PORTLAND PLACES: Oregon Convention Center by Robert D. West

Oregon Convention Center

The Oregon Convention Center is Portland's main venue for conventions, trade shows and other large events, including the Portland International Auto Show.

Funds for the construction of the Oregon Convention Center were secured in November 1986 when voters approved a bond measure for its construction. It was built by the Metropolitan Service District, now known as Metro, a directly-elected metropolitan planning organization serving the 25 cities in Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas Counties that make up the Portland Metropolitan Area. Metro is the only such organization in the United States.

The Oregon Convention Center features award-winning architecture, dominated by two 350-foot glass spires designed by Portland architect Robert Frasca of the Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Partnership over the main lobby spaces. Turner Construction Company served as Construction Manager with the Hoffman-Marmolejo Joint Venture as General Contractor.

The completed 490,000 square foot center was dedicated to the people of Oregon on September 19, 1990. It is operated by the Metropolitan Exposition Recreation Commission, a subsidiary of Metro.

The Oregon Convention Center is served by its own stop on the Red and Blue lines of TriMet's MAX light rail system, at the corner of NE Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and NE Holladay Street. The Convention Center will also be served by the new MAX Green Line, scheduled to open in September, 2009.

The Convention Center's Holladay Street Entrance is about halfway between this stop and the stop for the Rose Quarter Transit Center. The Rose Garden is in the background.

These stops are also served by the Portland Vintage Trolley on Sundays from March to December.

Various art installations are located both inside and outside the convention center. One of the more prominent outdoor installations is Bell Circles II by Robert Coburn, installed in 1990. It is a "sound garden" consisting of a pair of bronze Asian temple bells suspended inside bell houses of fir, steel and glass. The bells are rung electronically in a sequence designed by Coburn, "orienting the listener to time and space while expressing the link between Oregon and the Pacific Rim."

Near the Holladay Street Entrance is the Ulsan Bell of Sisterhood, which was donated by Portland's sister city of Ulsan in the Republic of Korea. The inscription on the bell reads as follows:

The sister city relationship between Ulsan, R.O.K., and Portland, U.S.A., was established on November 20, 1987. In order to commemorate the erection of the new convention center in Portland, and assure the lasting friendship and affection and cooperation between our two sister cities, we hereby donate a 'Bell of Sisterhood.'

November 20, 1988

Ulsan City,

Republic of Korea

The Sapporo Friendship Bell is located at the corner of the Convention Center near the intersection of NE Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and NE Holladay Street. It was donated by Sapporo, Japan, another of Portland's sister cities, in February 1990 to commemorate 30 years of sisterhood with Portland. This bell's inscription reads:

IN COMMEMORATION OF

30 YEARS

SISTERHOOD

PRESENTED

THE CITY OF SAPPORO

JAPAN

FEBRUARY 1990

"The Dream" by Michael Florin Dente was dedicated on August 28, 1998 "to the sacrifices of Dr. King and the countless people who believe in "The Dream" and the on going march for peace and justice" "In Loving Memory of Bill and Gladys McCoy." The project originated by Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School, was advanced by the late State Senator Bill McCoy, and was supported by donations from citizens and businesses.

The plaque on the statue base includes the following excerpt from Dr. Martin Luther King's, Jr. speech at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. on August 28, 1963 during the historic March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom:

"I say to you today, my friends, that even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal." I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day even a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. I have a dream that one day....little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today..."

The plaque also describes the symbolism of the components of the statue as follows:

""The Dream" represents Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stepping forward to deliver his message to the world."

"Behind and to the right of Dr. King is a young man of the working class rolling up his sleeves. He has just come to the realization and made the decision to step forward to announce his support for the universal message of equality, freedom, and justice."

"The little girl is depicted at the instant of releasing Dr. King's coat tail. This represents a "letting go" process where one or more members of a family are called away to contribute their energy and time to a concept and struggle of greatest importance to all people of the world."

"The young woman behind the little girl represents the immigrant of our society, warily advancing on the waves of hope and freedom to a land of great promise."

"The two bas reliefs on each side of this base depict Chief Joseph and his struggle to find peace and freedom for his people and Mahatma Gandhi on the salt march leading his people to independence. Both men pursued the same "Dream" as Martin Luther King, Jr.: peace, freedom, and equality for all mankind."

