Kevin O’Brien, an acclaimed Indigenous architect from Australia, has embarked on a year-long collaboration with Portland State University. His involvement centers on the restoration of a campus oak savanna and the design-build of a facility at the site that will host the school’s Indigenous Traditional Ecological and Cultural Knowledge (ITECK) program. 

O’Brien joins the University’s School of Architecture as its 2022 Distinguished Visiting Professor. He will lead a one-week Indigenous design methods workshop for undergraduate and graduate students. He will also meet with students in PSU’s Indigenous Nations Studies program, engage with architects from local firms, and host a public lecture. As stated on PSU’s website, “O'Brien will challenge students to rethink their assumptions about architecture's relationship to the land, how they imagine the city, and how we learn through doing.”

The Queensland-based architect works as a Principal at Australian practice BVN Architecture. He also formed his own practice, Kevin O’Brien Architects (KOA), in 2006, which merged with BVN in 2018. In addition, he directed the Finding Country exhibition at the 13th Venice Architecture Biennale in 2012, which tasked 50 designers and architects to take pieces of the Brisbane city grid to remove 50 percent of its built environment. 

The restoration project has been in the works for more than a decade, with the oak savanna being the focus of student research and the site for seasonal gatherings and work groups. This initiative aims to reclaim the five-acre urban forest for food, medicine, and ceremony. The new ITECK Center will be the reimagining of the underused Harrison Street Building, located on the south end of the site. Students in Indigenous Nations Studies envision the building hosting diverse gathering spaces for people, plants, and items of cultural significance for learning, understanding, and healing. They also imagined indoor spaces, such as a kitchen, classroom, and seating area, seamlessly blending with the outdoors. 

“The nature of this center — what it houses, how it will relate to and support the oak savanna, how its construction and tectonics will reflect the deep ecological values of the First Nations — will be the core challenges of these studios,” said Sergio Palleroni, a professor of architecture and director of PSU’s Center for Public Interest Design. “We will be guided by the insights and wisdom of Kevin O'Brien, (Indigenous Nations Studies assistant professor) Judy Bluehorse Skelton and the First Nations of our region.”