Northwest Dance Project executive director Scott Lewis knew he’d found the contemporary dance company’s new home when he toured an industrial building in Northeast Portland. He noted that an 8,500-square-foot space at Northeast 10th Avenue and Davis Street that once served as a motorcycle shop was ideally suited for company dancers to practice and host classes.

“We’ve been looking for a space for two years,” he said. “It’s been incredibly hard to find a place for dance. It has to be tall and open and light. Pillars are killers for dancers.”

The nonprofit dance company, founded in 2004, has been headquartered at Portland State University since losing its lease this past summer of a studio on North Mississippi Avenue. Thanks to donations raised through an ongoing $700,000 capital campaign and the pro bono support of two Portland firms, the Northwest Dance Project will soon move into a converted space in the industrial building that caught Lewis’ eye.

Portland-based Opsis Architecture and Joseph Hughes Construction have each donated a portion of their services to transform the space into a professional dance studio. Joseph Hughes crews started work on the fast-tracked project last month and are expected to wrap up in February.

“People have been very generous and responsive,” Lewis said. “Every little bit helps. Both Opsis and Joseph Hughes have been really conscious of us being a nonprofit.”

The project involves construction of two dance studios with sprung floors. The 3,200-square-foot studio will serve as practice space for Northwest Dance Project’s 10-person company, and the 1,500-square-foot public studio will host dance classes for children and adults. Plans also call for dancer dressing rooms with showers, a lobby, a laundry room and storage for costumes.

With its tall ceilings, and large windows, the 67-year-old industrial building that will become Northwest Dance Project’s new home already has a lot of attributes that make it well-suited for the company, said Jim Kalvelage, a partner with Opsis Architecture. The renovation will preserve that industrial look – including exposure of bowstring trusses – that suits Northwest Dance Project’s choreographic style, he said.

“Their work is very contemporary, edgy (and) more minimal,” he said. “We tried to give a lot of consideration to who Northwest Dance is as a troupe and how we could express that through architecture. It was a minimal and artful aesthetic.”

The Opsis design team was also conscious of the nonprofit’s limited budget, Kalvelage said. The space that will become the dance company’s new home has been gutted, but the existing doors and windows will be reused throughout the studio. He likened this cost-saving measure to choreographing a dance, where different body movements are rearranged to create new compositions.

“It was recomposing and rearranging all those elements,” Kalvelage said. “It took a while to get to the point where everything is locked in so it feels intentional.”

Kalvelage has long been a fan of Northwest Dance Project’s work, and when the company approached Opsis to design its new home, he was pleased to contribute to the project.

“For Opsis, a core value is supporting the cultural arts,” he said. “We think it’s really important to guiding community. Northwest Dance (is) just a real treasure of Portland.”

Caleb Beaudin, senior project manager with Joseph Hughes Construction, said the firm was also happy to donate some of its services and $5,000 to the project. Beaudin, who once ran a nonprofit, said he could relate.

“We ran purely on donations, so I understand what it’s like to be in that position,” he said. “It was just something that was a great fit for us to contribute to.”

The aggressive construction schedule – the aim is to get the dance company into the building in early February, to prepare for an international tour – has been a challenge, Beaudin said. This is especially true working with an older building where there are always surprises, but the project is on track, he said.

Lewis said the company is eager to move into the space.

“We’ve been waiting so long for that; we really want to get into our new home,” he said.

Northwest Dance Project headquarters

Location: 211 N.E. 10th Ave.

Cost: $700,000

Construction start date: December 2014

Anticipated construction completion date: February

Owner: Northwest Dance Project

Architect: Opsis Architecture

General contractor: Joseph Hughes Construction

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While New York-based architect Jonathan Dreyfous was in Portland to judge the Design Awards for American Institute of Architects’ Portland chapter, a “Keep Portland Weird” sign reminded him what was lacking in this year’s entries.

“I was looking for some weirdness, some idiosyncratic-ness,” he said Friday during an awards presentation at the Gerding Theater.

