Have you been looking for an opportunity to volunteer for a design project in Portland? This could be it. Architects Without Borders–Oregon is partnering with non-profit Willow Creek Forest School, to plan and design a new structure to shelter students from cold and wet weather. Willow Creek is "an all-outdoor, place-based farm and forest kindergarten for children ages 3 - 5," located on the grounds of Tryon Life Community Farm, adjoining Tryon Creek State Natural Area in Southwest Portland.

AWB-Oregon will assemble a team to work with the school staff and families through an initial charrette and participatory design process to produce documents for guiding hands-on construction. The use of recycled and eco-friendly materials is a priority. The school plans to demolish their existing shelter in June and build the replacement during July and August.

Because this project will involve site visits we need volunteers local to the Portland area. At this initial Zoom meeting we will provide basic project information and identify skills and interests of potential volunteers. Potential volunteers will be invited to attend a meeting with the Willow Creek director on an upcoming Saturday before making a commitment to the project team.

Join the Zoom meeting to learn more! Email volunteer@awboregon.org for the link.

Join AWB-Oregon for Happy Hour in the lovely, leafy LEVER Architecture Courtyard! This is our first in-person event since early 2020 and we're excited to see everyone. Whether you're a former or current volunteer, or a professional or student who just wants to find out more about AWB, you're welcome to attend. And if you have an idea for a project in Portland or farther afield we'd love to hear it. (In case of rain we will move the event to the LEVER Architecture Courtyard Conference Room.)

The courtyard entry is on N. Blandena St. Street parking is available on N. Albina Ave and N. Blandena St. Bike parking is available in the courtyard. The No. 4 Tri-Met bus stops at this location.

REGISTER HERE: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/architects-without-borders-oregon-happy-hour-in-the-courtyard-tickets-415003305057?aff=ebdshpsearchautocomplete

Join us for a presentation of the ECHO Elder Cottage designed by Architects Without Borders-Oregon in partnership with The HOME Foundation of Centre County, Pennsylvania, under the state's Elder Cottage Housing Opportunity Program. The cottage is a modular, movable living space located in the yard of an elderly person's family member or friend as an affordable, income-based alternative to an assisted living facility. Members of the AWB-Oregon design team will discuss how they approached challenges related to energy efficiency, accessibility, transport, and making an attractive and comfortable home in the most efficient space. Go to Eventbrite for free tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/elder-cottage-presentation-tickets-324369346447

Email us at outreach@awboregon.org for the Zoom link.

Since 2014, AWB-Oregon has been providing planning and design support for Wogagan School in Debre Birhan, a city in central Ethiopia. Our guest presenter this month is Angelique Kidd Smith, co-founder of The Community Project: Ethiopia, sponsor organization for the school. Join us to hear about the ongoing design process and construction at the Wogagan campus, which will not only provide K-8 education for 1,000 students when complete, but also function as a community resource center including agricultural demonstration gardens and orchards, a community building, and a micro-business incubator. Angelique has visited the site several times and developed strong ties to city and educational leaders and the local community while guiding the work through rough political and economic times in Ethiopia.

Architects Without Borders–Oregon is partnering with The HOME Foundation of Centre County, Pennsylvania to design a prototype Elder Cottage, a movable living space to be located in the yard of a family member or friend as an affordable, income-based alternative to moving an elderly person into a care facility.

The Elder Cottage must be designed to be relocated in the future, but energy efficiency and accessibility are high priorities; thus, an existing manufactured home unit is not considered adequate. The prototype Elder Cottage will likely be designed in collaboration with a home manufacturer or builder, constructed offsite, and then transported to its first site for occupancy.

Volunteers with experience in tiny home design, energy efficiency, manufactured housing, or residential accessibility will be valuable contributors on the AWB project team. We plan to form a team from the group that attends the kick-off meeting; however, a commitment to the longer-term work is not necessary for participation in the meeting.

Email us at volunteer@awboregon.org for the Zoom link.

Join us for a team presentation of WATTS MAKER, AWB-Oregon's response to Low-Rise: Housing Ideas for Los Angeles, a design challenge from the Office of the Mayor. Low-Rise asked architects and landscape architects to imagine thoughtful new models of low-rise, multi-unit housing informed by community input and concern for affordability, flexibility, sustainability, and public health. In addition to presenting their entry, the AWB team will take a look at a couple of the winning designs and respond to comments and questions. Email outreach@awboregon.org for the Zoom link.

Please join us for the presentation of AWB-Oregon's entry to the UNESCO competition for a design to reconstruct and rehabilitate the Al Nouri Grand Mosque Complex of Mosul, Iraq, severely damaged in 2017 by ISIS terrorists. The competition called for an environmentally conscious plan to conserve and rebuild historic structures, including the Al Nouri Prayer Hall, and integrate these with new community buildings dedicated to educational, social and cultural activities. In addition to presenting their entry, the AWB team will also look at a few of the winning entries and respond to comments and questions.

Note change from usual meeting time.

