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It was more than a construction project. The Vernonia K-12 School became an example of what can be accomplished when communities and professionals come together.

Unwavering leadership, commitment and teamwork went beyond raising a structure to build friendships and a promise for the future. P&C Construction was at the functional lead of a dynamic team effort to build a new school with a tight budget, a demand for sustainability and a hard deadline.

In December 2007, Rock Creek rose up to 14 feet over the 100-year flood mark in the little community of Vernonia. Among those things destroyed were the elementary, middle and high school buildings. Knowing that the lack of a school would lead to a slow death for the town, the 2,200 residents and 1,800 others in the surrounding area set their sights on reconstruction.

Ken Cox had served as the school district’s superintendent for only a year when the flood struck. Cox, a 31-year veteran educator, was considering retirement just before the flood. He decided to stay, and his job description changed radically over the next five years.

鈥淚t began with property,鈥� Cox said. 鈥淲e spent a year with Oregon Solutions and the Department of Land Conservation and Development to select the site.鈥�

The new facility was built atop a hill, well above the highest watermark of the ’07 flood. Rather than three buildings, a single, consolidated structure was deemed a smarter way to serve the nearly 700 students in grades K-12. The design was ready six months later.

Funding the proposed $52 million project would be a problem for most any community, let alone one serving a population of only 4,000.

鈥淲e went through it with Dr. Cox in detail and cut everywhere we could, (and) then examined where we could implement things that would qualify for special funding,鈥� said Chris Linn, lead designer at Boora Architects. 鈥淧&C’s cost estimator moved his office in with us during the project. That’s how close we worked.鈥�

The proposed budget was trimmed to $40 million. Funding still was difficult, but money was garnered from state and federal programs, the state transportation and energy departments, FEMA, the Ford Family Foundation and numerous other sources. The effort even included local bake sales and fundraisers.

Steve Anderson, vice president of P&C Construction, said the project team searched the community for resources, subcontractors and workers.

鈥淲e used as much as we could from local sources: equipment (and) labor, right down to the trucks that brought in material,鈥� Anderson said.

Green Building Services was hired to conduct training on Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design building practices. KLS Surveying of Vernonia performed all site work, and the owner’s daughter, Sam Wallace, interned with P&C throughout the project.

鈥淒r. Cox never wavered on this project being LEED platinum,鈥� Anderson said.

A radiant floor heating/cooling system was cast into the floor. A biomass wood pellet boiler uses fuel made of sawdust generated from area sawmills. Energy-efficient thermal mass concrete walls were cast on-site. The structure is projected to use 40 percent less energy than the Oregon Energy Efficiency Specialty Code requires for buildings of its size and use.

The spatial design organizes wings around a central spine, which is situated to make optimal use of daylight. Glass became an important component.

鈥淵ou should see the light,鈥� Anderson said.聽 鈥淣early every space in the building has natural daylight illuminating the interior.鈥�

The unity of the community, contractors, builders, designers and the agencies involved lent a feeling of family as much as a construction team. The school was finished in June 2012, and members of Boora and P&C took time off to volunteer with locals to work on landscaping; several hundred trees and shrubs were planted.

In August 2012, the grand opening featured a host of government and education officials along with students, families and many of the workers who brought the building to fruition. It is expected to be the nation’s first K-12 school building to achieve LEED certification. Just as important, the project came in on budget and on schedule to accommodate the beginning of the school year.

At the opening ceremony, Cox addressed the cheering, sometimes tearful crowd.

鈥淭hey said it was a dream,鈥� he said, sweeping his arm toward the face of the building. 鈥淏ehold the dream.鈥�

The Maryhill Museum of Art opened in 1940 with an eclectic collection featuring Rodin sculptures, post-impressionist paintings and Native American basketry 鈥� all on display in a circa 1907 Beaux Arts style mansion with a sweeping view of the Columbia River Gorge.聽As the collection grew over the decades, the need for more space became critical.

Bypassing the obvious approach for an expansion 鈥� an attachment that would simply mimic the existing building 鈥� the museum board and GBD Architects decided on a design that ran more along the lines of Frank Lloyd Wright.

Digging 25 feet down into basalt bedrock created 25,500 square feet of space for an expansion wing. The underground expansion was capped with a concrete cantilever terrace extending 20 feet out and over the Columbia River.聽The terrace serves double duty: an outdoor display area for statuary as well as a platform for viewing the gorge.

Sustainable design and construction efforts led by general contractor Schommer & Sons included a reliance on regional materials, use of local subcontractors as much as possible, concrete cast work on site, and waste minimization.

鈥淲orking closely with the design team brought us to solutions like polished concrete and aggregate floors that are designed for minimal thermal expansion and cracking, but look right for the museum,鈥� project manager Paul Schommer said.聽鈥淲e hand-selected exterior exposed steel structural elements for grade and finish, right down to the quality of the weld.鈥�

Museum curator Colleen Schafroth is delighted with the result of that attention to detail.

鈥淲e have a lot of items that are sensitive to temperature and humidity. The new underground wing has storage and display areas that take that into account,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e have meeting rooms now, too.聽We used to have meetings in rooms that were meant for display or archive.聽What they’ve done here is just perfect.鈥