The Unitarian Universalist Fellowship church in Corvallis, like many other entities in Oregon, is facing challenges associated with growth.

The church opened in 1958 after purchasing a pair of government surplus buildings from Camp Adair and reassembling them on a 2.25-acre lot on Northwest Circle Boulevard. One building became a meeting hall, and the other became the Religious Exploration building. Volunteers contributed architectural drawings and labor to complete the job.

A kitchen was added in 1987, along with the Fellowship Hall sanctuary. Then, in 2016, work began on the latest expansion effort: a new social hall.

“They’ve been trying for a long time to use their (existing) resources, but they finally decided they needed to (raise money to) build a new hall,” said Stephanie Fitzhugh, a project manager with DiLoreto Architecture, the Portland firm tasked with designing the project.

The new social hall will be north of the existing buildings. It will be physically attached to the meeting hall, and include a commercial kitchen and restrooms to serve the whole building. The meeting hall’s existing kitchen will be converted into office and meeting space.

Existing landscaping will be left in place. Bicycle parking and benches will be added throughout the grounds, while ADA ramps and driveway aprons will be installed in the parking area.

DiLoreto Architecture often works with nonprofits and churches, but few are as energy-conscious as this one, Fitzhugh said. To that end, an array of techniques and features will be incorporated, she said.

“It won’t likely be officially (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified, but our intent is to make it as efficient or sustainable as possible,” she said. “It’s often not possible to do that with nonprofits, and really, you try to take all the money that’s available and make the building as efficient as possible.”

To maintain scale and a residential feel in line with the neighborhood, the new hall will have an offset gable roof connected to the existing building. This, Fitzhugh explained, will provide volume inside.

Much of the new building’s glazing will face west toward the church’s garden space, while the roof will support both living vegetation and possibly a photovoltaic solar array.

The living roof will improve stormwater management and increase insulation, and even increase the roof membrane’s life span.

In line with the theme of efficiency, the interior will feature natural wood finishes highlighted by exposed glulam structural beams as well as wooden flooring and ceilings.

Currently, the project team is in the process of applying for a conditional use permit from the city of Corvallis.

“Once the entitlements are done, we’ll get a contractor to price it and that will let us know how close we are or how far we are,” Fitzhugh said. “On top of the addition, they have to sprinkler the entire building, so there are also other upgrades that need to happen to get us to where we need to be.

“It’s a commercial project,” she added, “but it’s not a huge project, so I’d hope it could be somebody local to Corvallis who could very easily do this job.”

On the Boards is a 91��Ƶ feature offering a look at the projects in Oregon being tackled by local architecture firms. To have your firm’s projects considered, send an email to newsroom@djcOregon.com.

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A multistory Northwest Portland structure that will soon serve as the home of financial services firm Sloy, Dahl & Holst Inc. was first a home for a prominent doctor in the late 19th century. DiLoreto Architecture and Joseph Hughes Construction (JHC) are taking on the modernization project, with sensitivity for the past.

“We’re trying to be historically accurate while being mindful of current needs,” architect Tracy Orvis said.

Workers have already discovered in the building’s old walls some unique items, including 1920s-era newspapers with ads for items such as zeppelins and war bonds. Wooden balls were found wedged in between pipes to help them keep their slope. Pipes used to power gas lanterns and coal chutes used to feed the original furnace turned up as well.

“There is a pocket door that led to the parlor, and the hardware is date-stamped 1891,” Clark Zeller, project manager for JHC, said. “We are still going to use that piece of hardware. That is kind of cool.”

The house, at 829 N.W. 19th Ave., was designed by Whidden & Lewis, an architecture firm that operated in Portland in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. But over the course of many decades, the house was “remodeled beyond recognition,” Richard Marlitt wrote in his book “Matters of Proportion,” which detailed the residential work of Whidden & Lewis.

The project team found the building still had stained glass windows above the landing at the top of an ornate staircase. However, many other elements were simply covered.

“The building was treated very poorly,” said Celeste Lucas, a Sloy, Dahl & Holst Inc. account executive who has been extensively involved in the renovation project.

