Broadening the Discussion

In March 2010, PDXplore and the Architecture Foundation of Oregon partnered to present the exhibition and forum Crossing the Columbia: What Does it Mean? The goals were to help the public better understand the magnitude of the Columbia River Crossing (CRC) and its impact on the region, to advance awareness of design and its important role in the urban planning process, and to inspire broad discussion about the CRC's potential to achieve design excellence.

With more than 500 attendees, the forum engaged a wide-reaching audience including: elected officials, community leaders, neighborhood associations, special interest groups, the architecture and design community, students and educators, and interested individuals.

All events took place at Pacific Northwest College of Art, and were free and open to the public.

The event featured provocative discussion about the CRC project among a distinguished panel of international design experts and scholars: Boston Globe architecture critic, Robert Campbell; artist, Ed Carpenter; outgoing Director of Design for the National Endowment for the Arts and University of Virginia architecture professor, Maurice Cox; Toronto architect and urban design consultant, Ken Greenberg; and author of The Organic Machine: The Remaking of the Columbia River, Stanford University Professor and MacArthur Fellow, Richard White.