Chandra Robinson is a principal at LEVER Architecture based in Portland, Oregon. Robinson has 12 years of experience creating beautiful spaces that are accessible for all. She serves on the Portland Design Commission, and prior to joining LEVER, led the construction of the largest mass timber building in the US. Chandra received a MArch from the Boston Architectural Center and a BS from Portland State University.

Most recently, Robinson has been a lead partner with the Portland Museum of Art for The PMA Blueprint, a $100M campus expansion and unification project in downtown Portland, Maine. LEVER envisions a new building on the museum’s campus, made from mass timber, terracotta, and glass, and includes nods to Maine communities, history, and culture. The curved roofline is designed to frame the sun as it rises and sets, in honor of Maine’s Wabanaki communities (Abenaki, Maliseet, Micmac, Passamaquoddy, and Penobscot Nations) and the land they call Wabanakik, or Dawnland. The timber used in LEVER’s design speaks to the state’s lumber industry heritage while reimagining its future as a hallmark of environmental stewardship, much in the same way the PMA’s other buildings embody their time and place and reflect other aspects of Maine’s history. Critically, mass timber is incredibly strong, durable, and sustainable, with an ability to sequester carbon. Other sustainable building materials and practices, such as geothermal energy, will be explored as the project moves into future phases.

"We are humbled to work with this visionary institution and create a new museum that truly embodies the mission of Art for All,” Robinson continues. “Maine's natural beauty and welcoming community have been such an inspiration to the team, and we cannot wait to create a new museum that takes a giant step into the future and brings us all to a time and place that celebrates how art and the human spirit are intertwined."