Slide Show: December Muses

The new Jean Vollum Drawing, Painting, and Photography Building at Oregon College of Art and Craft is the first significant Portland building by an architect from beyond the city since Mark O. Hatfield US Federal Courthouse was completed downtown in t

Along with the connecting Bonnie Laing-Malcolmson Thesis Studio building, the Vollum builing is merely the first phase of a larger, three-building addition by Rose interwoven within the hillside landscape and campus’s original buildings’ surroundings

Along with the connecting Bonnie Laing-Malcolmson Thesis Studio building, the Vollum builing is merely the first phase of a larger, three-building addition by Rose interwoven within the hillside landscape and campus’s original buildings’ surroundings

Model by Charles Rose Architects.

Model by Charles Rose Architects.

From the upturned corner of the roof that marks the Vollum building’s entrance, Rose’s design defines the building less as a volume than as a series of spaces made by intersecting planes.

From the upturned corner of the roof that marks the Vollum building’s entrance, Rose’s design defines the building less as a volume than as a series of spaces made by intersecting planes.

This building is a no-frills workshop. A long hallway space functions as gallery, locker room, and casual gathering place, with the landscape seen through the window defining the space as much as any wall.

This building is a no-frills workshop. A long hallway space functions as gallery, locker room, and casual gathering place, with the landscape seen through the window defining the space as much as any wall.

Clerestory windows throughout the building bounce the light through the space, offering plenty of illumination for the dark winter months and also a connection to the sky.

Clerestory windows throughout the building bounce the light through the space, offering plenty of illumination for the dark winter months and also a connection to the sky.

The studio classrooms are equally well sunlit but also feature shades if teachers and students want to control the light.

The studio classrooms are equally well sunlit but also feature shades if teachers and students want to control the light.

There are few right angles in the building, a condition that, at the meeting of canted walls and roof, void and solid, creates spectacularly abstract effects, as fitting for a church as for a workspace—the perfect combination of utility and beau

There are few right angles in the building, a condition that, at the meeting of canted walls and roof, void and solid, creates spectacularly abstract effects, as fitting for a church as for a workspace—the perfect combination of utility and beau

The abstract quality of Rose’s architecture makes for compelling exterior forms that, exquisitely crafted out of humble materials, befit the Oregon College of Art and Craft roots in Oregon’s early-20th-century Arts and Crafts movement.

The abstract quality of Rose’s architecture makes for compelling exterior forms that, exquisitely crafted out of humble materials, befit the Oregon College of Art and Craft roots in Oregon’s early-20th-century Arts and Crafts movement.

But perhaps most important of all is the manner that Rose interweaves the forms with the landscape…

But perhaps most important of all is the manner that Rose interweaves the forms with the landscape…

…and the way he connects the buildings together.

…and the way he connects the buildings together.

Rose buildings are often likened to origami. But that’s way too simple.

Rose buildings are often likened to origami. But that’s way too simple.

His architecture is more akin to a dance: a pas de deux between the building and landscape—or better yet, a pas de trois: landscape, architecture, and light.

His architecture is more akin to a dance: a pas de deux between the building and landscape—or better yet, a pas de trois: landscape, architecture, and light.