PORTLAND, Ore.—A recent transformation at Portland State University has given new life to an outdated structure, infusing a 1960s venue with natural light and flexible spaces and resulting in an instant hub of campus activity.

The task was to transform the outmoded, fortress-like Neuberger Hall (now named Fariborz Maseeh Hall) into a modern, interactive, light-filled academic hub. The five-story building was originally built in the Brutalist-style, a common campus aesthetic which reflected the pragmatic and inwardly focused buildings of that era. A half-century later, these buildings represent the antithesis of the open, flexible environments called for today. Evolving this building to meet the current needs focused on three key strategies: 1) re-centering the design to the user—the students, faculty, community members, and others who use the building; 2) prioritizing life-cycle and life safety upgrades to the building as a whole; and 3) engaging with owners, contractors, consultants and subcontractors in collaborative, fine-grained decision-making that preserved as many opportunities as possible to support all Portland State University students.

The design concept repositions the building—which functions as a central student hub with classrooms, lecture halls, student services, and faculty offices—through a series of interventions, renovations, and expansions. The result is an engaging, open, and humane experience. With an emphasis on access to daylight and connections between indoor and outdoor spaces, the 250,000-square-foot building now enhances campus function, while better connecting and responding to its urban setting.

The original building was completed in two phases, 1961 and 1969. The two elements are now joined by a common floor plan, while their distinct exterior appearances are preserved. Through a rigorous programming exercise, the removal of 20,000-square-feet of floor area for the light well reduced only 3,000-square-feet of assignable space, while improving program efficiency and flexibility with the additional floor area at the interior with access to daylight. Exterior facades were upgraded through new curtainwall systems. That increase visibility while enhancing energy performance.

A new central light well brings daylight into the heart of the building, and a more transparent facade provides visual connectivity to the outdoors. The new floor plan now provides students, faculty, and staff with enhanced opportunities for cross-pollination. Improved ground floor program distribution also now provides visual and physical connections between the plaza and park amenity spaces and expands opportunities for more student activity and interaction outside of the classroom. The physical connections are improved through a continuous accessible floor plan with full ADA access and enhanced way finding. Previously closed-in hallways and circulations now have unobstructed line of sight between the building’s eastern and western perimeter.

By renovating Fariborz Maseeh Hall rather than demolishing and rebuilding, the team was able to preserve the embodied carbon of the building and substantially reduce carbon emissions. Together, the combination of replacing all windows with high performing substitutes and the increased daylight into the building reduces the building’s energy demand by 25% from the CBEC baseline model of buildings of similar size and use.

Hacker Design Team

David Keltner – Design Principal
Jennie Fowler – Interior Design Principal
Nick Hodges – Project Manager
Rashmi Vasavada – Project Architect
Matt Leavitt – Project Architect
Sonia Norskog – Interior Design
Jake Freauff – Design Team
Shawn Glad – Design Team
Marissa Jordan – Design Team
Brendan Hart – Design Team
Alex Palmer – Design Team
Vijayeta Davda – Design Team
Brad Smith – Design Team

Consultant Team

Architecture and Interiors: Hacker
Contractor: Fortis
Landscape: Mayer / REED
Civil Engineer: KPFF
Structural Engineer: ABHT
Mechanical & Plumbing Engineer: PAE
Electrical Engineer: Reyes Engineering
Geotechnical Engineer: GRI
Lighting: Biella Lighting Design
Acoustical Engineer: Stantec
Façade Building Envelope: RDH Building Science
Historic/ SHPO: Architectural Resources Group
Sustainability: Lensa Consulting

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Coding camps and makerspaces are the new trend to get young students interested in new tech or science subjects, and to engage them in interactive learning. But this method shouldn’t end after middle school; it can be applied easily to higher education to benefit students, researchers, professors and even sports administrators.

These spaces make “making” happen in a different way, in which students do less tinkering and more collaborating. At the higher level, it becomes difficult for students to work together on the same document or project, so how do they collaborate on one document at once? Many students may look to document sharing platforms like Dropbox or Google Drive, but this method just lets multiple people type at once.

Many university makerspaces are stocked with tools such as 3-D printers, laser cutters, CNC (Computer Numeric Control) machines, hand tools and welding equipment where participants can innovate, design, prototype and build everything from practical devices to art. On campuses from Stanford to the University of Texas at Austin to North Carolina State University, students use these studios to create tangible portfolio pieces to satisfy course requirements in engineering, architecture, design and art classes. But for those who can’t tinker with physical objects, some makerspaces embrace virtual participation using videoconferencing for input and inspiration from remote experts.

Portland State University envisioned a place for local government and private companies to work alongside their researchers on a variety of projects that link data sets, visualization, and decisions. The university created a Decision Theater to accelerate research and learning in areas such as forest fire prediction and prevention — where large-scale data visualization permits people to see patterns they otherwise could not predict or determine — and also to create a community resource available to host local businesses such as architecture firms, or other regional stakeholders such as first-responders. University leaders created a 360-degree, large-scale view with InFocus Mondopads along four walls, and a collaboration and video conferencing interactive board. The room lets large and small groups form to work side-by-side and chat with researchers, professors and other students in collaborating programs.

Some universities saw the potential of this technology and applied it to their athletics department. Collaboration technologies are being deployed in football programs to improve everything from training and game management to competitive analysis and sports broadcasting; Digital video and enhanced collaboration tools allow coaching and analyst staff, who are often in multiple locations during a game, to immediately review plays together on the screen, create or revise play calling in real-time, annotate directly on top video streams and archive video for later analysis.

NCAA college football is experimenting with collaborative replay review for more accurate officiating and response to call challenges. In a high-stakes 12-game season where every call and yard count, the potential for increased officiating accuracy is game-changing. Video and off-site collaboration are used similarly to the Decision Theater, where possible targeting fouls are reviewed by an onsite official in a remote video command center, using instant replay and real-time communication technologies. For officials as well as for players and coaches, it is critical that everyone is seeing the same thing and that confident, well-informed rulings are made quickly. Developing a common operating picture and collaborating efficiently are essential requirements for the technology.

The rapid evolution of collaboration technologies is changing the college experience on the gridiron and in the classroom. The library and the lab are becoming dynamic and deeply engaging resources that drive innovation and entrepreneurship, linking students across the campus and around the world.

Brady O. Bruce is chief marketing officer for InFocus, headquartered in Portland, Ore.

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