In downtown Beaverton, the rise of a three-story, 300,500-square-foot high school is hard to miss.

Structures are taking shape, and Skanska USA Building managers and district officials said the new Beaverton High School is scheduled to open in August 2026. The project is expected to cost $253 million (as budgeted) including soft costs, with $221 million of that for direct construction.

The new school is next to the existing one, portions of which date to 1916. At some locations, the new structure is as near as 14 feet to the existing one.

Skanska is serving as the construction manager/general contractor for the project designed by Portland’s BRIC Architecture. About 220 workers labor on site each day.

“Things are clipping right along and looking good for opening next fall,” said Troy Boardman, senior superintendent for Skanska.

The new Beaverton High School will have three stories to host about 1,500 students. Given a limited footprint, designers had no choice but to go vertical.

“We had to make it three stories to meet the capacity requirements,” said Jeffrey Hamman, senior project manager for Beaverton School District.

The project is funded by a 2022 bond approved by voters. Of Beaverton School District’s 54 schools, the high school was most in need of an update, officials said, along with Raleigh Hills Elementary, which is also being rebuilt. Both schools are considered seismically vulnerable.

“A community priority was having a building that’s resilient,” said Aaron Boyle, facilities division manager for Beaverton School District.

Beaverton High is being built to Risk Category IV standards under the International Building Code, meaning it’s designed to be functional immediately after an earthquake.

Essentially, there will be two separate buildings. A seismic joint will allow the structures to move in an earthquake, sliding in a 16-inch gap. Portions of the buildings also will use SidePlate connection systems for resiliency.

Only the cafeteria, built in 2004, will be retained from the existing school. The cafeteria represents the district’s efforts to construct the new high school for “future readiness.” The cafeteria structure could be demolished in years to come in favor of a three-story building if growth drives enrollment well above today’s levels.

“We hope the way that we’ve constructed (the school) allows that flexibility,” Boyle said.

For today’s students, the new Beaverton High will feature 36 general education classrooms, eight science classrooms located in their own wing, three special-education classrooms, four career-and-technical education classrooms and two CTE labs. One classroom will be dedicated for three-dimensional art.

A two-story flex space will be available for a variety of uses. The theater will be wired for modern video and audio. A clinic operated by Virginia Garcia will provide health services to any student within the district.

A gym will have three full courts, an elevated one-eighth-mile track and capacity for 3,000 people to attend events. The gym will be framed by concrete panels that were formed on-site in pouring beds before being tilted up during a weekend with the help of a crane. Each panel weighs 220,000 pounds, Boardman said.

The new school frames a central, 15,500-square-foot courtyard. Walker Macy is the landscape architect for the project.

School entrances and exits will be strictly controlled, district officials said. The new school has no entrances along Southwest Farmington Road, a major thoroughfare.

The project team has had to work around Beaverton High’s busy events schedule while ensuring school staff and students are kept apart from construction activities.

“That has been the biggest challenge,” said Trevor Wyckoff, a Skanska executive vice president. “We’re only a few feet from the existing Beaverton High School during construction.”

Construction has gone smoothly, Skanska officials said. Electrical and mechanical equipment proved to be the most difficult materials to procure, but they were ordered early enough so that no delay resulted, Wyckoff said.

The impact of President Donald Trump’s tariffs program has been minimal to date, Wyckoff said.

Major subcontractors contributing to the Beaverton High project include Apollo Mechanical Contractors, Prairie Electric, REFA Erectors, Goodfellow Bros. and Anning-Johnson Co.

Correction: In an earlier version of this article, Jeffrey Hamman’s name was misspelled. Also, he is senior project manager for the Beaverton School District, not Skanska.

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While the new Sherwood High School was being constructed, Career and Technical Education (CTE) teachers opted to take advantage of an ideal opportunity.

General contractor Skanska USA Building, electrical subcontractor Rosendin Electric and other parties that worked on the $147 million project cooperated with school staffers to devise a series of lessons for students to learn more about the construction industry and the skilled trades. Before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Skanska worked closely with some high school construction management interns. Then, even after the pandemic shut down in-person instruction, CTE teachers Allison Meadows and Jon Dickover pursued more involvement for their pupils.

