Keller Auditorium Replacement or Refurbishment | Proposed

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Keller Auditorium: Renovate or replace?
Either way, seismic concerns are pushing a decision. A recent tour of Oregon's biggest performance hall demonstrated the building’s need and its untapped potential.



One of several possible futures for Keller Auditorium, ranging from renovation and structural strengthening to demolition and rebuilding on another site. This 2016 proposal, from London’s StuFish Entertainment Architects and Portland production designer Michael Curry, ties the auditorium more firmly to the adjoining Keller Fountain. Illustration courtesy StuFish Entertainment Architects.

“DON’T PICK AT IT TOO HARD,” Keller Auditorium operations director Ed Williams said jokingly as I ran my finger along one of the building’s sidewalk-level façade panels, made of beveled quartz over concrete. “That started to deteriorate practically while they were installing it.”

“If you look closely you’ll see lots of the panels have had to be reattached with pins,” added City of Portland spectator venues manager Karl Lisle.

Our tour hadn’t even begun, yet this venue’s age and deterioration were already apparent. So too, though, was a still-striking urban setting. A few minutes before meeting up with my tour guides, I’d arrived early to take in the wondrous Ira Keller Fountain across the street—the most acclaimed work of design in Portland’s history—its urban waterfall back in operation after months with the water turned off.

This portion of downtown, heretofore known as the South Auditorium District, has recently been rebranded as the Fountain District, yet both names are incomplete. It’s the auditorium-fountain combo that anchors what’s otherwise a place of parking garages and drop-ceilinged office buildings, creating a sense of place. If Keller Auditorium is noticeably run-down, its setting remains compelling—which a refresh would only enhance—and its role in this corner of downtown is vital.

If the preamble outside Keller Auditorium and its decaying quartz was grim, the tour’s first indoor stop inside made me giddy: a chance to go behind the curtain and stand on Oregon’s largest performance stage, peering out at its 3,000 seats. Over the next hour, that duality only continued: beautiful vistas and curious historical features alternating with facility and space deficiencies highlighted. “There’s some big choices that need to be made about reinvesting in Keller or perhaps replacing it,” said Lisle from the stage. “I want to make sure you leave this tour understanding how the building is put together structurally, which is one of its biggest deficiencies, but not its only deficiency. It’s extremely obsolete in a lot of ways.”

...continues at Oregon Arts Watch.