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.
Arctic Interagency Visitor Center
BLM, NPS, US Fish & Wildlife ServiceColdfoot, AK
Portico worked with this inter-agency client group to design the exhibits for a new visitor center on the remote Dalton Highway. This was a unique opportunity for the interpretive plan to lead the design of the building and site. An important goal of the visitor center is to prepare travelers, whether exploring by foot or in a car, to make their journey safely and with respect for the environment. The space allows for one on one contact with staff, while also providing a place for private study.
Calgary Agricultural Discovery Centre
Calgary Stampede AssociationThe primary goal of the Agricultural Discovery Centre at Stampede Park is to educate visitors about the importance of agriculture in so many areas of their lives. A replica of the agricultural plains of Alberta is the centerpiece in this educational process, which takes visitors from farm to table. Portico designed galleries that describe various agricultural elements, including products, processes, transportation, health and consumption.
Flying J Tribute Gallery
Flying J Inc.Ogden, UT
Jay Call, an entrepreneurial visionary, incorporated the Flying J Company in 1968. Today, Flying J has elevated the idea of roadside hospitality for truckers, offering “food and fuel,” road services, banking, insurance, and a wide network of support for long-haul drivers. Jay Call died in an airplane accident in 2003, but his privately held company continues to keep small truckers on the road. Portico designed The Tribute Gallery that honors Jay and his values - it is a combination of memorial, corporate history, and promotion for the Flying J Company. The resulting gallery design elegantly conveys Jay’s values through video and voice, testimonials, artifacts and historic photos.
Hurricane Ridge Visitor Center
National Park ServiceOlympic National Park, WA
Aptly named Hurricane Ridge, this jewel in the Olympic National Park is bedeviled by weather, and was handicapped by previous remodels. The rain and snow, which often appear to fall upwards, thrill the visitors but create major weather-proofing problems. As part of a larger contract with the National Park Service, Portico increased the building’s utility, changed its roofline and weatherproofing, and gave it the generous and welcoming presence of a Northwest mountain lodge.
Issaquah Fish Hatchery
Washington State Department of Fish & Wildlife, Friends of Issaquah HatcheryPortico worked with the Friends of Issaquah Salmon Hatchery (F.I.S.H.) for nearly a decade, touching every part of their site and operations from habitat restoration and site design to interpretive planning and development of a new Watershed Education Center. In the process, the historic hatchery has become an outdoor center for informal learning and a campus that never closes, becoming integral to the heart and identity for the community.
Jilkaat Kwaan Cultural Heritage Center
Chilkat Indian VillageKlukwan, AK
Klukwan, a small, ancient, Alaska Native community positioned on the north bank of the Chilkat River in Southeast Alaska, is one of the last continuously inhabited Tlingit villages in the region. The Portico Group is proud to have assisted the village in master planning, design and documentation for the Jilkaat Kwaan Bald Eagle Observatory and Cultural Heritage Center. The first phase of this project is the new Hospitality House where guests will be served native foods and see exquisite art while touring the Traditional Knowledge Camp and the Village. The second phase is the Cultural Heritage Center, a repository for traditional crafts and ancient sacred objects, providing public access to these internationally known works of art.
Kidspace Children’s Museum
Kidspace Children's MuseumPasadena, CA
In an exciting renovation and expansion project, Kidspace Museum moved into a 35,000-s.f. facility that includes 12,000 s.f. of indoor exhibits and two acres of interpreted outdoor space. The exhibit design brings the Museum’s philosophy to life, providing rich, authentic and successful learning experiences, along with two oversized climbers that safely get kids up to 40 feet above the ground. The Garden environment features outdoor classroom space, a wisteria court, trike trails, wildflower meadows, a woodland pond, an interpretive arroyo, meadow maze, and discovery trails with interpretive loops - all open for discovery in a safe enclosed area.
KidsQuest Children’s Museum
KidsQuest Children's MuseumBellevue, WA
KidsQuest Children’s Museum features an inviting, hands-on exhibit gallery with four major zones, as well as classrooms, offices and retail space. Water Ways draws children of all ages to explore the art, science and engineering of water. The Back Yard is created especially for children under four years old. In The Garage, exhibits highlight themes of invention, discovery and using every-day things in unusual ways. The Tree House provides a place to climb, play games, and look out over the rest of the gallery. All of this has been set in a 9,400-s.f. storefront location.
Korea National Marine Museum
Korea Ministry of Maritime Affairs and FisheriesBusan, South Korea
South Korea has deep historical and cultural ties to the ocean. With the goal of creating a world class museum and aquarium that would be an icon of national pride, Portico gathered, analyzed and organized various programmatic requirements, creating a comprehensive program that served as the foundation for a compelling concept. Taking visitors on an exciting ocean journey from the site’s shoreline to the depths of human imagination and adventure, visitors are immersed in compelling environments and stories through the integration of galleries, live animals, interactives, simulator rides, play areas and a variety of cutting-edge, high-tech theaters and exhibits.
Las Vegas Springs Preserve
Las Vegas Valley Water DistrictLas Vegas, NV
Portico completed the Las Vegas Springs Preserve Program and Master Plan for the largest remaining open space in Las Vegas. This 180-acre parcel is located three miles west of the Las Vegas Strip.
Mary Lowell Center
National Park Service, US Forest ServiceSeward, AK
For the planning of a new joint agency headquarters and visitor center for Kenai Fjords National Park and Chugach National Forest, Portico led a site selection study to analyze downtown Seward and its waterfront. Goals for the study were to strengthen downtown, stimulate private investment and complement other existing public waterfront visitor destinations. The chosen site will be developed to provide NPS and partnering agencies with an energy-efficient, year-round facility serving residents and tourists alike.
Oregon Trail Center
Bureau of Land ManagementBaker City, OR
Over 200,000 people visit the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center each year to learn about the immigrants who traveled across the western landscape. Perched on Flagstaff Hill, just outside of Baker City, Oregon, the Interpretive Center overlooks the original trail as it winds through the sagebrush of Virtue Flats. The Portico Group designed the Visitor Center, an interpretive trail system, a curatorial and maintenance building, and the living history complex - a unique renovation of a 19th century gold mine with working stamp mill and shaft house.
Utah Field House of Natural History
State of UtahVernal, UT
The Portico Group, with AJC Architects, planned and designed the building and exhibits of the Utah Field House of Natural History. The museum offers visitors an expansive lobby; there a Diplodocus skeleton crosses a tile floor map showing the wealth of fossils found in and around Vernal. Large galleries devoted to the area’s richest offerings - fossils from the Jurassic Period and Eocene epoch - include dioramas, an interactive paleontology laboratory, and an entire wall covered with delicate fossil leaves.
Hands On! The Children’s Museum
Hands On! The Children's MuseumOlympia, WA
The capitol city of Olympia, Washington has a rich story, and water runs through it. Hands On Children’s Museum will tell that story in its new LEED Silver facility, with interactive exhibits geared toward engaging kids from birth to age ten. With nearly a half-acre of outdoor exhibits to compliment the 9,000 square feet indoors, Hands On will expand its visitor experience, while continuing its excellent tradition of intimate and engaging interior activities for children and families.
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.
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.
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