PORTLAND, OR — DLR Group has been awarded the American Architecture Award for its work on the Portland Building, originally designed by Michael Graves Architecture & Design. This award is bestowed from three top architecture and design organizations (The Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design; The European Center for Architecture Art Design; and Metropolitan Arts Press). This annual program honors the most significant buildings, landscape, and planning projects in the U.S. and abroad.

"[This] project highlights DLR Group’s incredible depth and breadth of expertise within our teams, ... designing the restoration of a civic government building in Portland, Oregon,” said Steven McKay, RIBA, Managing Principal of DLR Group.

“This is a great honor and a great example of how design can literally elevate the human experience within our communities,” he continued.

The Portland Building stands out among the buildings of downtown Portland as a postmodern collage of historical references and symbols. This colorful and spirited addition to the city was designed by Michael Graves and built in 1982 as administrative offices for the City of Portland. Despite international recognition for its groundbreaking design, it faced problems with its structure, exterior, and operational systems that repairs alone could not address.

DLR Group’s reconstruction design restored the original building, and re-imagined the interior environment while addressing the building’s pervasive performance problems, thereby preserving this public asset and architectural icon for the next 50-to-100 years.

DLR Group accepted their award at the Gala Award Reception Dinner in Miami, Florida.