Portland State University opened a $90 million art school building in downtown Portland on Tuesday, Oct. 13.
More than 600 people attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Jordan Schnitzer School of Art + Art History + Design, according to PSU. Leroy E. Bynum, Jr., dean of the College of the Arts, emceed the event. The 106,000-square-foot building replaces a former parking lot with one of the largest purpose-built art school structures in the country.
The four-story facility occupies a full city block at the southern end of Portland's South Park Blocks. It unites three art departments that were scattered across campus into a single building with studios, labs, galleries and flexible classroom space.
Portland firm LEVER Architecture designed the structure, PSU's first mass-timber building. More than half of the Douglas fir glulam used in construction came from tribally owned forests across the Pacific Northwest, as first reported by Architectural Record. Portland-based fabricator Timberlab sourced and installed the timber.
Swinerton served as general contractor. The building was completed in July 2026 and built to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold standards, according to Architectural Record. It features a green roof, native landscaping, seismic resiliency and naturally lit studios.
Bubblegum-pink steel fire stairs and a forest-green metal-panel facade give the building a distinctive look.
Inside, a ground-floor commons area includes a 25-foot sliding glass door opening onto an outdoor courtyard accessible from the South Park Blocks. Street-facing galleries on Broadway display student and professional art. A second-floor Catalyst Lab, funded by the Robert & Mercedes Eicholz Foundation, lets students experiment with bio-plastics, metalwork, robotics and augmented reality.
On the third floor, planter beds on a rooftop patio grow indigo for the textile arts program's dye work.
Kate Bingaman-Burt, associate director and professor at the school, joined a planning committee for the building in 2008. "It's surreal that we're now standing in that space," she said in a PSU feature published Oct. 8.
The $90 million project was funded through public investment and philanthropic donations, according to PSU's announcement. Portland real estate developer and art collector Jordan Schnitzer provided the lead gift.
The Schnitzer family's total giving to PSU tops $26 million, making them the university's most generous benefactor family. The school was named for Schnitzer in 2024.
PSU President Ann Cudd said in a university statement that the building anchors the southern end of Portland's arts and culture corridor. Thomas Robinson, founding principal of LEVER Architecture, told Architectural Record the project reflects a growing regional expertise in mass-timber construction that he hopes future projects will build on.
The Graphic Design program plans to host Good Market, a holiday art fair where students show and sell their work, in December.
