Franklin High School was built in the heart of Southeast Portland in 1915. The school was extensively remodeled in the 1980s, but eventually ended up in need of upgrades and modernization.

The 2012 Portland Public Schools bond was the result of community involvement with the goal of improving schools in the district along a broad range of criteria. At Franklin, part of the modernization aimed to reconfigure and update the facility with a focus on environmental quality, sustainability and historic preservation.

More than 1,700 students currently attend Franklin, but that number is expected to grow. So the modernization project was tackled in a way that could accommodate a future increase in enrollment. The redesign also aimed to address changing needs of both students and the changing face of the educational curriculum. A new feature at the school, courtesy of the modernization project, for example, is a culinary arts learning space, where students can learn about nutrition while also learning how to prepare meals.

The $113 million Franklin modernization also included a new performing and fine arts center, a two-story entry lobby that doubles as a commons area, realignment of an existing outdoor athletic track by 90 degrees to accommodate a new gym and educational facility, repurposing the original auditorium as a media center, full seismic reinforcement, and fully integrating ADA access throughout the campus. Traditional lighting was replaced with LEDs and rooftop solar panels were installed to generate power for the school.

Submitted by: CBRE/Heery

Location: Portland, Oregon

Project cost: $113 million

Start date: June 2015

Completion date: August 2017

Owner/developer: Portland Public Schools

Project/construction management: CBRE/Heery

Architect: DOWA/IBI Group, SERA

Landscape architect: Mayer/Reed

Engineers: KPFF Consulting Engineers (civil, structural), PAE (plumbing), Reyes Engineering (electrical)

General contractor: Skanska USA Building Inc.

Other associates: KELSAY, Morrison-Herschfield, Pla Designs Inc., Scheduling and Information Services Inc., The Greenbush Group

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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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Tigard residents and parents of students at James Templeton Elementary and Twality Middle schools will have a chance to voice their opinions about major renovations planned at both. School officials and architects from DOWA-IBI Group will be on hand on Saturday, from 9 a.m. to noon, at the Twality Middle School cafeteria.

“It will provide information to the community on the project,” said Karina Ruiz, a DOWA-IBI Group principal in charge of the project. “It allows the community to provide their perspective.”

The projects are possible because of a $291 million bond measure that voters in the Tigard-Tualatin School District approved in November 2016. Other bond-funded work includes: seismic improvements at Fowler Middle School, an addition to the Durham Center and renovations to Tualatin High, Tigard High and Art Rukin Elementary schools; all are planned in the next three years.

“We have been working with school design teams to identify some of the elements that need to be part of the new buildings,” said Susan Stark Haydon, community relations director for Tigard-Tualatin School District.

Construction at James Templeton is expected to begin in spring 2018 while work at Twality will begin in summer 2019. She said that workshops like the one Saturday at Twality Middle School help district officials and designers get a better idea of what the public thinks should be included in the facility upgrades.

The workshops also give area residents a chance to weigh in on issues like traffic congestion resulting from construction.

“There are circulation issues,” Ruiz said. “Whether you are a parent or a neighbor, you are impacted by people and buses dropping off students.”

Currently, the James Templeton and Twality projects are in the concept phase. Designers and school officials are still looking at the big picture.

“The really specific items of where things are located – that level of detail will be addressed later,” Ruiz said.

The projects have drawn substantial concern from the community, Ruiz added. The workshop should help designers come up with concepts to address community needs.

“The point of the workshop is to help improve design,” she said. “We want to make sure we have thought about everything. We want to open it up to people about what they want to hear and what they want of the design.”

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The modernization of Franklin High School is the largest school construction project going in the Portland area and the largest of the four main projects funded by a bond approved by voters in 2012, in both size (279,000 square feet) and dollar amount ($112 million). Much effort has gone into preserving the exterior appearance and layout of the 100-year school, but crews are otherwise building anew.

“We’re trying to match all the brickwork to keep the historic look from the outside,” said Johnny Metoyer, senior project manager for owner’s representative Heery International. “Internally though, it’s pretty much a full gut.”

To comply with historic preservation guidelines and mandates to comb out all lead and asbestos – as well as the nostalgic will of the Franklin community – the team renovating the school has had to walk a fine line to deliver Portland Public Schools a modern facility.

New track on track

Architect DOWA-IBI Group emerged from meetings with the project’s Design Advisory Group with two main directives: keep as much of Franklin’s historic colonial revival look as possible, and – as reiterated many times – replace the running track.

“I sat through many DAG meetings and the community was very adamant about that track,” said Ken Fisher, Heery’s program manager for the PPS bond program.

One of Franklin’s quirks has long been its four-bank, “NASCAR-style” track – think: four straightaways – that have prevented the school from hosting official athletic events. A new oval-shaped track will enable state records to be set at the school. Other new athletic amenities include new batting cages for the ball fields and new grandstands for the football field.

The State Historic Preservation Office also had lots of input on project design. It required that all historic windows be cleaned and renovated. Also, the main building’s “spine” must remain intact.

