Pearl Harbor Memorial Museum & Visitor Center
National Park Service, US NavyHonolulu, HI
The Memorial, with its dramatic and moving history, has become the most popular visitor attraction in Honolulu, and the annual visitation of 1.5 million is double the carrying capacity of the existing shore-side visitor center. The entire campus has been redesigned to accommodate more visitors and to better tell this important American story. The new museum and visitor center will extend the areas for visitor gathering and memorial ceremonies, expand museum exhibits, renovate the theaters for the introductory film presentation, improve visitor amenities and provide new offices for park staff. Incorporating universal accessibility and sustainable design principles, the new museum and visitor center are LEED Gold certified.
Elephants of Asia
Los Angeles Zoo, City of Los AngelesLos Angeles, CA
This exhibit includes 3.6 acres of elephant habitat, with four interconnected yards oriented around a Thai-themed barn. In the entry plaza, life-sized steel elephant sculptures introduce visitors to the four Asian countries featured in the interpretive elements of the exhibit’s viewing areas. These elephant-inhabited areas include Thailand, India, China, and Cambodia. Visitors learn about the plight and status of elephants in each representative country, as well as gain insight into how the animals interact in the daily lives of people living in those regions.
Photography, Copyright 2011
Jamie Pham
Beaver Lake Park
King County Facilities Management - ParksIssaquah, WA
From master plan to implementation, Portico led design for the development of Beaver Lake Park. The park includes a “Sports Meadow” with four ball fields, bleachers, restrooms, parking and support facilities, and a “Camp” area with picnicking, overnight cabins and a lodge to serve parks recreation programs. Outdoor nature education areas include trails into the woodlands and wetlands of the park site.
BeltLine Arboretum
Trees AtlantaAtlanta, GA
Utilizing an old rail right-of-way, the City of Atlanta is creating an opportunity to link its many neighborhoods with an environmental and cultural asset: the BeltLine Arboretum. Trees Atlanta, a non-profit group dedicated to protecting and improving Atlanta’s urban environment through planting and conservation of trees, engaged Portico to develop a conceptual plan for their vision of a “green necklace” linking “jewels” of parks and urban nodes together along the 23-mile long arboretum corridor.
Central Plaza
Minnesota Zoological GardensApple Valley, MN
Located at the head of the zoo’s northern trail, Central Plaza functions as a gathering and orientation space offering visitor amenities. A sculptural interactive water feature is the hub around which seating, a demonstration amphitheater and wayfinding are located. Abstract gestures reflect nature in northern climates. Dynamic animal sculptures are “in motion” throughout.
Decatur Woods Park
City of Olympia Parks, Recreation & Cultural ServicesPortico created a master plan for Decatur Woods Park, the first phase of which grew into the design and construction of an interpretive trail, a play area, picnic pavilions and other park amenities. Residents of the neighborhood helped define the priorities for the plan, including an effort to preserve areas of established trees; the creation of a wildlife pond and habitat; and the placement of a safe system of trails suitable for many different uses.
Washington State Capitol Campus Expansion
Washington State Law Enforcement FoundationHeritage Park is a 24-acre expansion of the Washington State Capitol Campus. The urban park block, with its central lawn ellipse and fountain, terminates the historic “Wilder & White Axis” and the public Esplanade, connecting the State Capitol Building to the city of Olympia and Budd Inlet. Portico enhanced and created 9.4 acres of wetlands along the south shore of the middle basin of Capitol Lake. Portico’s most recent project at Heritage Park is the Washington State Law Enforcement Memorial. This contemplative memorial overlooks the park from a bluff north of the Washington State Capitol Temple of Justice.
Kent Town Square Plaza
City of KentKent, WA
Drip, drop, plop, and splash - the town square plaza is an interactive sculpture of water and delight. This playful urban plaza is an active space promoting exuberant activities, with zones for play, rest, socializing, and reading. it links new residential buildings, retail development and the light rail transit station with the historic downtown core and regional library. Kent Town Square Plaza provides community space for a farmers market, community festivals, live music, plays, and seasonal activities. Bands of porous paving allow storm water to infiltrate the ground mimicking natural patterns of water flow.
Marina Park Renovation
City of Kirkland Department of Parks & RecreationMarina Park’s access to Lake Washington, southwest sun exposure, and sense of place within Kirkland’s historic town center make it an enviable downtown park. The park is located at the heart of the city’s central business district. The renovation plan addressed deteriorating portions of the park and proposed a simplified park organization, focusing on its inherent strengths, including the Lake Washington beachfront and the Pavilion / Amphitheater complex.
Nisqually State Park
Washington State Parks & RecreationEatonville, WA
Nisqually State Park is an important project for the State, the local community, and Nisqually River stakeholders, including the Nisqually Tribal Park Committee. Designated as a Centennial Centerpiece Park, it will be a new state park for the 21st century. As part of the planning process, Portico initiated research into the historical, cultural, and natural systems of the site. The team created a list of preliminary program elements and development alternatives.