Dreyfous, a partner with New York-based CDR Studio Architects, wasn’t the only member of the judging panel who admitted to greater expectations for the projects that Portland-area architecture firms submitted for design awards. Judges Gladys Ly-Au Young, a principal with Seattle-based Sundberg Kennedy Ly-Au Young Architects, and Los Angeles Times architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne said they had hoped to see more innovation, attention to urbanism and high-level design for both exteriors and interiors.

“We were looking for projects that showed tremendous social transformation – something that was more forward-thinking for Portland,” Young said.

Judges chose not to give out any awards in the unbuilt category because they wanted to see more creativity among the entries. They lamented the glut of private multifamily projects and longed for more public ones.

“We thought that side of the ledger was underwhelming,” Hawthorne said of the unbuilt category. “We were ready for projects that had a different idea for the interior. I think because so many of the projects were developer-driven they were a bit safe.”

A “tidal wave” of private multifamily development in Portland led to worries among the panel that architects were spending too much energy on projects’ exteriors to the detriment of their interiors, Dreyfous said.

“The exterior becomes the billboard for the building and we are concerned about the interior living up to the facade,” he said.

The panel’s response wasn’t all negative. One project that garnered significant praise from the judges was the Edith Green-Wendell Wyatt Federal Building renovation designed by Portland-based SERA Architects and Cutler Anderson Architects. The project received a merit award for what the judges considered a thoughtful transformation that incorporated many sustainable elements.

“We felt the designers worked really well to break up the massiveness of the building,” Young said. “You see the old and the new work really well together.”

Hawthorne said he has been following closely the debate on the future of the Portland Building, which suffers from structural issues and leaks. He noted that it could benefit from a renovation similar to the one for the Edith Green-Wendell Wyatt building.

“This was the same exercise of remaking a building,” he said. “All of those questions are being tested and examined in this project.”

The judges were impressed by several projects designed by Works Partnership Architecture. The Portland-based firm earned a merit award for the Bowstring Truss House and citations for the 33rd & Division Apartments and Overton 19 multifamily projects, all in Portland.

The judges said they were particularly blown away by the Bowstring Truss House after touring it. A former industrial building in Northwest Portland was renovated into a living space.

“A lot of the details that we were impressed with in photographs came through when we walked the space,” Hawthorne said. “It was one of the strongest projects we looked at.”

THA Architecture received a merit award for Discovery Hall – a science and academic building at the University of Washington’s Bothell campus. The judges said that consideration given to surroundings came through in the design.

“There’s not really a front side or a back side,” Young said. “All sides are well thought through.”

ZGF Architects received a citation award for Pearl Izumi‘s North American headquarters in Louisville, Colo. Young said she appreciated the unified approach.

“The interior and exterior are by the same firm so they really feel like the same hand,” she said.

The panel awarded two citation awards specifically for interiors-focused projects. The first went to Architecture Building Culture for the Lubavitch Center of British Columbia in Vancouver, B.C. They praised the understated design of the center for a Jewish organization.

“I’d like to commend the clarity of what it’s doing for the space,” Dreyfous said. “It’s very simple.”

Hennebery Eddy Architects took home the same honor for a renovation of the Shute Park library branch in Hillsboro.

“Rather than tearing down the building, it uncovered the strength of the building,” Dreyfous said.

Also at Friday’s event, Portland Mayor Charlie Hales praised the work of the city’s architecture community.

“It’s a great privilege to be mayor of a city where people appreciate excellence in urban design and architecture,” he said.

Hales then revealed the winner of the Mayor’s Award for Design Excellence: the Stephens Creek Crossing affordable housing complex in Southwest Portland, designed by MWA Architects.

“It is inviting to the people that live there and the people that will visit,” he said. “More importantly, they created a neighborhood there. This, to me, is one of the best examples of how you can create community in new projects.”

Honorable mentions for the Mayor’s Award went to SERA Architects’ Marriott Residence Inn, the Reed College Performing Arts Building designed by Opsis Architecture, The Emory apartments designed by ZGF Architects and the A Dialogue Street Seat by Scott | Edwards Architecture.

