Between SW 5th and 6th Avenues on W. Burnside
If you look up from Burnside Street, you can’t miss Portland’s famous pink skyscraper. The U.S. Bancorp Tower and Plaza, often called “Big Pink,” opened in 1983. It became the modern successor to Portland’s earlier U.S. National Bank headquarters. In the years since, it has grown into one of the city’s most recognizable downtown landmarks.
The building was designed by the architecture firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, with well-known Portland architect Pietro Belluschi serving as consultant. The tower’s style is International Style, which usually means clean lines, simple shapes, and a modern “glass-and-stone” look.
At 537 feet tall, Big Pink is the second-tallest building in Portland, just behind the Wells Fargo Tower (formerly called the First Interstate Tower), which is about 546 feet tall. The tower has 42 floors, but you might notice something odd if you ride the elevator: it shows 43 floors. That is because there is no 13th floor, a tradition in many tall buildings.
One reason Big Pink looks so unusual is because of the land underneath it. The lot is not a perfect rectangle like many downtown blocks. Instead, it is an uneven shape. The architects used this challenge in a clever way, creating a tower shaped like a rhombus, with a trapezoid-shaped base.
The nickname “Big Pink” comes from the building’s exterior color. The outside is covered in pinkish granite and reflective glass. In fact, the building uses four different kinds of granite, including Spanish Pink, Canadian Tacoussac, South Dakota Mahogany, and Finnish Red. Altogether, there are about 207 million pounds of granite on the building—an incredible amount of stone for one structure.
How Big Pink Handles Wind and Earthquakes
Even though the tower looks heavy and solid, it was designed like a flexible giant—strong, but able to move safely.
Tall buildings in windy weather don’t stay perfectly still. Instead of trying to fight every gust of wind, Big Pink was designed to sway gently without damage. The building’s structure allows about 0.45 inches of sideways movement for every 12 feet of height. That means the tower can move as much as 21 inches at the 42nd floor.
Kid-friendly way to think about it: Skyscrapers are like tall trees — they must bend a little so they don’t break.
This same flexibility also helps during earthquakes. Portland is in a region where earthquakes are possible, so the tower needed to respond safely to shaking. Big Pink includes features that help it “give” a little instead of cracking or breaking.
One clever detail is the grout used between the granite panels. Unlike stiff mortar, this grout is pliable, meaning it can stretch slightly. This lets the granite exterior move with the building during high winds or earthquake shaking instead of popping loose or cracking.
The building also has special movement devices in its structure. An example of one of these devices can be seen in the KPFF lobby, showing how engineers designed the tower to bend without failing.
Today, Big Pink is more than just an office tower—it is a major piece of Portland’s skyline. Standing here, it is easy to see how the city changed in the late 1900s, moving upward with bold new architecture and earthquake-ready design.
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Discussion Questions:
Ask students if they can guess why it’s called “Big Pink”.
Shape of the building: Have the group notice that it is not a square tower. Explain that the odd-shaped lot helped create the rhombus (diamond-like) tower and base.
Why do you think there is no 13th floor?
Measure 21” to show how much the building could sway on the 42nd. floor. Do you think you could feel it sway that much?
Vocabulary:
rhombus, trapezoid, superstition
Additional Topics to Discuss at this Location:
Willamette River and Bridges
Coin Toss – Naming of Portland
Point out roof top of Multnomah Hotel
First Interstate Bank Building – which is taller
Exterior of building and how color looks different in different weather
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State Education Standards:
Social Studies 3.11. Describe how individuals, groups, events, and developments have shaped the communities and regions. Historical Knowledge
Social Studies 3.12. Compare and contrast the history of the local community to other communities in the region. Historical Knowledge
Social Studies 3.13. Apply research skills and technologies to gather information about the past in a region. Historical Thinking