The 7,500-square-foot building was completed in 1892 as a personal residence for Dr. George Good. It became a school in the 1930s and then was used for offices in the 1950s. Through the building’s 125 years, each renovation removed some of the original architectural elements.

“They covered hardwood floor with flat laminate,” Orvis said. “They covered up the doors and filled in the panels.”

An extension was added to the front of the house in the 1950s, and four of the home’s five ornate fireplaces were stripped of their finishes and walled off.

The decisions to cover the flooring and fireplaces raised questions.

“You ask, at what point did they think this wasn’t beautiful?” Lucas said.

The renovation team has already managed to bring the building’s hardwood floors back to life. Existing fireplaces are now being restored. The plan is to finish renovating the first two floors by October. Basement, third floor and exterior renovations are planned for a later time.

“Luckily, a lot of the things we found were original,” Orvis said. “The original doors were still in there. They are in great shape. The coverings, as hideous as they were, were a great protector.”

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When it came time to expand and renovate Our Lady of the Lake in Lake Oswego, the leaders of the church found themselves in a quandary.

In order to tackle the work, the church needed to raise money, a task always made easier with a solid plan to show possible donors. But drawing up plans can be tough when the actual amount of money that will be available is unknown.

To find a workable solution, the church turned to DiLoreto Architecture. The Portland-based firm has earned a reputation – and a long list of design awards – for its expertise helping churches create new spaces and reinvent existing ones.

The DiLoreto team, led by project manager Stephanie Fitzhugh, started by sitting down with church leaders to compile an overall plan that represented a large-scale wish list of sorts. A series of workshops with parishioners helped further define core goals and values – from providing spaces that would better foster a sense of community to welcoming those who were new arrivals or first-time visitors.

With those lists in hand, the DiLoreto team went to work.

Because the church had gained additions over the years, the existing building was a jumble of spaces that were awkward or ineffective. Church leaders and parishioners pointed out that an existing social hall, for example, had a kitchen that was too small. A bulky elevator shaft nearby added to the claustrophobic feel.

Meanwhile, a connection between the church and the social hall – what DiLoreto describes on its website as a “four-foot-wide stairway-in-a-tube” – created a bottleneck as parishioners left church after services.

In order to eliminate confined areas and accommodate the church’s growing parish, Fitzhugh and her team replaced the stairs and elevator with a glass-enclosed hallway that runs the entire length of the lower part of the building and serves as a lobby for social areas. Parishioners and visitors will enter from a parking lot area through double doors. They will serve a dual purpose of welcoming visitors from a parking lot area and providing easy, direct access to the narthex.

In order to avoid having the narthex overlook the roof of the lower hallway area, Fitzhugh and her team created a visually attractive green roof.

“(It’s) a very simple solution to an interesting problem,” Fitzhugh said.

The sanctuary area also was redesigned to feature a smaller altar and create a more elegant, intimate arrangement for seating.

Meanwhile, outside the building, a nearby natural hillside will provide the perfect location for installation of an adoration chapel.

From working for many years on church projects, the architecture firm knows there’s no guarantee when money for the entire scope of work –the majority of which will come from donations – will be available. With that in mind, Fitzhugh said, her team took care to ensure that the overall plan could be broken up into smaller, separate projects without compromising the cohesiveness of the entire campus, which includes a school constructed about 10 years ago.

“We tried to come up with the best possible solution,” Fitzhugh said. “They need a vision in order for them to start fundraising.”

On the Boards is a 91��Ƶ feature offering a look at the projects in Oregon being tackled by local architecture firms. To have your firm’s projects considered, contact 91��Ƶ architecture and engineering reporter Kent Hohlfeld at 503-802-7224 or khohlfeld@djcOregon.com.

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Explosive growth in Portland has brought with it numerous challenges. One is management of the pace of projects’ movement through the city’s often glacial design review process. A team working on a project planned within a design overlay zone that requires a Type III review can find itself in a laborious process before any shovel gets into the ground.

“If I have a client that has gone through the process, they know what to expect,” said Leslie Cliffe, an associate principal at Bora Architects. “If I have an out-of-state developer, in those cases, they are super surprised at the level of input the city gets.”

