Project name: The Gloria CenterLocation: The Dalles

Completion: March 2024

Size: 9,975 square feet

Owner/Developer: Mid-Columbia Community Action Council

Architect: Access Architecture

Interior Designer: Access Architecture

Engineers: Method Landscape Architecture, AKS Engineering & Forestry (the previous Tenneson Engineering office), TM Rippey Consulting Engineers

General Contractor: Bremik Construction

Submitting Company: Bremik Construction

Other Key Partners: City of The Dalles, Housing Development Center

Subcontractors: Andres Landscape, Artistic Excavation, B & T Striping and Curbing, Bend Commercial Glass, Building Specialties Northwest, Center Pointe Signs, Chown Hardware Commercial CabinetWorks, Custom Designed Skylights, Devco Mechanical, Empire Painting, Fire Systems West, GRS Erectors, Hage Electric & Construction Services, HVAC, MB Structures, McDonald & Wetle, Mid Valley Commercial Construction, Mike’s Fence Center, Mission Construction, MLS Interiors dba K&D Window Coverings, Munsen Paving, Northwest Masonry Restoration, Overhead Door Co. of Portland, Rubenstein’s Carpet, Service Partners of Oregon/Silvercote, Standard TV & Appliance, VPI Quality Windows, Web Steel Buildings Northwest

The Gloria Center has opened its doors as a comprehensive hub for homeless and vulnerable residents in the Columbia River Gorge, offering both emergency shelter and centralized support services in one location.

The facility combines a navigation center housing multiple nonprofit agencies with 18 free-standing Pallet shelters providing 36 emergency beds for those experiencing homelessness in Hood River, Wasco and Sherman counties.

The navigation center brings together several partner organizations including Oregon Human Development Corporation, Mid-Columbia Center for Living, One Community Health, Nch’I Wana Housing and Bridges to Health. Community members can access housing assistance, behavioral and physical healthcare, utility support, weatherization services, veterans’ programs and employment resources all under one roof.

A distinctive feature of the project is its innovative design using three separate pre-engineered metal buildings seamlessly integrated into a single 10,000-square-foot structure, reducing costs while maintaining architectural integrity. The shelter housing has been arranged into smaller neighborhoods sharing a central community garden, with input from existing shelter residents during the design phase.

Access Architecture’s design prioritized trauma-informed and universal design principles. This is reflected in features such as rounded corners for safety, intuitive wayfinding, a calming color palette and warm wood accents. A dedicated nursing room is included off the employee breakroom to support staff needs. Large windows allow ample daylight and provide a visual connection to the Gorge landscape. Skylights and clerestory windows bring daylight into the building’s core.

The facility emphasizes sustainability with a 97-kilowatt solar array paired with battery storage, which can generate 115,000 kilowatt-hours annually and offset 138,000 pounds of carbon emissions. This system provides approximately 34 percent energy savings and allows the center to function at 90 percent capacity for up to 48 hours during power outages.

Beyond providing everyday services, The Gloria Center serves as an emergency shelter during extreme weather events.

The project resulted from collaboration between Bremik Construction, Access Architecture, Housing Development Center and MCCAC, with support from the City of The Dalles. MCCAC has operated scattered-site shelters for over a decade, but The Gloria Center now provides these services a permanent home.

During the bidding process, Bremik’s preconstruction team leveraged their local expertise and experience from six other projects in the area to achieve a nearly 50 percent local and 22 percent MWESB firm utilization on this project, including installers and suppliers from within a 25-mile-radius of the project site.

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SALEM, Ore. (AP) — A new management plan that will guide future decisions and address urgent issues like climate change has been approved for the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area.

Oregon Public Broadcasting reports the Columbia River Gorge Commission approved a revised Management Plan on Tuesday, marking just the second time it’s been updated in 29 years.

The 292,000-acre Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area is shared by Oregon and Washington. It supports endangered salmon runs, has five major ecosystems supporting 800 species of flowering plants and hosts a diversity of wildlife.

The revised management plan includes new policies like doubling the size of protective steam buffers for salmon habitat, requiring an analysis if any of the 13 urban areas within the designated scenic area wants to expand and placing limits on the amount of land that can be used for urban development. It also adds greater restrictions on new construction in forest zones to reduce fire risks.

For the first time, the management plan requires a climate action strategy to continue to protect the region and adapt to changing climate. It also requires the development of diversity, equity and inclusion policies to help diversify the commissions, its staff, and develop an equity lens to make sure all voices are heard in the decision making process.

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The final pieces of an ambitious project to beautify a string of Columbia River Gorge destinations are finally falling into place.

The Gorge Hubs are a series of by the West Columbia Gorge Chamber of Commerce to provide destinations for travelers, particularly hikers and bicyclists moving along the Historic Columbia River Highway State Trail.

“The chamber did this to attract people to stop in their communities,” said Jessel Champoux, lead designer with Portland landscape architecture firm Shapiro Didway. “So, there are economic development opportunities for these communities instead of them being a pass-through, and that was a huge emphasis for us.”

The Gorge Hubs will share standard design features and pedestrian and cyclist amenities. Yet each one will include details unique to its respective community.

Now, the ones near the trail’s west end, in Wood Village and Troutdale, have been given a .

Wood Village’s Hub will be in Donald L. Robertson Park, where cyclists can begin their journey east into the Gorge. The park will have amenities including picnic shelters, restrooms and water facilities.

Meanwhile, Troutdale’s Hub will be adjacent to its Depot Rail Museum, where Atlanta-based Southern Pride Equipment Painting renovated a vintage Union Pacific caboose in 2016. A small plaza and railway-inspired wooden shelter will be built next to the caboose. Bike racks and a fix-it station will also be included.

As with other Hub sites, a decorative stone wall, similar to those found along the Historic Columbia River Highway, will form an instantly recognizable perimeter.

Standard Hub signs will be placed off of the highway to direct travelers, and portable restrooms and wooden picnic tables will be provided on new concrete pads near an existing walking trail.

“I think it’s a fine balance,” Champoux explained. “Each of the parks has standardized amenities because it’s for supporting tourists. … There’s also parking in both locations and a standardized, consistent look, but it’s unique to each town center too.”

The context of location was very important to consider, she added.

“It’s a balance of both,” she said. “Consistency is important because the objective is that people recognize it as a Hub so they will stop.”

Both Wood Village and Troutdale received from Metro a Regional Travel Options grant allowing development of engineering documents for their respective Hubs.

Elsewhere in the Gorge, the Cascade Locks Hub was dedicated in 2016. It’s located in the city center, next to Overlook Park. The Hood River Hub opened in 2015 in downtown with new public restrooms.

The easternmost Hub, in The Dalles, is in Lewis and Clark Festival Park. And in Mosier, where the concept was born, a well-developed Hub sits in the town center to welcome cyclists and provide basic conveniences. Plans exist to expand the Mosier Hub in the future.

For now, design documents will be used to secure final funding for construction of the Wood Village and Troutdale Hubs.

“Wood Village, I anticipate that will be built first,” Champoux said. “There’s a lot more stuff happening on site in Troutdale in addition to a bike hub, so I think that will take a little longer to build. But they’re going to go after funding, and the goal is to build both as soon as possible.”

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