“I think that one of the requests that our school district had of Skanska was that they somehow involve students, and that helped grease the wheels for what we did a little bit,” Dickover said. “It helped that Rosendin and Tim (Moore, Northwest operations manager) had a clear vision of how they really wanted to help, so that was easy.”

Students enrolled in Sherwood’s CTE program can choose welding, woodworking and basic construction courses. With in-person classes cancelled for much of the 2020-21 school year, Dickover and Meadows asked subcontractors to provide virtual lessons in a wide variety of topics touching on the skilled trades and the wider industry. Firms obliged via Zoom and students then applied that instruction to their coursework assigned by teachers.

“Students sign up for CTE courses because they are hands-on-minded kids,” Meadows said. “We were thinking ‘How can we make this really relevant for them?’”

CTE students typically “hate sitting in front of a computer,” she added.

“We could have taught them out of a book, but that’s not how our students want to learn,” she said. “So, we structured it so we had as many speakers from different industries and as many professionals as possible come in. Students would see as many as four different speakers during the week and have a reflection about it on day five, and also have Q and A during those sessions.”

Other firms that took part and offered virtual lessons included BRIC Architecture (designer of the 353,000-square-foot facility), Anning-Johnson Company, Apollo Mechanical Contractors, Coffman Excavation, Dennis’ 7 Dees Landscaping, and Sowles Company. Additionally, representatives from Ironworkers Local 29, the Pacific Northwest Regional Council of Carpenters, the Sheet Metal Institute and Sheet Metal Workers Local 16, and UA Local 290 Plumbers and Steamfitters participated.

“All of these opportunities have been great in not only educating students, but their parents as well,” Rosendin Business Development Manager Courtney Hron said. “We find that a lot of parents weren’t ever told about the trades growing up, so they are more likely to also push the college path to their children. But programs like this have really helped open their eyes.”

It helped that Sherwood High School had a preexisting relationship with Rosendin. In past school years, students have visited the company’s Hillsboro office and shop.

“I think for years we wanted to do this,” Meadows said. “Jon (Dickover) and Tim (Moore) went round and round with multiple stakeholders about how this could be a dream program, but we couldn’t figure out how to solve it. We’ve all been talking about serving students in that way and this happened to be the prime time to drop it.”

A previous collaboration between Rosendin and the Sherwood School District led to construction of a concessions trailer for the high school softball program, Moore said.

“It was really fun, and we were just getting ready to frame it and COVID hit,” he said. “That was going to involve most of the trades, and the kids were really excited about it. What excites me is what we might be able to build in this trades class with the kids and give back at the same time.”

Now, with students on the brink of returning to in-person classes, the future of CTE education at Sherwood High School is brighter than ever.

“I think it’s more exciting to think about how this will impact our programs for future years and if it drives more students into that area as a result of sheer exposure to the trades,” Meadows said.

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In 2016, voters approved a $247.5 million bond measure proposed by Sherwood School District. Nearly three years later, construction crews are continuing to make progress on the largest bond project – a new high school expected to cost approximately $147 million.

BRIC Architecture designed the new Sherwood High School, which will have more square feet – 353,000 – than any other in Oregon when it’s completed. That will allow the facility to serve as many as 2,400 students.

“It became clear that creating a path to more capacity was what they needed,” BRIC Architecture principal Karina Ruiz said. “And we were able to create transformative projects downstream. We’ve been involved from the get-go in helping them shape what the high school of the future can be in Sherwood.”

Community discussions took place before the bond measure was put before voters. That process significantly informed the layout, appearance and amenities, Ruiz said.

Construction manager-general contractor Skanska USA Building began its work last summer, and completion is scheduled for summer 2020. Currently, a state-of-the-art auditorium and a 2,885-seat sports stadium are taking shape. Crews are building formwork and pouring the first slabs for the stadium. More than 800 vehicle parking spaces and 260 bicycle parking spaces will serve the school, the stadium, two baseball fields, two softball fields and two soccer fields.

Of course, security and technology will be plainly evident in the new school. A secure vestibule will be used to funnel visitors before they enter the main building. CCTV cameras, motion sensors and other tech-based security features also will be installed.