Even in normal times, the process can be slow. These are not normal times for development in Portland.

“Prior to the 2008 recession was the first wave of hyper-development,” Portland Design Commission Chairman David Wark said. “The last three years, it’s just gotten busier and busier.”

The Design Commission’s job is to make sure that proposals for new construction and modifications to existing structures meet the city’s design guidelines. They apply to approximately 5 percent of the city, but some of its most prime real estate.

In hopes of accelerating the process, the commission, consisting of seven volunteers, has increased its workload from meetings twice a month to at least three times a month. Each meeting consists of four or more hearings, which last between one and three hours, depending on the size of the project. The meetings start at 1:30 p.m. and can last well into the night.

“It’s a minor celebration if we are done by 7:30,” Wark said. “We try to get them done (by then), but often we go past that.”

It’s a far cry from five years ago.

“During that recession, sometimes we didn’t have a commission meeting because there weren’t any projects,” Wark said. “We came out of that around 2012 and 2013.”

That recovery has resulted in a building boom, and the city has strained to keep pace.

“We have hired seven new employees since August 2015,” said Kara Fioravanti, supervising planner with Bureau of Development Services. “It is a significantly bigger boom than any I have experienced in my 20 years here.”

According to state law, a project has to navigate the review process within 120 days of submittal. A project’s first hearing has to take place within 51 days of submittal. But architects can sign waivers releasing the city from the state obligation.

“Every project gets a 120-day waiver,” Cliffe said. “We always sign the waiver.”

By signing the waiver, architects can return before the Design Commission if it denies a project proposal at its first appearance. The waiver also protects appeal rights.

If architects don’t sign the waiver, they can’t provide new or changed information later in the process. Also, if the project were denied, the team would have to start the process over.

Fees for the review process are dependent on a project’s size and range from a minimum of $5,250 to a maximum of $27,000.

“We hit that 51-day mark pretty regularly,” Fioravanti said. “The waiver just allows them to come back. It’s when the applicant chooses to come back for another hearing. That is when the timeline gets extended. They aren’t signing the waivers because the commission is too busy.”

The problem is that few projects receive approval on the first try. Of the seven projects scheduled for a full review by the end of May, four were on at least their second trip before the Design Commission.

None of that includes the time and money spent on a design advice request (DAR). The Design Commission advises architects and developers to seek a DAR, which costs an additional $2,520, before the review hearing. During the DAR hearing, the commission informs a project team of aspects that could pose problems meeting the guidelines. This hearing takes place early enough in the process so that changes can be made without incurring large costs for developers.

While most architects seek a DAR hearing, scheduling can cause problems. Developers usually have a strict timeline. A long wait for a hearing can force contractors to delay when they seek bids for construction services.

“I had a project that it was going to be 11 weeks before they could schedule a DAR,” Cliffe said. “It required me to eliminate design advice because it would shift the hearing into the construction document phase.”

Commissioner Tad Savinar said that applicants can look to their colleagues for tips on navigating the process quickly.

“We have a lot of firms that get through on one DAR and one hearing,” he said. “Why are those groups getting through? There is a host of things that the applicant can do to improve their performance within this hearing.”

The city is trying to address developers’ issues. The number of staffers devoted to producing reports and making recommendations to both the Design Commission and the Historic Landmarks Commission has increased by seven since August 2015.

Also, in 2016 the Design Commission published “A Guide to the City of Portland Design Review Process” to serve as a best practices document for area developers and architects.

Project teams also can help accelerate the process, Wark said.

“The biggest thing that helps is if applicants are more responsive to the guidelines,” he said. “That way we don’t have the same project coming in time after time and taking up the spot of another project.”

Some architects are taking the advice to heart. More projects are gaining approval on their first hearing. Hacker’s recent Ladd’s Addition project received approval at its first hearing and won commissioners’ praise for meeting guidelines.

On the other end of the spectrum is developer Landon Crowell’s Ankeny Apartments. The project appeared before the Design Commission five times before denial was granted and an appeal was made to the City Council.