David Mayne, PPS spokesman for the bond program, said preserving the building’s historic appearance is a priority, but not just because it’s required by the state.

“We’re doing it because that’s what the community wanted,” he said. “We designed the project around what the community wanted.”

Skanska was brought on early in the design phase as construction manager-general contractor to advise on constructability and pricing. Portland Public Schools has an aspiration project goal of 18 percent participation by minority contractors.

Franklin High School is scheduled to “go online” in time for the 2017-18 academic year. In late August, Franklin staffers and students began their second school year in the Marshall High School facility, in Southeast Portland. When that contingent moves out, its counterparts at Grant High School will move in while a modernization of its facility takes place; that project is still in the design phase.

For now, Franklin houses 200-plus predominantly-union construction workers a day. The old track serves as their parking lot.

Expecting the unexpected

A major aspect of the project is the new gymnasium building, which will contain athletic space and biomedical classrooms, to match an expanded academic focus on health and wellness. The culinary curriculum, for instance, will be expanded to better prepare students for careers in food service. Large exhaust hoods – like those found in a commercial kitchen – were installed in the Franklin teaching kitchen.

The gym itself is massive – 45 feet from floor to ceiling – and large enough to hold the school’s 1,700 students collectively. This month, a tangle of temporary plastic ductwork was piping in heat to condition and dehumidify the space ahead of gym floor installation.

“What you don’t want to have is moisture when you’re putting in a wood floor,” Metoyer said.

Elevators were being installed in the gym building. Upon project completion, Franklin will have five elevators (an existing one is being brought up to code) and two wheelchair lifts (one will access the auditorium’s orchestra pit). The project contract also calls for returning the clock in the school’s landmark tower to working order.

The language of the 2012 bond also calls for seismic remediation of Franklin. Less than half of the project is new construction, so shear walls are being added – basement to roof – in the old education building, and the roofs are being tied together.

When adapting old buildings to modern use, original plans don’t serve as the best guidance, Metoyer said. Fewer building codes and safety concerns existed a century ago, though the quality of craftsmanship was high.

“The challenge with an old facility is when you open it up, you find things that aren’t documented,” Metoyer said. “Sometimes it’s not built the way it’s documented. So you have to adjust your designs a little to meet the requirements of the project. It’s been one of the biggest challenges we’ve had on this project. But that’s why the team is here, to work through all that.”

Removing all asbestos and lead from the building has represented another significant challenge. Franklin was built under a city mandate for fireproof schools. As such, it’s chock-full of asbestos – a fire suppressant now known to be a health hazard.

“We spent a significant amount of money on asbestos abatement,” Fisher said.

All the building’s piping will be replaced, from the connections at the street to the fixtures inside. Most of the old walls containing lead paint have been taken down. What remains will be sealed and painted over.

Skanska was impacted a little by the ongoing construction labor shortage, but managed to work with unions enough to avoid schedule impacts. Three to five days were lost in the past winter when wet weather rendered the site inaccessible, but workers have made up the time and are on track for substantial completion on May 25, 2017. At that point, the standard close-out procedure will begin.

First is the punch list, where scuffed floors and flickering lights will be given attention. Then furniture will be loaded up and items like the school’s wooden Ben Franklin statue will be removed from storage and reinstalled. Also, the building’s heating, air conditioning and ventilation systems will be tested prior to certificates of occupation being granted by the city and other regulatory agencies. The buildings should be “student-ready” by Aug. 1, giving teachers and staff a few days to adjust to all the changes.

“It’ll be here before we know it,” Fisher said.

Franklin High School

Size: 279,000 square feet

Cost: $112 million

Owner: Portland Public Schools

Contractor: Skanska

Architect: DOWA-IBI Group

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When it comes to celebrating a 30th anniversary, most architecture firms would settle for cake and a couple of balloons. But Dull Olson Weekes – IBI Group Architects isn’t most firms.

With an eye toward making the most of its three decades in business, DOWA-IBI Group kicked things up a notch – bringing on new leadership to replace a principal preparing to retire and steer the firm toward the future.

Steve Olson, one of the firm’s last founders still involved in day-to-day operations, now shares the firm’s management table with principals Karina Ruiz, Dan Hess and Amy Friendy, and associate principals Marc Nordean and Jim Fitzpatrick.

There were fewer seats at that table 30 years ago when three architects joined forces and Dull Olson Weekes opened its doors, and the path to what the firm would one day become wasn’t an easy one. In the mid-1980s, the Oregon building industry was in the middle of an economic downturn. Dull Olson Weekes rode out the storm by trimming its staff down the bare bones, according to Olson.

“It was a very difficult time to be in the architecture and construction business,” he said. “We scraped through the first few years and got lucky. We grew from there.”

Olson and the firm’s other founders began preparing in the late 1990s for an eventual leadership transition, looking at possible ways that it might occur. Consultants they spoke with suggested taking a look at possibly joining forces with a larger firm. That search eventually connected them with IBI Group, which acquired DOWA in 2011.