An expansion of the Oregon Convention Center was completed in April 2003, bringing the center's total space to over 1 million square feet, making it the largest convention center in the Pacific Northwest. More than 3,000 people were involved in the design and construction of the expansion, with Hoffman Construction Company as general contractor. The expansion was dedicated "to increasing economic opportunity in the Metro region" on April 16, 2003.

Part of the 2003 expansion was the installation of the Rain Garden on the south side of the convention center. The Rain Garden was designed by Mayer/Reed to mimic natural ecosystem processes and serves as a demonstration project of the use of natural sustainable practices integrated into public gardens for the on-site management of stormwater in an urban environment. Steel scuppers and concealed downspouts on the south facade carry untreated stormwater by gravity from the 5.5-acre roof's drainage system and the east side of the building into four spillways leading into the garden of flowering plants, woody riparian shrubs and herbaceous plants like sedges, rushes and water irises that thrive in an urban streamside environment. Many of the plants used in the garden are drought tolerant reducing the need for irrigation during the dry summer season of June through September. Pond edges are fabricated of oxidized marine steel. During the wet season of late October through May, water flows from the spillways into a series of seven terraced sediment retention basins contained by basalt stone weirs, or small dams with spillways, that introduce some aeration, control water levels and the rate of flow from basin to basin. The basins allow polluted sediments to be trapped by plants and cobbles and absorbed into the ground and cleaned by microorganisms while the root systems of plants absorb undesirable nutrients, metals and oils. Water that is not absorbed into the ground is naturally filtered by the Rain Garden to cleanse it before it is released into the Willamette River, reducing the impact on the city's combined stormwater/sanitary sewer system. The Rain Garden received a 2003 BEST Award for Water Conservation from the City of Portland Office of Sustainability.

Inside the Oregon Convention Center are a number of art installations. The largest of the is the world's largest Foucault Pendulum, which hangs in the convention center's north tower.

Known as Principia, this Foucault Pendulum swings over a suspended 40-foot halo. The inner rays of the halo go from vertical to horizontal as the halo rotates around the pendulum with the building and the earth itself. The bronze pendulum bob is 36 inches in diameter and hangs from a 70-foot cable. It makes a 15-foot swing every 15 seconds. The top of the cable is 90 feet above the floor, so the pendulum swings 20 feet above the lobby. Beneath the pendulum, a terrazzo floor 30 feet in diameter depicts a fictional solar system. This is an original installation of the center, created by New York City artists Kristin Jones and Andrew Ginzel and installed in September 1990 by Lathe Tool Works, now known as LTW Automation, manufacturer of most of the world's Foucault pendulums.

A plaque was added later on a nearby wall to describe the pendulum's history and how it works. The text of the plaque is as follows:

Foucault Pendulum

In 1851, French physicist Jean Bernard Leon Foucault (pronounced "foo-koh") discovered that a pendulum's swing plane would change according to the Earth's rotation. The pendulum appears to rotate, but actually the Earth rotates under it. To keep the 750 pound ball from stopping due to friction, an electromagnetic ring around the top of the cable is turned on each time the ball swings at its lowest point.

The full 360 degree rotation varies depending at which latitude the pendulum is located. At the North Pole on full rotation is accomplished in 24 hours, 33.5 hours in Portland, and no rotation at the Equator.

This Foucault Pendulum was designed by two artisans, Kristin Jones and Andrew Ginzel, and constructed by the Lathe Toolworks of San Francisco. The terrazzo floor was designed and built by Fabrication Specialties of Seattle.

National Association of Watch

And Clock Collectors

Pacific Northwest Chapter 31

In Memory of J. Bryson Moore

February 1999

Note that the plaque states that the weight of the pendulum bob is 750 pounds. The builder's website gives the weight as 900 pounds, and the artists' website gives the weight as 950 pounds. I'm curious if anyone out there has proof of the pendulum's weight.

Another major item on display inside the convention center is this 40-foot Chinese Dragon Boat hanging in the Oregon Convention Center's east tower. It was custom built in Taiwan and was donated by the Portland-Kaohsiung Sister City Association and celebrates the annual Dragon Boat Races held in the Willamette River during Portland's Rose Festival.