The delay, now several months, has cost Crowell and his investors nearly $120,000, he said. Crowell and Yost Grube Hall Architecture, for their initial proposal, decided to rely on information from a pre-application meeting instead of a full DAR.

“Our idea was to have the superstructure in place by March (2017),” Crowell said. “You are always trying to get six or seven people to agree. Then they switch in the middle of the discussion or discuss things that aren’t in the guidelines.”

Keeping meetings on point and strictly focused on the guidelines is a major suggestion of the Design Overlay Zone Assessment (DOZA), which is intended to streamline the development review process.

Suggestions in the final DOZA report included imposing new thresholds of when projects would have to go through the full review process. Smaller projects would go through Type II reviews requiring only staff approval.

The report also suggested revising community design guidelines and narrowing the focus. That suggestion met with Wark’s approval.

“We need to simplify the design guidelines with the same level of flexibility,” he said. “The biggest things to aid the process are the design guidelines need to be updated and the community standards need to be updated.”

The report also suggested looking at adding a commission for areas outside of the Central City. That proposal got a mixed reaction.

“It sounds like a good idea, but then you get into all kinds of specifics,” Wark said. “How do you find seven qualified people consistently? How is it set up? We’re open to something refined.”

It could also affect the way that city staff does its job. Currently, the BDS staff manages cases seen by both the design and landmarks commissions.

“It’s a lot of work,” Fioravanti said. “It would be managing with seven more people and would be very important to coordinate among the two commissions.”

Stephanie Fitzhugh, a project manager at DiLoreto Architecture, said that long waits to appear before the city’s commissions are adding to delays and increased project costs.

“Everybody is feeling it; everyone is frustrated,” she said. “Basically, it comes down to: Does the city really want to prevent people from building their projects?”

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Portland will become the smallest Catholic archdiocese in the country with a full-service funeral home upon completion of a $1.4 million addition/renovation at the chapel of Gethsemani Catholic Cemetery.

Mark Jacobs Construction is at about the midpoint of adding 2,700 square feet to the 57-year-old chapel. The 56-year-old, mid-century modern building is also being brought up to current seismic code.

The project is intended to allow the archdiocese to perform full funeral arrangements and services, to church members last year.

“This church-owned and operated facility will be a model for the entire archdiocese as to how to minister to Catholic families at the time of death,” he wrote. “To be able to provide funeral home services in complete fidelity to the church’s sensibilities at a funeral will be a great blessing for all of our people.”

There are three cemeteries within the 29,717-square mile Archdiocese of Portland – Gethsemani, Mount Calvary Catholic Cemetery in west Portland and Mount Calvary in Eugene.

The project is an extension of the corporal works of mercy – caring for the dead – which the church has always done, Director of Cemeteries Tim Corbett said. New features will include a crematorium, embalming, caskets and a sales area.

Even church members aren’t always sure what the rules are for bodies after death.

“There’s not always a lot of clarity when it comes to cremation and Catholics,” he said. “One of the roles we’re trying to fill is in education, more than anything.”

For one thing, cremation is “definitely” allowed for Catholics, Corbett said. That change was issued by the Second Vatican Council of the 1960s. And cremated remains began to be allowed at Catholic altars in the U.S. starting in the early 1990s.

What the church does not allow is the commingling of different people’s ashes, or scattering them, Corbett said.

Catholics generally display the body of the deceased when possible. This was an interesting design consideration for the chapel, said architect Chris LoNigro of DiLoreto Architecture.

“You’re really trying to create a moment of silence for everybody,” he said. “So there’s a series of moments as you enter and walk through the building. We were constantly asking, how does this feel?”

Liturgical architecture is all about creating serenity and a sense of place, LoNigro said. Funeral homes are a bit different from churches, but the architect’s goal is still the same.

LoNigro has designed many church projects, but Gethsemani is his first funeral home. DiLoreto Architecture, run by husband and wife Chris and Ann DiLoreto, specializes in religious structures.

One design challenge was joining the two existing buildings, the administrative office and the chapel, and maintaining a consistent appearance.

“It’s actually a very nice, tiny building, but its ceiling height for most of it was only eight feet tall,” LoNigro said. “And trying to get all the systems and insulation and everything in there that’s required nowadays, it posed its own intrigue.”