“There’s safety and security,” BRIC Architecture senior project manager Tonie Esteban said. “And there’s the push to have (Career and Technical Education) spaces. The equipment and spaces needed to support that type of education are more robust and they’re more costly; they’re more complicated buildings now.”

The new school will be far more energy efficient than its predecessor, with superior insulation, building envelope and mechanical systems. Further, all rainwater will be treated on site while windows will be positioned to let in substantial natural light.

“We were really intentional about orienting the building to maximize daylight,” Ruiz said.

The main entrance and its three-story, open-air foyer will provide a central gathering point for exploration of three distinct wings. From there, a student, teacher or visitor will be able to proceed straight into the massive cafeteria and common area dominated by a sloping, elevated ceiling and a learning stair reaching into the building’s lower level. It’s below the grade of the entrance due to the slope of the site, which rises 65 feet from east to west.

A four-story classroom wing will feature structural steel and slab-on-deck construction. It will extend south from the entrance and host the bulk of educational programming. This includes the CTE building, which has been given its own single-story space at the south end.

The gymnasium and additional classrooms comprise the third wing and overlook the football stadium, which is being built in a classic bowl configuration.

“We’re moving to create opportunities for students to learn in different environments, in a variety of different groups doing a variety of activities,” Esteban said. “And that’s very different than putting 30 kids in a box.”

Educational opportunity on-site

Also, for the Sherwood High School project, Skanska USA Building offered a paid project engineer internship this summer.

“Most of our high school (project teams) try to do this if there’s a need and a way to get it done,” Skanska senior project manager Sean Walker said. “We want people who are interested in construction and find value in it and have a potential career in a craft or management or design so we can keep our industry going.”

Grace Gary will be a senior at Sherwood this fall. She’s interested in a possible architecture or engineering career and has been taking applicable classes.

“My teachers recommended that I try this, so I applied,” she said.

From initial applications, eight finalists were chosen and interviewed. Gary was hired for the summer, and finished an eight-week term on Aug. 16. Numerous tasks kept her moving nonstop, she said.

“I’ve been helping the project engineer because he’s normally really busy,” she said. “And I’ve been doing anything anyone needs help with, like spreadsheets. And this week I’m filling in for the lady who normally sits at the front desk. I’ve helped with QA and QC, doing audits of stairwells and rooms to make sure rough-in is complete.”

Skanska likely will look to hire another intern next summer, when other school projects will take place in Sherwood, Walker said.

The experience has been invaluable for Gary, she said.

“I’ve learned so much about the construction process, and I think it’s really interesting to see all the components that go into building something,” she said. “I never really thought about it until now, but at our school we do senior class gifts and it makes me feel like this is my gift to the school.”

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Milwaukie High School‘s main building, constructed in 1925, has received renovations or additions in nearly every decade since. That presented a challenge for the project team taking on a new, sizable expansion.

While some community members expressed desire to see elements of the building preserved, there just weren’t many original portions left.

“As you studied it you realize that the building had just changed over time,” BRIC Architecture associate Matt Jacoby said. “The original entry wasn’t there anymore. Windows had been replaced. Doors had been replaced. I mean, there wasn’t much (originality) left interior-wise.

“We found some crown molding that was hidden, and we found a few pieces that were parts here and there, but a lot of original stuff was gone over 80-plus years.”

So, the North Clackamas School District decided to forge ahead with a simple plan: demolish the old building and replace it entirely with a new classroom and administrative wing. Jacoby and the design team then worked with the Oregon State Historic Preservation Office to salvage what they could.

“We came up with a list of salvaged items and made a list of ways to honor the old building,” Jacoby said. “So, we took old woodwork, trim and signs, and other elements – even some old timbers from members, old growth timber – those were salvaged and incorporated.”

The old south entryway was largely salvaged for reuse in the new building. One of two giant cedar trees planted in 1926 in front of the school was kept. The other had to be removed.

“One basically blocked the entry to the new school,” Jacoby said. “So, an artist in Salem is carving a 10-, 11-foot-tall mustang from the salvaged logs. It’s going to be on display in the new lobby of the new building, a one-of-a-kind piece.”

Another chunk of tree will become a historic timeline for the school to display.

The initial budget was slightly more than $77 million. Work is being paid for with money from a bond approved by voters in 2016. Skanska USA Building is the general contractor for the project.

