Request for Qualifications

The Town of Cathlamet will accept Statements of Qualifications (SOQs) from architectural firms that are interested in providing final design and consulting services for the Cathlamet Blanche Bradley Library/Community Center Renovation Project. The library currently occupies a decommissioned fire hall built in the 1930s. In 2010/11, the Town worked with the non-profit group Architects Without Borders – Oregon to develop a Concept Design for both levels of the building and its surrounding area. Our local building inspector requires build-ready construction documents for plan review and issuance of the building permit, which should conform to the Concept Design. The Town will rank the firms submitting qualifications and negotiate an agreement for services with the highest-ranked firm to provide build-ready plans for this project as specified below.  If an acceptable agreement cannot be reached with the highest-ranked firm, the Town will begin negotiations with the next-ranked firm, and so on until an acceptable agreement is reached.

for more information on the project visit the Cathlamet Project Page

5:45 – 6:00 pm: INTRODUCTION TO AWB

If you are a new volunteer or guest, arrive at 5:45 to learn about how we got started, a brief history of our projects, and what our goals are.

6:00 – 6:15 pm: BRIEF PROJECT UPDATE

Listen to updates of our ongoing projects and learn how you can become involved.

6:15 – 7:00 pm:  PRESENTATION: Homeopathy for Health in Africa (HHA)

Maria Valdez will speak about her experience working with Homeopathy for Health in Africa and discuss her fieldwork in rural areas of Tanzania, East Africa and at the Dadaab Refugee Camp in Northeastern Kenya.

Homeopathy for Health in Africa (HHA) is partners with other non-profit organizations and healthcare providers under the African Institute of Integrative Medicine Initiative (AIIM).  The goal of AIIM is to provide both conventional and natural medicine as well as health education and community empowerment.  AIIM and HHA is currently providing care in 12 rural clinics and hospitals in Northern Tanzania with a primary focus on prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS.  The current goals of AIIM are to build a holistic integrative clinic and health education center in Moshi, Tanzania, as well as continued development of our medical research program that focuses on the most pressing health issues, such as HIV / AIDS research.  AIIM is partnering with several non-profit organizations in the Portland area including the National College of Natural Medicine and Naturopaths Without Borders to create global health residencies and internship opportunities for students and physicians.  For more information about the project please visit homeopathyforhealthinafrica.org.  Maria is looking forward to sharing her adventures and project plans with Architects Without Borders next week.

7:00 – 7:30 pm: COMMITTEE MEETINGS

Following the presentation our committees will meet.  Please join a committee and become involved!

PROJECTS COMMITTEE – Keeps tabs on the status of our various current and potential projects.

VOLUNTEER COMMITTEE – Helps keep track of volunteers and place them with projects.

EVENTS COMMITTEE – Organizes member events, general meetings and guest presentations.

OUTREACH COMMITTEE – Maintains our presence in the community as a whole.

IT COMMITTEE – Develops and maintains our website and other information technology.

Local residents participated in two community charrettes, helping the Architects Without Borders team understand the needs and hopes of project stakeholders. The resulting project reinforces existing cultural amenities—the library and the Pioneer Church—while providing new attractions to draw town and county residents downtown.

new outdoor community space on the site of a former parking area will serve as a town square for Cathlamet, accommodating everything from farmers’ markets to outdoor concerts, while strengthening the connection between the Library/Community Center Building and the Pioneer Church. Queen Sally Park will showcase Cathlamet’s spectacular views of the Columbia river and its working waterfront, celebrate local Native American heritage, and demonstrate the town’s stewardship of the natural world. Along Main Street, a large terrace in front of the community center will be Cathlamet’s “front porch,” inviting passers-by to stop and chat with their neighbors.

The Cathlamet Community Center’s multi-purpose space is designed to offer activities for everyone: coffee mornings for seniors and after-school tutoring for teens, yoga classes and family movie nights. A window-wall will connect the multi-purpose room to the terrace, allowing activities to spill out in good weather and making the community center a vibrant presence on Main Street year-round.