This year’s AIA Portland Citizens’ Medal for Design Excellence, selected through a public vote, went to Architecture Building Culture for the Roberts Creek Cabin single-family residence in Roberts Creek, British Columbia.

Also announced Friday were the recipients of AIA Portland’s 2030 Challenge Design Awards. They recognize sustainable design and honor a challenge from nonprofit organization Architecture 2030 for all new buildings and major renovations to be carbon neutral by 2030.

Hennebery Eddy Architects’ Ash + Ash won in the single-family category. The Kiln Apartments, designed by GBD Architects to meet passive house standards, earned the honor in the multifamily category. The Edith Green-Wendell Wyatt building renovation won the office category and the Central Oregon Community College Health Careers Center, designed by Yost Grube Hall Architecture, earned the institutional honor.

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Ecotrust has taken a giant step forward with plans to create a mixed-use space where regional producers will be able to connect with Portland’s growing wealth of food-focused businesses and startups.

The nonprofit group on Wednesday completed its purchase of a 16,000-square-foot former machine stamping building and warehouse on Southeast Salmon Street in Portland’s Central Eastside Industrial District. Working with Portland-based Redside as the developer, Ecotrust plans to renovate the warehouse into The Redd, which will feature production, office and event space for small local enterprises.

In a release issued by Ecotrust, Amanda Oborne, the organization’s vice president of food and farms, said the hope is that The Redd “will vault the regional food system forward” by offering manufacturing and processing space along with a commercial hub.

In recent years, Ecotrust has worked to build connections to help small and midsize regional food producers get their products to market. The exact plan for how The Redd will fit into that network – and what its tenant mix will look like – has been left open-ended on purpose, according to Oakley Brooks, a spokesman for Ecotrust.

“We’re deliberately leaving it open at this point to invite people in,” he said. “We want to let people join in and figure out what it’s going to be. It’s an organic thing.”

Preliminary descriptions of the project call to mind shades of downtown incubator spaces and food-focused projects such as the James Beard Public Market. But Brooks said The Redd will be unique to Portland.

The building at 831 S.E. Salmon Street, constructed in 1918, has been vacant for awhile; however, remnants from its previous tenant, Custom Stamping, remain.

“There’s this huge machine in the center (of the building) that was used for stamping metal grills for trucks,” said Melynda Retallack, director of development and sustainability for Redside. “It’s going to stay. Ecotrust wants to keep it there to speak to the history of the building.”

The building also needs exterior improvements as well as work to address what Retallack described as “deferred maintenance.”

“It’s basically a big warehouse,” she said. “It’s totally uninsulated, … some windows are missing. There’s been a lot of discussion about keeping the sense of height of the space, but with modifications to make it suitable for (its intended uses).”

Walsh Construction is a partner in the project and also will serve as general contractor for the renovation. Opsis Architecture and Green Gables Design and Restoration will handle design aspects.

Design work, now in the preliminary stages, is expected to continue through the end of the year. Construction, which Retallack estimates will take about seven months, is likely to begin near the end of 2015.

Ecotrust has set the opening of The Redd for mid-2016, according to Oakley.

The nonprofit organization hasn’t decided whether a green building designation such as Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design will be pursued, but Oakley said the end result will be sustainable.

“We definitely want it to be a strong green building,” he said.

The Redd

Location: 831 S.E. Salmon St., Portland

Building description: Constructed in 1918; 16,000 square feet; previously housed a machine stamping company and warehouse

Owner: Ecotrust

Developer: Redside

Architects: Green Gables Design and Restoration, Opsis Architecture

General contractor: Walsh Construction

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The Oregon Zoo is seeking feedback on how Pacific Northwest residents connect with nature to help shape the design of a planned conservation education center.

An launched recently centers around the question: “What can the zoo do to encourage and equip visitors to get outdoors more?” the zoo’s education curator, Grant Spickelmier, said. “That will influence the design and programming of the building.”