In addition to demolition of the old building and construction of a two-story wing, plans call for a remodel of the cafeteria, an upgrade of the emergency generator, upgrades of HVAC equipment, applications of new roofing and new paint, and construction of new parking.

Work on the project started last summer with demolition of the old building. To allow classes to continue without delay, 33 new modular classrooms were ordered and installed on the school’s football field. They will serve for only the next two years until the new building is delivered to the district in 2021.

“I’ve been doing this a long time and this is probably the most complicated project of my career,” said Steve Nicholas of CBRE, the owner’s representative.

Aside from the new U-shaped wing, new baseball fields and tennis courts are being constructed off of Lake Road at Rowe Middle School.

“Right now we have all the slab-on-grade in place except for a small area in the southeast corner,” said Shaun Aubrey, Skanska USA Building project superintendent. “So most of the slab-on-grade is done and we have big, large brace frame footings in the ground to help support the structure of the building. So, steel-wise we’re about two thirds of the way done right now.”

The project schedule is designed around the school year, Aubrey noted. Work is largely restricted to the new building while classes are in session. But once school is out, workers plan to fan out across the campus to address smaller renovation projects in remaining campus buildings.

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The new Sherwood High School is being built on a broad, 73-acre property. The site is so big that Sean Walker, a project manager for general contractor Skanska USA Building, joked that he once couldn’t spot the massive hydraulic crane being used to raise concrete tilt panels into place for the school’s new gymnasium.

“How many times do you lose complete sight of a crane like that on a job site?” he said with a laugh.

The new high school is the crown jewel of the Sherwood School District’s $247.5 million capital bond measure approved by voters in 2016. Designed to serve up to 2,400 students, the 353,000-square-foot building will feature a towering classroom wing.

Ground was broken this past summer, with excavation and site work giving way to foundation pours and now installation of four stories of structural steel for classrooms. The gymnasium also is taking shape.

“We started construction in July, and since then obviously we’ve had a lot of work going on – a lot of craft out here,” said Trevor Wyckoff, a project executive with Skanska USA Building. “Right now we are busy with a lot of work, erecting the steel classroom wing that’s up there right now, and also we just finished erecting the concrete tilts for the gymnasium. So right now the project is on schedule and on budget.”

The new school is scheduled for completion in summer 2020; it’s intended to address overcrowding at the existing high school, which will be converted to a middle school. The full estimated cost of the high school project is $147 million.

Wyckoff and BRIC Architecture associate Ed Herrera both noted that despite ongoing budget pressures related to a shortage of skilled labor and increased costs of materials, the scope and programming have remained consistent. This includes a state-of-the-art performance auditorium and a 2,885-seat outdoor sports stadium. Over 800 vehicle parking spaces and 260 bike parking spaces will be created.

The building is designed as a series of centrally located interior and exterior spaces to support student gathering and social interaction, Herrera said.

“Conceptually it’s a neighborhood of learning environments,” he said. “It all kind of meets at a common area. And we have this wing that points toward Mount Hood and there’s a vantage point on the fourth floor where we can have a clear view within an atrium and stairway.”

Both Herrera and Wyckoff noted the construction manager-general contractor delivery method, increasingly finding favor in the public sector, has led to heightened collaboration between project team members.

“I’ve done a lot of school projects,” said Wyckoff, who managed the renovation of Franklin High School for Portland Public Schools. “And this is a large school project that actually, for me to go see this, it’s pretty cool and remarkable out here with how fast it’s going and how well the overall team is really working together. The community is really starting to see what’s going on just over the last five weeks.”

Sherwood High School

Owner: Sherwood School District

Construction manager-general contractor: Skanska USA Building

Architect: BRIC Architecture

Owner’s representative: Cornerstone Management Group

Planner: Harper Houf Peterson Righellis Inc.

Engineer: KPFF Consulting Engineers

Landscape architect: Walker Macy

Traffic engineer: DKS Associates

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The North Clackamas School District is soliciting bids for a renovation of Rex Putnam High School in Milwaukie.

BRIC Architecture has designed the project, which has an estimated value of $2.44 million. The project is being paid for with money from a $433 million capital bond approved by voters in 2016.

