Cohen with Hargreaves Jones, Cross Cultural Community Services, WeShouldDoItAll, Buro Happold Consulting Engineers, and Arup 
• LEVER Architecture with Unknown Studio, Chris Newell - Akomawt Educational Initiative, Openbox, Once-Future Office, Atelier Ten, and Studio Pacifica

“We are deeply moved by the diversity of experience and records of innovation represented in these submissions,” the museum's Director, Mark H.C. Bessire, said finally. “Our aspirations as a cultural institution are far greater than simply ‘building a building’, and when we launched the competition, we were curious to see if our colleagues in the architectural world were equally interested in the paradigm shift we were imagining. Turns out, they were.”