The project team is in the early stages of design; the facility is slated to open in spring 2017. It will likely be divided into several buildings housing classrooms, an auditorium and visitor center surrounding a plaza and learning garden, Spickelmier said. Plans also call for an insect zoo and interactive conservation lab where visitors can learn about how zoo scientists care for endangered animals.

Portland-based Opsis Architecture and Seattle-based Jones and Jones Architecture and Landscape Architecture are designing the project. Early designs by these firms will be on display at the zoo this week.

“We’re trying to give some early ideas of how the center might look,” Spickelmier said.

Portland-based Fortis Construction will be the project’s general contractor.

Initial concepts for the center call for various sustainable features, and a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design gold rating is targeted, Spickelmier said. These elements will be exposed and explained to building visitors, he said.

“Most importantly, we want it to be a building that teaches,” Spickelmier said.

Zoo officials are also investigating ways to make the center wildlife friendly, such as designing windows to discourage bird strikes, he said.

The center is the fifth of eight major zoo projects to receive funding from a Metro bond passed by voters in 2008.

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The new Roosevelt Middle School in Eugene is designed to change over time. That will allow it to keep pace with new trends in education, said Alyssa Leeviraphan of Mahlum Architects, one of the project’s designers.

“The flexibility – that’s a big theme,” she said. “If you’ve got a flexible space, you can adapt to what’s coming up.”

Flexibility is evident throughout plans being developed by Mahlum Architects’ Portland office and Eugene-based Robertson | Sherwood | Architects for a $41.5 million bond-funded project to replace the aging middle school in South Eugene.

Some classrooms will be able to cater to a variety of uses, and be adjacent to meeting rooms where students can study in smaller groups or work individually. Most furniture, including shelving and white boards, will be on wheels.

Based on feedback from teachers, district staffers and parents, designers were tasked with creating a layout that allows students to loop through the school and learn about different academic or career paths.

The 97,000-square-foot school building will wrap around a central courtyard with multiple access points; students there will be able to socialize or participate in outdoor science lessons and art projects.

Glass will be a prominent material throughout and allow students to see from the hallway activity in spaces like the “maker’s lab” – a combined shop, home economics and art classroom, Mahlum associate Rene Berndt said.

“There are not a lot of boring, empty corridors, but there are engaging spaces,” he said. “The idea is to pique (students’) interest and discover what they like.”

The new school on East 24th Avenue will be built west of the existing 105,000-square-foot school on a site with soccer fields and tennis courts close to Amazon Creek and an adjacent wetland. Eugene School District officials are anticipating the possibility of donating a six-acre parcel that holds the current Roosevelt Middle School for a new YMCA, district facilities director Jon Lauch said.

“We look forward to the day when we have a brand new middle school and a brand new YMCA right next to each other,” he said.

The replacement of Roosevelt Middle School will be paid for via a $170 million bond that voters passed in May 2013. Other projects include replacements of Howard and River Road/El Camino del Río elementary schools and a renovation/expansion of the Arts & Technology Academy middle school.

A 2002 long-range district facilities plan first identified Roosevelt Middle School, built in 1950, in need of replacement, Lauch said. According to a master plan for the school completed by Eugene-based PIVOT Architecture in 2004, it would be cheaper to tear down the school and rebuild it than renovate it.

“It doesn’t meet any of our educational specifications for what we want in a school,” Lauch said.

The new school will be vastly more efficient and meet the district’s increased security requirements, he said.

“Roosevelt is built in a way that has numerous exterior entrances,” he said. “Trying to supervise who is coming and going from the school is very difficult … The way we design schools now is we try to limit the front entries.”

Security has been a major consideration in the design process, Berndt said. It’s one reason for the theme of transparency throughout the building.

“There is no hidden space,” Berndt said. “If there is someone that shouldn’t be in the space, he will be seen.”

The design team was also tasked by the district to achieve at least a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design silver rating for the project, Leeviraphan said. Sustainable features could include rainwater harvesting and visible solar panels tied into educational programs.

