PSU Magazine Spring 1994

PSU's staff and fac ulty are we ll aware of the cha ll enges fac ing a campus that emergeJ without an ini t ial master plan in the 1950s. PSU' ea rl y planner clo ·cd off stree ts and crea ted an iso lated campu that set it e lf apart from the c ity, says Burt Ewart, spec ial projects ar h itect for PSU 's Fa ilities Department. Nowhere i P U's invi ·ihili ty more evident than along Southwe ·t Broad– way, the busy one-way thoroughfa re that slices through the Uni ve rsity. PSU's majo r cl ass room building border Broadway , but none have a prominent front entrance fac ing the street. Buildings appea r to turn th e ir backs on Broadway-and the c ity. ome of these ame buildings have a pl it personality because of lanJ -use zoning. For exampl e, the wes t half of ramer Hall is in a high-J ensity re ident ial zone while th e east ha lf is zoned commerc ial. Pas age of a Univer ity District plan would help simpli fy zoning anJ land -u e d c i ion a PSU hapes it future campu . In the past, construc– tion of such buildings a the Branfo rd Price Millar Library and the Health and Phys ica l Education Build ing had tO go through a lengthy, costly conditi on– al use proces because they we re be ing built in a res idential zone. O n the east side of campus, P U has run in to conflicts with c ity des ign sta ndard th at were created fo r commer- Residents, workers, and students will arrive at the University Plaza via light rail or bus. They'll walk along a land scaped pedestrian way linking the Willamette River greenway to the forested hills of west Portland. On their way they'll pass street-level cafes, bustling shops, and PSU's new Urban Center Building. The plaza will serve as a front door and transit hub to Portland State. cia lly zoned building rather than for a ademic spaces. "We' ll be explo ring ways in which we can ·rreamline the proce s," says Mi chae l Harri on, chi ef community planner fo r the Portland Planning Bureau. Harrison i a member of the Uni versity D i trier T a k Force fo rmed by the A soc iation fo r Portland Progress (APP) . APP is a pri vate, OREliON I ll~TORICA I 'i<XIEn". ! l454 non-profit group dedica ted to improv– ing Portland's central business district. Harrison, who al o erves a adjunct professor in PSU ' Department of Urban Studi es and Planning, hopes to hammer out new pl anning and zoning tandards that will make future campus deve lopment ea ier fo r both th e c ity and PSU. But th e U ni ve r ity District pl an goes fa r beyond zoning i sues. Improv– ing mass- transit and acce s to PSU is a high priority. That's where the Uni ve r- ity Pl aza come · in . The ova l, bricked plaza-marked by a clock tower- wo uld serve as the U ni versity's east ga teway and double as the main mas tra nsit hub fo r people go ing to and from PSU . It' planned tO be wedged be tween outhwest Fifth and ixth avenues, along Southwest Montgomery treet. O ne of several transportation options ca lls for c los ing Montgomery to vehicular traffic but allowing buses, li ght ra il and auto adj acent tO the plaza along Fifth and S ixth. Mont– gomery could serve as a landscaped pedestrian way linking the Will amette Rive r greenway tO West Portland ' fo re ted hills. PRING l994 13