The project employs a charred wood cladding product from the Portland office of Nakamoto Forestry. Treated on their outward face, the “” planks are highly rot- and insect-resistant. Because of a residue the product leaves behind, workers installing it are asked to wear gloves, said project manager Jason LeTourneau of Mark Jacobs Construction.

Gethsemani Funeral Home addition/renovation

Architect: DiLoreto Architecture

Contractor: Mark Jacobs Construction

Cost: $1.4 million

Expected completion: June 10

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St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Church is empty right now, but soon construction will begin on seismic and cosmetic upgrades to one of the oldest Catholic churches in the city.

The church’s history goes back more than 100 years, and the current building at 424 S.W. Mill Street in Portland was constructed in 1901 for the Italian community by parishioners, said Father James Mayo.

“It was built with bricks that were made onsite with all the imperfections of a hand-made structure, but it’s still standing,” he said.

Longtime St. Michael parishioner Gerry Mildner, director of Portland State University’s Center for Real Estate, said the repairs are badly needed.

As a member of St. Michael’s finance council and development committee, Mildner has been helping with planning and fundraising for the seismic upgrades to the church for the last six years.

“It is one of the most high-profile churches in the archdiocese, a great cultural institution,” he said.

The building is of unreinforced masonry, Mildner said, which wouldn’t hold up in a major earthquake.

Not much has been done to reinforce the building since the 1960s, when guy-wires were installed inside the building to help hold it together.

“It was a temporary solution and we finally came up with a budget and raised enough funds (for the seismic upgrade) and now we’re within shouting distance,” Mildner said.

The renovations will cost about $5 million, which the church has raised over many years with smaller amounts from parishioners and with larger donations from several Portland philanthropic foundations.

The work will take about 18 months, Mildner said.

The church is modest in size, but provides many services to poor and homeless people by providing daily lunches and a food pantry, Mildner said. While St. Michael’s is under construction, St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church on Southwest 11^th Avenue will provide lunches two days a week. St. Michael’s church staff also is in talks with William Temple House on Northwest Hoyt Street about providing a food pantry, Mildner said.

DiLoreto Architecture will design the work on the church, which begins next month. Bremik Construction is the general contractor.

DiLoreto project manager Stephanie Fitzhugh said the exterior of the old church will look much the same once the work is completed.

“We want to ensure that the church will be there for at least another 100 years,” Fitzhugh said. “The office building behind the church is being removed and we are building a new office building that will be a little smaller and you’ll be able to see the church better.”

Because of the extensive seismic upgrades, interior finishes in the church will also be improved, she said. Interior finish work is currently out for bid, she added.

St. Michael’s, which about 250 families, is important to the neighborhood because of its ethnically diverse congregation, Fitzhugh said, and because it provides many services to homeless people and others living in poverty.

“It’s symbolically very important to have that presence downtown,” she said. “It’s not a big, grandiose church, but there is a cultural and emotional attachment because of what it used to be, an old Italian neighborhood.”

Structural and civil engineering for the project will be by WDY Structural + Civil Engineers. System Design Consultants will provide additional design consulting for the building.

Bids will be let out in the near future on the 3,000-square-foot church for concrete work, structural steel, masonry and finish carpentry, according to Fitzhugh.

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Andersen Construction is nearing completion of a cultural center in Southwest Portland for the Scandinavian Heritage Foundation. The 9,883-square-foot structure will serve as a gathering place for the nonprofit organization.

DiLoreto Architecture drew from Nordic influences in designing the building, including simple lines, prominent use of wood, and walls of glass and skylights that allow natural light to fill the space. The building features a great hall, a café/coffee bar and commercial kitchen, an art gallery, multipurpose board room/chapel, and offices. The eight-month project is slated for completion in mid-April.

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A Southeast Portland parish has plans to build a 650-seat church, offices and additional parking as well as completely renovate an existing building.

Owners of St. Joseph the Worker Catholic Church have applied to the Bureau of Development Services for a pre-application conference. They want to discuss design plans for changes to their approximately 4.8-acre parcel. The conference is scheduled for Thursday.