Improvements will involve (but are not limited to): classrooms, the building’s roof, the gymnasium, the football stadium, athletic fields and vehicle parking areas. The scopes of work covered by this request are extensive and all-inclusive.

Similar improvements are planned at other high schools in the district.

This project represents the second phase of . Construction of the first phase, a health center, finished in November 2017. Now, construction for phase 2 is set to start in January 2019.

All bids must be submitted to district officials no later than 2 p.m. on Dec. 13.

Prospective bidders can learn more by contacting Leif Palmer, a purchasing specialist for the district, at palmerle@nclack.k12.or.us or 503-353-6036.

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Work is under way to construct a new building to house both Seaside High School and Seaside Middle School, and the construction manager-general contractor has opened bidding for Bid Package No. 4.

Hoffman Construction, the CM-GC, will host a pre-bid meeting on Tuesday at 1 p.m. to discuss the scope of work to be done. The meeting will take place at the Hoffman jobsite office, at Seaside Heights Elementary School, 2000 Spruce Drive in Seaside.

Work in Bid Package No. 4 will include: structural concrete, steel, gypsum board systems, millwork, paints and coatings, roof accessories, expansion joint cover assemblies, doors, frames and hardware, overhead doors, interior glazing, tiling, wood athletic flooring, resilient flooring and carpeting, visual display boards, plastic toilet compartments, toilet, bath and laundry accessories, fire protection specialties, metal lockers, flagpoles, bird control devices, food service equipment, laboratory equipment and fume hoods, athletic equipment, window shades, telescoping bleachers, site furnishings, fire suppression, plumbing and mechanical, electrical, telecom, AV and security, synthetic field sport surfacing, synthetic running track surfacing, fences and gates, landscaping, irrigation and aggregate surfacing, site concrete, signage, tackable wall surfaces, cubicle curtains and track and field equipment.

Hoffman is encouraging all potential bidders to attend the pre-bid meeting to assess site conditions. Bids are due by 2 p.m. on Oct. 4.

on the $112.6 million project in July, according to The Daily Astorian. The three-story, 140,000-square-foot building was designed by BRIC Architecture and will sit on an 89-acre campus that also includes Seaside Heights Elementary School. Crucially, the new school will be located at an elevation above the tsunami inundation zone, unlike the existing buildings it will replace.

Seaside Heights Elementary is also being expanded and renovated as part of the scope of the work, which is being funded by money from a general obligation bond approved by Seaside School District voters in 2016.

earlier this year to add a third story and reduce the building’s square footage and overall footprint. The new school is expected to open in time for the 2020-21 school year.

More information on the bid package is available via the or on .

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In the months following the June 2014 shooting death of freshman Emilio Hoffman, Reynolds School District officials took a long look at how they could improve security at their schools. Hoffman was shot and killed by a fellow student armed with an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle in the boys’ locker room of the gymnasium at Reynolds High School in Troutdale.

Shootings across the nation at campuses such as Columbine High School in Colorado and Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut have occurred at an alarming rate in the past few decades. These days, existing schools are receiving security improvements and new schools are being built with security in mind. This includes limited access points, automatic locking doors, video cameras, card access and much more. And that impetus to do more grows with each mass shooting.

“Probably since Columbine we’ve been dealing with it,” said architect Karina Ruiz, a principal with Portland’s BRIC Architecture, which designed improvements at Reynolds High School as part of a project led by Bremik Construction.

“It ebbs and flows in terms of districts having heightened concerns about it,” Ruiz said. “Certainly after Sandy Hook there was a considerable amount of work invested at the national and local levels developing guidelines dealing with CPTED (crime prevention though environmental design).”

These days, Reynolds School District officials decline to speak publicly about the latest measures being adopted into existing schools as well as the three elementary schools being rebuilt via a $125 million bond measure passed by voters.

“With our successful bond in 2015, we have been able to incorporate secure vestibules and upgraded security both inside and outside of all the existing and new schools within our district,” said Stephanie Field, a public information officer for the district. “We take the safety and security of our students, families and staff very seriously, and would not want to compromise that security with information published regarding the safety features within and around the schools.”