Feedback from teachers and parents was crucial in the design process, Berndt said. Input from community meetings helped Mahlum designers develop plans to place a classroom for choir and one for drama next to the cafeteria with a movable partition in between. The partition can remain in place for more intimate performances in the drama classroom or removed to allow people sitting in the cafeteria to become the audience.

“We are becoming aware that you can’t design a school from the top down,” Berndt said. “You have to talk to the people.”

Eugene School District bond-funded projects:

Roosevelt Middle School replacement

Location: 680 E. 24th Ave., Eugene

Approximate cost: $41.5 million

Construction start date: spring 2015

Anticipated completion date: fall 2016

Architects: Mahlum Architects, Robertson | Sherwood | Architects

Howard Elementary School replacement

Location: 700 Howard Ave., Eugene

Approximate cost: $32 million

Construction start date: fall 2014

Anticipated completion date: fall 2015

Architects: PIVOT Architecture, DOWA-IBI Group

River Road/El Camino del Río Elementary School replacement

Location: 120 W. Hilliard Lane, Eugene

Approximate cost: $24 million

Construction start date: spring 2015

Anticipated completion date: fall 2016

Architects: PIVOT Architecture, DOWA-IBI Group

Arts & Technology Academy renovation and expansion

Location: 1650 W. 22nd Ave., Eugene

Approximate cost: $35 million

Construction start date: 2015

Anticipated completion date: 2017

Architects: Rowell Brokaw Architects, Opsis Architecture

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Sustainability is a key element in the $14.4 million education center project at the Oregon Zoo.

“This new facility will meet that goal to inspire conservation and action,” said Heidi Rahn, the zoo’s bond program director.

The project is among those being paid for via a $125 million bond passed by voters in 2008. Opsis Architecture, in partnership with Seattle-based Jones & Jones Architects, is designing the facility; Fortis Construction is the construction manager-general contractor. A Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design gold rating is being targeted for the center.

The education center will include interactive kiosks, an insect and butterfly habitat, and areas for kids’ programs and regional resources, said Alec Holser, a principal partner at Opsis.

“More importantly, it will be a place where people can learn about sustainability and things like climate change and how human behavior affects wildlife habitat and vice versa,” he said.

The interactive kiosks and other educational components will resemble those at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, Fortis Construction President Jim Kilpatrick said. Fortis will participate in a collaborative design process with the architectural firms and regional nonprofit agencies, he said.

The biggest construction challenge for the project, Kilpatrick said, will be dealing with complicated logistics and public access points.

“We probably can build (the center) faster than it takes to design,” he said. “We will spend a fair amount of time confirming the program and doing a conceptual design. Then, we will make sure everything looks like what they want.”

Bond projects, including Elephant Lands now being built by Lease Crutcher Lewis, are being spread out through 2020 so that the zoo can remain open while work takes place, Rahn said. A polar bear habitat project is slated to move ahead in 2015, and design work for primate and rhino habitats is set to begin in 2017, she said.

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A community service project initiated by the International Living Future Institute will transform a vacant lot in Northeast Portland’s Cully neighborhood into a small park.

Over the past four months, a group of Portland architects, landscape architects and Portland State University architecture students have worked with neighborhood residents to design the $20,000 project. Plans call for the addition of native plantings, a gravel path and a decorative steel wall at the Oregon Department of Transportation-owned lot near the intersection of Northeast Killingsworth Street and Northeast Portland Highway.

On Saturday, between 30 and 40 volunteers are expected to attend a work party to plant about 500 native plants. Solar-powered lights also are in the works. The park is expected to be net zero in regard to both energy and water usage.

John Shorb, an associate with Portland-based Opsis Architecture, organized the project as the concluding event of ILFI’s 2014 conference in Portland.

“The intention was to actually have a physical, hands-on activity for the attendees to have a lasting impact on Portland,” he said.