Stephanie Fitzhugh, a project manager with DiLoreto Architecture, the firm designing the project, said the initial phase of construction would include demolition of an existing residence currently used as offices.

“The old office building will be demolished and the new church will sit basically on that site,” she said. “New offices would be built as funding allows.”

Phase one calls for site preparation – creation of a central plaza, construction of surface parking for 215 cars and expansion of pavement – as well as construction of the new church and a bell tower in the plaza.

Long-term plans include renovation of the existing church building into a social hall, the addition of a kitchen area and construction of a new office building, Fitzhugh said.

“The rest of the construction will happen as funding allows,” she said. “We’re early enough in the design that the owners haven’t determined a construction schedule.”

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Portland-based DiLoreto Architecture has earned national recognition for prominent use of wood in the design of St. Edward Catholic Church in Keizer.

The $4 million project won a 2015 Wood Design Award from WoodWorks, an initiative of the Wood Products Council. Winners of the competition that celebrates excellence in wood design, engineering and construction were announced last week at WoodWorks’ 2015 Bay Area Wood Solutions Fair in Oakland, Calif.

The 11,681-square-foot St. Edward church was completed this past spring and features glulam beams, arches and other interior woodwork using locally sourced Douglas fir and Oregon white oak. Exterior woodwork uses a combination of locally sourced Douglas fir and cedar.

The wooden interior arches, a nod to traditional church architecture, are visible from the facade through a skylight that wraps around the building.

St. Edward patrons told the DiLoreto design team they wanted a building that paid homage to Pacific Northwest scenery, said DiLoreto designer Brian Melton, who submitted the project for the WoodWorks award.

“They wanted it to be of the place,” he said. “That’s what drove the use of wood and local materials.”

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You can’t keep the doors open for three decades unless you’re doing something right.

When DiLoreto Architecture hit its 30th anniversary this year, the firm celebrated with a night of dancing, food and fun for the employees, clients, friends and supporters who make it all possible. Chris DiLoreto, who co-founded the firm with his wife, Ann, attributes their success to a progressive approach to communication both within the firm and especially with clients.

“We have a process to problem solving,” Chris said. “Working in groups and workshops leads to clever solutions. Developing a relationship with not just the principals, but those who are affected with the decisions builds their team and leads to a greater dynamic in design choices.”

That approach helped the firm build relationships with clients that have led not only to satisfaction with final designs, but also repeats and referrals – a crucial element in building any business.

Chris met Ann at the University of Oregon when they were both students there. He earned a degree in architecture; hers was in social work.

Chris spent five years working at two architecture firms before deciding to open his own shop. Ann was fully supportive of the plan.

“My father was an engineer with his own firm, so I knew the risks,” she said. “We were actually very excited about it. (Chris) started in the basement (of our home), and our son, who was a toddler at the time, would yell, ‘Hi, Dad!’ down the vent. So that lasted about three weeks before he found a place to open the office.”

Ann has served as the office manager for the firm from the start.

“We have a real level of trust because we’re married, work well together and raise kids together, so my taking over the office duties and all the accounting was a natural extension of that partnership,” she said.

“She does the stuff (the design staff) isn’t good at so that we can do what we are good at,” Chris said.

While the firm is small compared to some, its projects have steadily grown in size and cost.

“We just finished a $12 million project,” Chris said. “We’ve done 60 church projects – each one different, each one challenging – and in every case, they were a bit skeptical going in, but came to embrace the designs. And now they love the finished buildings.”

His recent work on the New York Building in an industrial section of Portland has garnered recognition from peers and in regional publications.

Sustainability also is a strong element in the firm’s projects.

“We think about including (sustainability) in our designs from the beginning so that it almost becomes a necessary part of the project,” Chris said. “Taking existing ideas and working to promote them in a risk-averse building environment can be a challenge sometimes. Nontoxic finishes, non-petrochemical coatings – things like that – are not easy to introduce unless they’re really cost-effective. But if we’ve maintained a good relationship with the client, they’re much more interested in including those things in the project.

“It takes a while for the construction industry to catch on to some things, but once they do, it builds a following.”

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