Information available publicly suggests Reynolds is taking steps similar to those being taken by other districts around the country. Up to two-thirds of all schools now employ active shooter drills, according to a 2017 Government Accountability Office study, and virtually all districts at least have a plan for such scenarios.

In Oregon, none of this is unfamiliar. Paul Odenthal, executive administrator for facilities with the Beaverton School District, said its $680 million bond measure approved by voters in 2014 included $10 million dedicated to security improvements. Despite every school in the district gaining upgrades, he added, more work is needed.

“$10 million is probably not enough today,” Odenthal said. “In 2014 it was an unknown of what we wanted to achieve with the bond other than we knew we needed to do something about security.”

Other local districts currently embarking on construction programs funded by bond money include Gresham-Barlow, Hillsboro, Portland Public Schools and Evergreen in Vancouver, Washington, among others. All include at least some dedicated funding for safety and security measures.

Nonetheless, each of the Beaverton district’s 54 schools, both new and existing facilities, is getting a security overall. These will include single-point entries at elementary and middle schools, as well as double vestibules that place visitors on camera and require staff to buzz them inside through locked doors. High schools, with more points of entry, and larger campuses can prove more challenging to secure.

Ruiz agreed, and said recent school designs at all levels have embraced unobtrusive features such as clearing lines of sight from a school office to parking lots, single points of entrance, target hardening and passive supervision through interior use of transparent windows and surfaces. It’s a compromise between providing enough security and maintaining the feel of a traditional school, she said.

“It has to balance,” she said. “We certainly don’t want our campuses (to) feel like prisons, and we can’t let fear dictate design. But you do need to address it; you need to create spaces that are warm and welcoming and really look at creating spaces that balance the need for safety and security.”

Voters in 2017 approved a $185 million Portland Community College bond measure that will pay for work at four campuses in the city. Linda Degman, director of PCC‘s bond program, noted that enhanced security and safety features have been a fact of life for years.

A decade ago, a system of mass notification for emergency events was installed at each campus for staff and students. This included speakers, indoor and outdoor, hooked up to the central fire alarms system, allowing notifications to be sent out from a central dispatch office at the Sylvania campus.

In addition, card-controlled access doors were installed across the college’s campuses, while perimeter doors were given remote-controlled locks, allowing public safety staff to lock down entire buildings with the touch of a central button.

“So, if there’s an incident at (the) Southeast (campus) they can push a button and lock down the perimeter doors,” Degman said. “If there’s some sort of imminent threat they can lock down the doors instantly.”

Further, a series of classroom or office-based panic buttons have been installed at the four campuses, she added.

One big difference between college buildings and K-12 buildings comes with their end uses. Colleges typically are more widely used by the public and require a greater level of access, limiting the use of certain measures employed at smaller elementary and middle schools.

“We’re a college campus, and there’s always that dynamic,” Degman said. “It’s a little more challenging for us in that we have lots of community members coming in, lots of students coming in and lots of visitors. So the question is: How do we have it open and accessible as well as providing the safety we need?”

In the past, it’s been a “huge issue,” Degman said.

“So, as we’re designing new buildings we limit those accesses down to as minimal as we can get away with, maybe three or four as opposed to 10 or 12,” she said. “We’re not like an elementary school or a K-12 to where we have one point of access. That would not be amenable to the use of our buildings and the use of our facilities, so we need to put other security measures in place.”

The Gresham-Barlow School District has been having the same conversation since voters approved a $291 million capital bond measure in November 2016. Of that amount, $13 million is earmarked for security upgrades, and every school in the district will receive some sort of improvement. Two elementary schools, East and North Gresham, are gaining state-of-the-art facilities that will feature new closed circuit television systems, enhanced radio communications between school staff and bus drivers, internally locking doors, bollards to limit vehicle traffic around school entrances, and revamped entrances that limit public access.

Similar measures also being pursued by Portland Public Schools, which is spending $790 million in bond money approved by voters in May 2017.

Regardless of the measures taken, administrators, designers and builders still strive to create an environment that emulates what students are already used to.

“We want our campuses to be secure,” Odenthal said. “But by the same point, we don’t want to have them feel or appear like a prison.”

Ruiz said that despite the unpleasant nature of the topic, the only solution is to plow forward and find better answers.