San Francisco Conservatory of Flowers
City of San FranciscoSan Francisco, CA
A destination for generations of visitors, the Conservatory of Flowers at Golden Gate Park required significant restoration. Portico created an overall interpretive plan for the facility, which was implemented through thematic plant exhibits and interpretive displays. The restored Conservatory draws visitors to explore the world of plants; a range of options are presented, from elegant, formal pools and fountains, to playful interactive water elements and informal naturalistic pools and waterfalls. The award-winning facility is now a renewed and reinvigorated attraction.
Pacific Connections Garden
Seattle Department of Parks & RecreationSeattle, WA
The Pacific Connections Garden displays plants from five geographic regions around the Pacific Rim, each selected for its ecological appropriateness to the Puget Sound region. This is the first major undertaking to implement the Portico-designed Washington Park Arboretum Master Plan. The collections allow the visitor to compare and contrast plant communities of the Pacific Northwest with plants found in central Chile, eastern Asia, New Zealand and southeastern Australia. A stunning log shelter provides cover from inclement weather and a focus for interpretive materials, revealing the importance of these new collections to the gardener, horticulturist, and scientist.
LSU Burden Center Master Plan
LSU Property FoundationBaton Rouge, Louisiana
The plan for Louisiana State University AgCenter’s Burden Center property celebrates the legacy of Steele Burden and his vision for maintaining and interpreting a multi-faceted educational and research institution. Illustrating southwest Louisiana’s horticultural and agricultural history - spanning from the early days of settlement right up to the present - the Burden Center showcases a spectrum of agricultural practices, scientific research, and education. The Burden Center is perfectly positioned to create a world-class agronomic research station combining historical examples with innovative forest restructuring practices and scalable, sustainable agricultural practices.
Project components include a new botanic garden, as well as expansion of the Barton Arboretum, the existing Windrush Gardens, the Rural Life Museum, and numerous research fields.
Eastgate Area Properties Master Plan
The City of Bellevue, Parks & Community ServicesBellevue, WA
The Portico Group is preparing a master plan for a new community park called Bellevue Airfield Community Park, named after one of the City’s first airfields. The master plan will lay the groundwork for the site’s long-term redevelopment and phased implementation. Portico is working closely and continuously with the City of Bellevue and it’s community to develop a shared, long-range vision for the park in order to complete this master plan.
Asian Highlands Exhibit
Hogle ZooSalt Lake City, UT
To transport visitors and animals to the Highlands of Asia, Portico completely changed the face and function of Hogle Zoo’s existing facility. The design team emerged with a beautiful highlands landscape and a time-aged village whose structures are clustered across the slopes that house Asia’s big cats. Endangered snow leopards, Amur leopards and Amur tigers prowl the fields, creeks, waterfalls, and pools – just as they do in the highlands.
Heart of the Zoo
Minnesota Zoological GardensApple Valley, Minnesota
As the first and last experience that guests encounter, the centerpiece and final component of the Minnesota Zoo’s “Heart of the Zoo” campaign sets the tone for the entire visit—through welcoming, easily-understood landscape and architecture, exciting state-of-the-art animal exhibits, and transparent “green” design and operation. Heart of the Zoo features a major new exhibit, guest services, and an education and administration complex. These photos are from the first phase of this project, 3M Penguins of the African Coast exhibit.
Penguin Plunge
Calgary ZooCalgary, Alberta, Canada
Featuring a 9,200-gallon pool outside and a 32,000-gallon pool inside (both fresh-water), this exhibit reflects the natural habitat of three distinct penguin species: Gentoo, Rock Hopper, and Kings. Depending on the time of year, the penguins will rotate between the interior and exterior exhibits. The exterior exhibit is part of the new entry plaza and is themed as a coastal environment, while the interior exhibit includes a sky dome that is lit to reflect the Antarctic sky through the seasons. The space is insulated and stays cool year-round to suit the penguins.
Hatfield Marine Science Center Expansion
Oregon State UniversityNewport, Oregon
Located at Oregon State University, the Hatfield Marine Science Center (HMSC) is a leading oceanographic science research institution. Since its inception, HMSC has opened to the public through its visitor wing. Portico’s work involved expanding the center’s lobby, exhibits, bookstore, parking and amenities.
Tracy Aviary Destination Argentina!
Tracy AviarySalt Lake City, UT
This exhibit resulted from a concept plan overlaying migratory stories on the oldest and largest bird park in the United States — The Tracy Aviary. Destination Argentina! was the first step toward rejuvenating the aviary, bringing to life for visitors the dramatic story of the birds that leave the Great Salt Lake and head far south each winter.
Turtle Bay Exploration Park
Turtle Bay Exploration ParkRedding, California
As landscape architects, coordinating architects and exhibit designers, The Portico Group created a “living museum” on a 300-acre site divided by the Sacramento River. Turtle Bay is an educational institution focused on the environmental, historical, and cultural components of this river. Portico’s responsibilities included establishing an interpretive program and storyline, developing the building and site program, and coordinating architectural design with exhibits and visitor experience.