The merger of the firms has allowed staff at Dull Olson Weekes to tackle projects it wouldn’t have been able to previously. While DOWA had built solid expertise in education projects, the firm had been too busy to expand in other areas, such as transportation, Olson said. IBI Group, however, has deep experience in transportation projects, a skill set that staff in the Portland office was able to tap to win a master plan project for Union Station.

“That’s a project we would never have been able to do prior to the merger,” Olson said.

Even as he watches the Portland office he helped establish expand the scope of its services, Olson is beginning to cut back on his daily involvement. Although he expects his transition out of the firm to take two to five years to complete, he’s starting to “pass the baton” by slowly and carefully shifting clients he’s worked with for years over to other staff members.

As for the new members of the firm’s management team, they understand it’s never too early to start working on a succession plan of their own. That’s why they’re already examining ways the firm can attract – and keep – those who will comprise the next generation of leaders.

“What you realize is, you really need a team of people with complementary skills sets,” Ruiz said.

The principals also are looking at ways the firm may need to change its culture in order to not just attract, but retain those future stars.

“The young generation is more willing to move around,” said Friendy, the firm’s director of operations. “(They’re) looking for much different things in employers than perhaps my generation was. Identifying a path for them early on is very important.”

Transitions is a new 91��Ƶ feature examining how local companies respond to major changes, such as a shift in ownership, leadership or firm focus and direction. To have your company’s transition story considered for publication, contact 91��Ƶ Editor Stephanie Basalyga at 503-802-7222 or stephanie.basalyga@djcOregon.com.

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Benjamin Franklin is said to have said, “All mankind is divided into three classes: those that are immovable, those that are movable, and those that move.”

The early American Renaissance man is remembered as a mover. Recently, Franklin’s 110-ton, sandstone likeness at his namesake school in Portland was relocated temporarily and then returned as part of a bond-funded project to renovate 150,000 square feet.

The statue move has been the most challenging and interesting element of the Franklin High School modernization, according to senior project manager Trevor Wyckoff. Ben had to be moved about 80 feet to the south so work on football field realignment could proceed. The site was excavated last year, and the statue placed on supports and moved uphill to a temporary location.

“It was actually fairly challenging,” Wyckoff said. “When we moved him the first time, we were not aware how big the foundation was. So when we went to move him the first time, we dug and we just kept digging and digging. We found the foundation was absolutely enormous.”

Crews changed equipment and process. A specialty contractor was brought in, and supports engineered. The eventual move was completely in about half the expected time – about two hours.

Franklin, a 102-year-old facility, is being thoroughly gutted and renovated during the $104 million reconstruction project. Skanska‘s charge has been to preserve the building’s historic look while modernizing the mechanical, electrical and structural systems, and updating seismic and technological systems. The gym is getting a pre-fabricated roof.

New buildings will be added, including a Center for the Arts at the intersection of Southeast Woodward Street and 52nd Avenue.

Franklin’s historic auditorium will be preserved, though converted to a two-story media center. The entrance to the original main building will be transformed into a two-story entry and lobby space. The school’s track and field will be realigned 90 degrees to make room for a new gym and educational facility as well as new classroom spaces.

The design team features DOWA-IBI Group and SERA Architects. Plans call for completion by fall 2017. During construction, Franklin students are attending classes at Marshall High School, which was closed in 2011 but has since been upgraded using bond money.

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The Emerging Professionals Committee of the Portland chapter of the American Institute of Architects will start a new event series this month called “Square Table” to provide a multi-generational forum for discussions about architecture.

Designer Melissa March of the DOWA-IBI Group organized the first event in the series. The forum “How Important is Licensure Anyway?” will be held from 5:30 to 8 p.m., at the Portland State University Shattuck Hall Annex, 1914 S.W. Park Ave., in Portland.

March has a master’s degree in architecture and is pursuing her license. She said the pros and cons of licensure have been a major topic of discussion among young architects. She hopes the forum will attract architects and designers from a range of generations.

“It’s an open forum for discussion, and we titled the event that way to encourage participation. We are interested in all different perspectives,” March said.

March said the forum will have a facilitator but only to introduce a topic and give background information and talking points.

“It is intentionally unmoderated because we felt it important that we didn’t drive the discussion in a particular direction and have (a topic) audience members can explore,” she said.

Robert Hoffman, executive vice president and CEO of AIA Portland, said when he was first approached about the forum he was somewhat thrown off by the title.

“It’s not a flippant subject and is very important,” he said. “We do want to have the sessions talking about it but we don’t want the general public to feel that with AIA it is debatable. It’s a very important part of the public trust in what we do and the complexities of the practice are vast.”

But Hoffman added that he thinks the discussion will be beneficial for all.

“I think it will be good to have us all in the room. AIA doesn’t question licensing and will try to help make the process better,” he said. “It should be an interesting discussion with the generation coming up. We want to understand their perspective and be supportive but explain the reasons licensing is very complex and very needed.”

More information about the forum is available at the .

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