“It’s disgusting that we have to have these conversations,” she said. “It’s sad, and certainly it requires a comprehensive solution; it’s not just about school design or about gun control or about access to mental health services. It’s all of that, and those are the conversations we’re having with our clients.”

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Portland’s newest architecture firm, BRIC Architecture, wants to stand out. It’s already off to a start unlike many others.

“Every situation is unique and this one certainly is,” said Dan Hess, BRIC Architecture principal and architect.

Hess and fellow principals Karina Ruiz and Amy Friendy, all partners in the firm, recently left DOWA-IBI Group to strike out on their own. They opened the doors to BRIC Architecture on Oct. 1 and by the end of the month had a staff of 25 – mostly people they had worked with at DOWA-IBI Group.

The firm plans to focus largely on designing structures for educational organizations, much like what the three partners spent more than 20 years doing at DOWA-IBI Group.

“We want to create a mission and vision that is uniquely ours,” Ruiz said. “Our staff shares a passion for designing educational learning spaces.”

The partners’ decision sparked a lawsuit from their former employer regarding trademark infringement and breach of contract. After originally trying to register the name Dowa Architecture Inc. with the state of Oregon, the partners settled on BRIC Architecture.

Neither the partners nor DOWA-IBI Group would talk about the specifics of the pending legal litigation.

“We did initiate legal action,” DOWA-IBI Group Global Education Lead Rachel DeWitt said. “We believe they are in breach of (contractual) obligation.”

The sudden departures have presented challenges, she said, adding that the 22-person Portland office is moving on. Principals Jim Fitzpatrick, Bill Conboy and Rebecca Grant were promoted to take over for the three who left.

“It’s still business as usual,” DeWitt said. “Turnover occurs. We are still operating.”

DOWA-IBI Group’s Portland office website was scrubbed free of content from those who left. Now the home page touts “A new DOWA-IBI Group is coming soon. Stay tuned!”

“We are coming out with a new website,” DeWitt said. “It will have a redesign. We are using this opportunity to showcase work in a different way.”

Meanwhile, BRIC Architecture is encountering its own challenges. The partners had to find a new office, hire a staff and come up with a new name.

“We are BRIC Architecture Inc.,” Ruiz said. “It stands for Building Relationships, Inspiring Communities. That is the foundation of our work. We were intentional in that our (firm) name wasn’t a combination of our names because we knew it was about more than the three of us.”

The personnel changes forced some school district clients of DOWA-IBI Group to make some decisions. School districts are free to work with BRIC Architecture if they choose to, according to the three partners.

“Each district makes their own decision as to how they want to proceed,” Ruiz said. “There have been school districts that have taken board actions that allowed them to enter in negotiations with (BRIC Architecture), and they have done that.”

So far, Sherwood, Seaside and North Clackamas school districts have expressed interest in working with the new company, according to Ruiz.

BRIC Architecture has consulted with Oregon City on a bond planning project and is working on a master plan and educational specifications for Salem-Keizer Public Schools.

“We haven’t heard anything negative associated with our choice,” Ruiz said. “We really went into this with highest priority to provide the highest level of service to our clients both through the transition and beyond. We have had incredible support not just from clients but the architecture community as a whole.”

Meanwhile, DOWA-IBI Group is scrambling to retain clients.

“Obviously we are committed to providing the best service,” DeWitt said. “We spoke to all of our clients. We just work alongside our clients and chase work. This is an opportunity to (prove) ourselves again.”

Market conditions helped spur Hess, Ruiz and Friendy to start their firm now.

“The K-12 market was still pretty good, so that was part of the thought,” Hess said. “There is work out there. Taking a risk – now is a good time to do it.”

The chance for the partners to build their own firm with its own culture also helped motivate them.

“For me, personally, what I want this firm to be about is to create an atmosphere where people love the work that they are doing,” Friendy said. “They care tremendously about the people they are working with and they care about the community. That, to me, is the essence of what this firm represents.”

Also, Ruiz recognizes that she and Friendy will have a unique professional opportunity.

“There is the challenge in terms of perception of women in leadership in the industry,” Ruiz said. “I like being able to model for women and men that it doesn’t matter who you are; what matters is what you bring to the table.”

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