The ILFI, which promotes green building, was looking for a way to reach an underserved community, Shorb said. That led to project partnerships with ODOT and nonprofit Verde, which has worked to add green space in Cully.

Carpet manufacturer Interface donated $16,000 for the project.

The lot will eventually serve as an entrance to the future Cully Park about a block away, Shorb said.

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Community recreation centers have evolved.

“They used to be these concrete cinder blocks with these single rooms,” said Jim Kalvelage, a partner at Portland-based Opsis Architecture. “We’ve evolved along to integrating this social dimension and integrating comfortable places to hang out. It’s a place where you can bring your whole family.”

Opsis is designing a next-generation community recreation center for the city of Hillsboro. It will include a pool, a gym and other traditional indoor recreational space with community meeting rooms and classrooms, among other amenities.

“It’s a one-stop version,” Kalvelage said. “In the past we had a separate aquatic center or a senior center. Bringing them together makes a richer experience.”

Opsis recently wrapped up the six-month predesign phase for the project, including determination of three possible layouts. City officials are leaning toward a $48 million option, but the final determination will depend on funding.

Hillsboro has only one sizable indoor recreation center – Shute Park Aquatic & Recreation Center on Southeast Maple Street – and officials have identified the need for more, Hillsboro Parks & Recreation Assistant Director Dave Miletich said.

Hillsboro City Council has made construction of a new recreation center a top priority, and city officials are seeking funding from public and private sources, he said. The soonest that funding could be finalized is early 2015.

Opsis has designed other recreation centers, including the Firstenburg Community Center in Vancouver, Wash., but Kalvelage said he envisions the Hillsboro project going a step further.

“We think when this is built it will be the next evolution,” he said. “It will be the national model for this type of facility.”

The Firstenburg Community Center, which opened in 2006, is the firm’s flagship recreation center project, Kalvelage said. The Hillsboro community recreation center will have similarities, including ample windows and extensive use of wood, but have a more open floor plan and a better mix of recreational, meeting or lounge spaces.

“This is much more porous, and it creates with it a lot more excitement and shared use of space,” Kalvelage said. “That’s one of the paradigm shifts for this type of building from the Firstenburg (center).”

This sense of openness will be a key feature. The building will have large windows for visitors approaching or entering the building to immediately get a sense of the recreational opportunities offered. People swimming in the pool, running on the indoor track or playing a game of basketball in the gym will be able to look out at natural surroundings.

“It’s like a marketplace feel; when you walk in, you’re exposed to a lot of activities,” Kalvelage said. “From the outside, right away you’re seeing parties (and) people working out, playing in the pool.”

Hillsboro officials hired Opsis because of its track record of creating open and inviting community centers, Miletich said.

“The vision for the community center is a place where the entire community can gather and participate in all the activities we offer in recreation,” he said.

Hillsboro and Opsis officials hosted four public meetings that gathered input on the three proposed options for the recreation center. The first, estimated to cost $45 million, would be about 93,100 square feet and include a gym, a track, multipurpose exercise spaces, a recreation pool, a lounge, a game area, a community room, a kitchen, classrooms and special event rooms. The second, 104,500-square-foot option would cost $48 million and include more gym and cardio and weight room space. A third, 109,000-square-foot possibility would cost $53.5 million and have an additional pool for lap swimming.

Opsis also helped the city determine the best site for the project in a master plan for indoor recreational spaces; it was approved in 2013. The new recreation center will be built on the north end of a 20-acre, city-owned property on 53rd Avenue, across the street from a park.

The center’s design will respond to the site’s natural qualities. For instance, a deck will extend into a forested area behind the community meeting room, and connections to outdoor walking trails will be created.

“The idea is the building will sit very light on the site and really enhance the site amenities through these outdoor rooms,” Kalvelage said.

Equally important is that the facility be inviting to all ages. Opsis was challenged to design spaces able to accommodate teenagers at one point in the day and seniors the next, Kalvelage said.

“There’s no other building that brings the whole community together,” he said. “Your memory of this building starts as a young child in the wading pool to when you enter your golden years.”

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