On the Library/Community Center Building’s upper level, the renovated Cathlamet Library will be larger, brighter, and more comfortable. A lounge area with armchairs will invite patrons to linger with a book, while large tables will offer space to spread out a newspaper or collaborate on homework. A separate children’s area will include a cozy nook for storytime. A new entry on the south side of the building will make the library more visible from Main Street, and connect it to Queen Sally Park and the new town square.

The Cathlamet Town Center project is designed to meet the town’s existing needs and help ensure a sustainable future. The building renovation optimizes the building’s functioning while maintaining maximum flexibility for the future; it is an opportunity to make much-needed structural, mechanical, and energy-efficiency upgrades, while preserving the building’s historic character. Queen Sally Park takes advantage of a beautiful natural setting, while improving drainage, reducing runoff, and eradicating invasive species. The Cathlamet Town Center project will bring
new life to one of Cathlamet’s iconic historic buildings, while providing a community resource that
residents and visitors alike can enjoy for years to come.

Published: Tuesday, April 12, 2011, 5:35 PM     Updated: Tuesday, April 12, 2011, 5:36 PM

By Anna Griffin, The Oregonian The Oregonian

Here is the way things are supposed to go in The City That Works, or any city that claims to: Neighbors see a problem. Neighbors fix a problem. Government lends a hand or stays the heck out of the way.

With the recent hullabaloo about rising water rates, budget cuts and giant bridges that may never get built, you might think this doesn’t happen in Portland. But it does, all over the city, just on a smaller scale than any streetcar line or soccer stadium.

A happy example exists at the southwest corner of Northeast 15th Avenue and Prescott Street, a funny little jog in the road where a downtown-to-Alameda streetcar line used to end. After the streetcar stopped running, city leaders opted to plant a few trees and lay down pavement rather than rejigger the road or turn the triangle-shaped spot into something useful.

One day about a year ago, Sabin residents David Sweet and Rosemarie Cordello drove past and asked, “What is that?” Sweet, the Sabin Community Association‘s land-use chairman, went home to do some digging. “I looked at some maps and discovered that it’s a right-of-way,” he said. “You can do things with a right of way.”

Big changes are in the works all around the little corner, known to neighbors as the Sabin Triangle. Across the street sit a popular bar, a new neighborhood gastro pub and, to the delight of foodies throughout Northeast Portland, the 2-week-old Pok Pok Noi, an offshoot of the nationally acclaimed Southeast Portland restaurant.

Thanks to gentrification, drug dealing isn’t the problem it once was, though graffiti and garbage remain a challenge, and the triangle itself remains a waste of space in a city built on the notion that you don’t waste anything.

“From an architect’s standpoint, there’s no place there,” said Mark Nye, a Northwest Portland architect. “It’s this funny little wrinkle in the city’s fabric that they covered in concrete and forgot.”

Nye got involved when Sweet and Cordello called Architects Without Borders, a nonprofit that once focused almost exclusively on projects outside the United States but responded to the recession and an ensuing surge in volunteers by looking for more pro bono work closer to home.

Last month, neighbors held a design charrette to brainstorm uses for the property. Nye is working on conceptual drawings, and the Sabin Community Association’s May 9 meeting will focus on what the triangle should become. Ideas so far include a community garden, dog run or adding tables for Pok Pok customers and maybe an informational kiosk. Nye notes that the land’s slope might work for solar panels.

Reaching consensus should be the hardest part. The city owns the property, but Portland Bureau of Transportation administrators have more pressing priorities. They’re happy to let neighborhood groups figure out better uses for stretches such as this one.

Money shouldn’t be an insurmountable problem: Chairman Austin Peterson believes the community association can find grants. “Even if we can’t, you can do a lot with sweat equity,” he said.

In the end, it doesn’t matter what the corner becomes: This kind of collaborative, solution-focused effort is a beautiful thing to see.

– Anna Griffin

We have a project champion for this project, but need additional volunteers.  To volunteer for this project, come to the general meeting, or email  volunteer@awboregon.org.

To learn more about the Indigenous Education Foundation of Tanzania, visit www.ieftz.org.

Image courtesy of National Geographic website