Oregon Public Broadcasting

There was a time in Portland when  "the  place" to go for sporting events, big concerts or conventions was Memorial Coliseum.

But even a crowd of architecture students passing through  this week to tour the Coliseum have noticed it’s not quite functioning as intended.

Hasan Zuhairy:   “I think everyone in our class at least feels like it’s a dead zone, the Rose Quarter is.”

Hasan Zuhairy is a undergraduate at Portland State University.

Hasan Zuhairy:  “Activity comes in intervals and it’s brief and intense.”

OPB’s April Baer recently toured Memorial Coliseum with one of the men who designed it. They found that the building has become something of a living laboratory for questions of use and re-use.

Bill Rouzie

Bill Rouzie wasn’t much older than these students when he came out from Chicago, to work on one of his first big projects, a multi-use arena for Portland -- the town where he’d spend the next fifty years.

We met this PSU architecture class by chance. But Rouzie’s glad to answer questions -- like why the Coliseum’s black granite memorials were sunk below street level.

Bill Rouzie   “Well, the memorials were placed --  in this lower level. The idea was to keep them in a quiet area, or a quieter area.”

He’s in his 80s now, with steel-rimmed glasses and snowy white hair.

Strolling through the arena, and its vast underground exhibit halls, he’s quick to laugh -- and quick to acknowledge that parts of Memorial Coliseum will be tricky to re-purpose.

Bill Rouzie   “The seating form is not something you’re going to remodel very easily. And of course that’s the whole interior -- that bowl.”

The instructor for this course, Garrett Martin, asked his students to think about responsible redevelopment of the Rose Quarter, and especially the Coliseum.

Garrett Martin: What modifications would you accept to--?”

Bill Rouzie “On this? (laughs)

Garrett Martin  “Yes.”

Bill Rouzie  (Laughs) “That’s a loaded question! I have to be honest, I haven’t given that a lot of thought. Because it’s beyond my control.”

Garrett Martin “The kids are grown, they’re out of the house.”

Bill Rouzie “Right.”  (laughs)

Architects leading the charge to save the Coliseum get misty about its transparency. Say what you will about its boxy exterior. The interior affords a breathtaking view of downtown, dazzling you as you step out of the arena after a hockey game or concert.

The arena can also make use of natural light—although the kind of events held there now seldom call for it.

Rouzie lovingly explains the basics, four city blocks of enclosed space resting under just four structural columns.

Bill Rouzie    “I worry about it, because it’s very simple the way it is. Simplicity is hard to come by, sometimes. When you start making changes, it’s hard to make changes in such a way that it’s uniform and simple, because different functions require different things.”

April Baer: "The point’s been made more than once that many of the entertainments that were popular when this building came up aren’t so much a part of the culture anymore. At what point do you look at the building as an architect and say maybe it’s time to let the thing go?"

Bill Rouzie:   “I don’t know enough about other facilities that are available. But the idea that this was designed to be a flexible building, and to serve a lot of different purposes--always comes back to me."

Rouzie says he doesn’t have all the answers for keeping the building alive, but he points out Memorial Coliseum paid for itself by making all those functions work together.

Rouzie doesn’t sentimentalize his work. Many buildings he’s designed are long gone. But he does hope the city can find a way to keep this one intact.