by Lincoln Graves, KATU News
PORTLAND, Ore. — Construction crews are nearing the final stages of a $40 million renovation project at the Oregon Convention Center.
Crews have been renovating the building's interior, as well as some exterior locations, for more than a year.
Much of the interior work was done with the Pacific Northwest's natural beauty in mind.
"The ceiling that we're looking at is a topographic map of the Cascade mountain range flipped over and protruding down from the ceiling," said Convention Center Executive director Craig Stroud, as he gave a tour of the building.
A unique ceiling is also the big draw in a renovated Oregon ballroom. More than 1,000 individual pieces make up the ceiling, which is designed to emulate a forest canopy if someone were looking up.
"Each one of these thousand ceiling elements is individually suspended and hung," said Stroud. "There's no playbook on how to do that. We had to invent that."
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