Mike Hamm, a 1979 graduate of the University of Oregon's School of Architecture, is retiring from his position as CEO of the Seattle-based architecture firm Portico Group after 30 years. During his tenure, Portico Group designed projects around the world focusing on zoos, aquariums, and environmental conservation. Hamm plans to pursue further environmental conservation efforts after retiring, including scuba diving and eco-tours to promote ocean and ecosystem protection. Portico Group was intentionally named to indicate it would continue beyond its founding partners, and Hamm feels it is now time for the firm to evolve under new leadership.

1. UO grad retiresfrom CEO positionat firm
Blurb: After thirty years with Seattle-based firm Portico Group, UO graduate Mike
Hamm has worked on a number of international projects. He plans to step down from his
position as the firm’s CEO and president to pursue environmental conservation efforts.
Story by Emerson Malone
“Portico” not only represents one architecture firm’s name, but their
environmental philosophy. The word denotes the gateway or threshold between
the interior – the architecture – and the exterior – the landscape.
Mike Hamm, who spent half his tenure with Portico Group as President and
CEO, co-founded the Seattle-based firm in 1984 with the other principal
architects. This April marks Hamm’s final involvement with the firm as he steps
down.
“I’ve been in the practice for 35 years and loved every moment of it, but you
realize at a point in time there’s still many things one wants to do and see,” says
Hamm, who graduated from University of Oregon’s School of Architecture and
Allied Arts in 1979.
Zoos, aquariums, arboretums, and botanical gardens for city, state, federal, and
non-profit foundations around the world have helped to build the firm’s design
reputation. Portico’s work has appeared in five continents, from a zoo in
Mumbai to park preservation in Olympia, Wash. to an aquarium in Wellington,
Australia.
“We’re not schooled in architecture school to know how to run a business,” he
says. “It’s not part of the curriculum, so that’s a whole other life story. That’s
been rewarding and energizing as a learning experience.”
Hamm was raised in St. Paul, Minn. and came to Eugene for school. He met his
future wife in Lawrence Hall; Ellen Hamm worked as an assistant in the A&AA
Library and graduated with a degree in art education.
Former landscape architecture professor Gene Bressler taught Hamm in site
analysis and computer system mapping courses.

2. “[Bressler] been really influential and a force for me,” says Hamm.
[quote from Bressler]
Hamm was inspired to start his own firm when principals from the firm Jones &
Jones visited Lawrence Hall in the late seventies. They spoke about their zoo
designs, and advanced work with mapping river systems. Hamm says he was
enthralled with the work they were doing and made up his mind then and there
to work for them.
He spent a year at the SWA Group in Laguna Beach, Calif., a firm with a strong
focus on sustainable design before working at Jones & Jones for two years. There,
Hamm met his future Portico partners at Jones & Jones. Together, they decided
to start their own firm.
[quote from Portico partner]
“I looked early on at the profession and realized to go somewhere, you really
need to be in the firm,” says Hamm. “I met the right people at the right time with
the right energy. We were naïve enough to jump ship and try it out, and it’s been
a great success.”
He and his partners were working with the Toledo zoo in Toledo, Ohio, while
still with Jones & Jones. The zoo trusted the designers and eventually became
Portico’s first client.
While Hamm has been with Portico, the firm’s architects have designed a
number of award-winning buildings, including the USS Arizona Memorial
Visitor Center in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii and the National Historic Oregon Trail
Interpretive Center in Baker City, Ore. Hamm says when working on a project,
Portico is drawn to historical commemoration.
“There’s a story to be told if it’s a sacred or endangered site,” he says. “We do
everything to preserve or tell that story.”
Portico also repaired exhibits at the Conservatory of Flowers, the oldest public
conservatory in the western hemisphere, in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco,
Calif. A major storm damaged the building in 1995 and forced it to shut down for
seismic upgrade, until it reopened in 2003.

3. Unforeseen consequences with natural disasters have been a recurring issue for
Portico, which frequently embarks on restoration. Construction on “Ocean
Wonders,” a New York aquarium on Coney Island, was delayed when the
category-3 Hurricane Sandy swept the east coast in 2012.
“When that happened, the city of New York had to go back and look at the codes
and guidelines for construction,” says Hamm.
Flooding damaged the aquarium site, and building codes were modified. Design
drawings had to be recalibrated to withstand any future storm. The aquarium
has cost roughly $100 million to build. Portico won the 2012 New York Design
Award from the New York Design Commission for its work.
Hamm says the Las Vegas Valley Water District was Portico’s most innovative
project. The firm worked on a preservation project of the water reservoirs in the
area, since sixty percent of the water was used to irrigate lawns. Any measure
that could conserve and minimize water consumption in residential and
commercial settings was taken. The project opened in 2007 as a LEED Platinum
Project.
Currently, Portico is designing a 10-acre exhibit “Journey to Churchill” at the zoo
in Winnipeg, Canada. The project, which has cost roughly $70 million, includes a
public education program and research institute on the Arctic environment and
polar bear conservation efforts. Orphaned or injured polar bears are rehabilitated
and put in institutions to recover.
The site includes a massive geothermal field, constructed of underground pipes
that will both heat and cool the building.
“It has a return on investment in terms of a pay back period. It’s basically free
energy,” Hamm says. “There’s a capital cost up front to build it, but it’s in the
earth to heat and cool.”
Prince of Wales Charles and Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton will tour the
Winnipeg site on May 23. The site will officially open in early July 2014.
Portico’s corporate goal is to design by creating opportunities that connect
people and culture in meaningful ways, Hamm says.

4. “I think we’ve worked to fulfill our mission,” he says. “It’s been some fabulous
projects and some great travels. I don’t think I’d have that experience if it wasn’t
for that kind of work we do.”
After he leaves Portico, Hamm and his wife have plans to go scuba diving in the
South Pacific and around Hawaii. He also plans to take an eco-tour to the
Galapagos to scuba dive, and the Amazon to learn about the ecosystem and
pursue environmental conservation efforts.
“I love doing travel that’s environmentally related,” says Hamm. “I’m really
interested in the oceans and conservation and finding the right organization to
put some work into. I want to take my knowledge from what I’ve learned from
this kind of practice and applying it to an organization.”
Hamm adds that, with his departure, it’s time for the firm to evolve.
“That’s why we didn’t name it Hanson, Hamm, Roberts, and Mayes, as many
firms do,” he says. “We decided to call it the Portico Group because we wanted
to be a firm that would have a future that would go beyond its original owners.
It was intentional from day one.”