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Corvallis Museum
Submitting Company: Gerding Builders
Location: Corvallis
Cost: $11.5 million
Owner/Developer: Benton County Historical Museum
Architect: Allied Works Architecture
Engineer: Devco Engineering
Additional Engineering Firms: ARUP, Glumac, Jacobs (formerly CH2M Hill)
Other Consultants: Jaffe Holden, Morrison Hershfield
General Contractor: Gerding Builders
Subcontractors: Bell Hardware, Brandsen Flooring, Comfort Flow Heating, Culver Glass, Delta Fire, FEI Inspection , Foundation Engineering, II-S Mechanical , Kiwi Fab, L&M Industrial Fabrication, LDC, Mid Valley Commercial Construction, Overhead Door of Salem, PAB, Pro Steel, Reeds Painting, Rite Way Electric, Santiam Heating & Sheetmetal, Smith Glass, Stutzman & Kropf, TGC Structural, ThyssenKrupp, Uncommon-Cabinetry, WH Cress, Willamette Valley Excavation

Located opposite a 125-year-old general store and the former territorial capital of Oregon, the 19,000-square-foot Corvallis Museum asserts a contemporary presence while complementing nearby historic sites.

The building embraces the street, inviting the public into the lobby and exhibit hall, museum store, classroom and event space, and public courtyard. Glimpses into the galleries are seen from the principal cross streets, as projecting bays and windows fold out over the sidewalk.
Visitors are guided up a grand stair into a series of interconnected galleries. The galleries occupy clear-span bays bisected by clerestories, providing controlled daylight to accommodate the varied nature of the collection.

The team chose to pursue LEED Silver certification for the building to honor sustainability goals and provide the most efficient systems necessary for the preservation of the historical artifacts. The temperature and humidity are carefully controlled throughout the museum with an advanced DOAS system. The interior lighting controls are 100 percent dimmable and individually controlled for each of the six exhibit rooms. The exterior light is on astronomical controls for automatic dusk-to-dawn lighting.

The Corvallis Museum took two decades to plan and more than two years to build. With a building such as this, it is intentional that portions fade away so as not to distract from the exhibit. It involved difficult architectural features that required a high level of detail and posed many construction challenges. As an example, the ceilings are not square, but rather slope in various directions to lead the viewer’s eye through the exhibit space.

As the project wrapped up, the dream was coming true and the calendar was booked. However, it all came to an abrupt halt when the pandemic shut everything down. The pandemic hindered large public gatherings, but the Corvallis Museum is allowing small groups by reservation.