Email outreach@awboregon.org for the Zoom link

email volunteer@awboregon.org for the Zoom link

We're looking for architects, designers, landscape architects and engineers to join us on Zoom to get started on AWB's entry for Low Rise: Housing Ideas for Los Angeles. This design challenge, organized by the Office of the Mayor of Los Angeles, asks architects and landscape architects to help imagine thoughtful new models of low-rise, multi-unit housing informed by community input and concern for affordability, flexibility, sustainability, and public health.

We plan to form a team from the group that attends the meeting, but a commitment to the longer-term work is not necessary for participation in the kickoff. If you can work cross-platform in Photoshop, Illustrator, inDesign, and/or Rhino, that will be helpful to the team effort, going forward.

Before the meeting, please review the project brief and familiarize yourself with the material on the Low Rise website.

Email volunteer@awboregon.org for the link to this Zoom meeting.

After a long pause, it's time to reactivate AWB's work on a campus masterplan for the Withergreen School, located in a suburb of Monrovia, Liberia. This project kicked off two years ago but had to be put on hold for lack of an accurate boundary survey. 

Interested architects, designers, landscape architects and engineers are welcome to attend this meeting. We plan to form a Withergreen team from this group, but a commitment to the longer-term effort is not necessary for participation in the initial meeting. Email

Before the Zoom meeting please review the Withergreen project brief.

- email volunteer@awboregon.org for the Zoom link -

Join Architects Without Borders-Oregon on Zoom to participate in a kickoff meeting for the latest Archstorming competition. The challenge is to design an elementary school in Marsassoum, Senegal, for the U.K.-based charity, Let's Build My School, using local materials and innovative, do-it-yourself construction techniques. The new school, intended to replace a temporary structure, will have seven classrooms, a library, two offices, and latrines.

All interested architects, designers, landscape architects and engineers are welcome to attend. We plan to form a team from this group, but a commitment to the longer-term effort is not necessary for participation in the kickoff meeting. 

Before the Zoom meeting please review the project brief: 

https://www.archstorming.com/uploads/9/5/7/7/95776966/lbms_-briefing-en.pdf

The short video in the middle of this page is also helpful:

https://www.archstorming.com/info.html

via Zoom

Because of the Covid-19 pandemic AWB-Oregon is shifting its March general meeting to a new format. We will be holding a videoconference work session via Slack for the Hope School facilities masterplan. Hope School, in Kenya's Mbita District, is a community-based, co-ed pre-school and elementary school serving orphaned and vulnerable children. The masterplan will include classrooms, a library and computer training room, a kitchen and dining hall, an administration block, staff housing, and a sports field. 

If you are not a member of recently formed Hope School team, but would like to join it, please email outreach@awboregon.org. We will work with you to set you up on Slack so you can review the current project files and we will send an list of essential technical tips for videoconferencing. The first half hour of this call, starting at 6 PM, will be devoted to an orientation to Slack videoconferencing and screen sharing. If you are already familiar with these features in Slack you may join the call at 6:30 PM.

Come draw with us! AWB-Oregon is designing a facilities masterplan for Hope School, run by Mercy Youth Initiative in the Usare village of Kenya's Mbita District. Hope School's Usare campus is a community-based, co-ed pre-school and elementary school serving orphaned and vulnerable children. The masterplan will include classrooms, a library and computer training room, a kitchen and dining hall, an administration block, staff housing and a sports field. More detailed information is available here for review before the charrette.

AWB's work is intended to help Mercy Youth Initiative secure donations and inspire supporters. We will form a project team from among those who attend, but anyone is also welcome to participate in the charrette without further commitment. Doors open 5:45 PM. Refreshments will be served.

This year’s AWB-Oregon open house features festive food and drink, an inspiring film about affordable housing design in Vienna, and great raffle prizes!

Our raffle prizes include:

• Two bottles of 2017 L'Altra Pinot Noir from Furioso Vineyards, and a tasting experience at their Dundee tasting room designed by Waechter Architecture.

• Two bottles of 2015 Incline Pinot Noir from Domaine Roy, and a tasting experience at their Dundee tasting room designed by Waterleaf Architecture.

• $100 gift certificates from Canoe, “products from around the world for home, work, and life.”

The AWB Steering Committee will meet at the AIA Center for Architecture, 403 NW 11th Ave.

Every year, exterior envelope construction mock-ups costing $5,000 to $20,000 end up in the landfill. Is there a better, more sustainable way? Our speaker, Julia Mollner of the Center for Public Interest Design at Portland State University, will present a step-by-step process, beginning in the pre-design phase, that highlights how mock-ups can be reused to meet different community needs. She'll discuss the environmental, economic, and social benefits of treating mock-ups as Useful Waste, highlighting the role of the architect in making this possible. She is also seeking volunteers to aid in upgrading mock-ups donated to CPID, for instance by adding interior finishes, wiring, and roofing to a mock-up that has walls and floors. Join us for this informative and timely presentation. Doors open at 5:45 for drinks and light refreshments.

All interested architects and designers are invited to attend a charrette to help the non-profit Q Center develop a vision for a more welcoming and functional community space at its location on Portland's North Mississippi Ave. Before we begin sketching, the current project team will introduce the project, present as-built drawings, and take questions and comments. We will be looking for additional team members, but commitment to the longer-term effort is not necessary for participation in the charrette. Q Center provides services, information, referrals, classes, support groups, events, and a safe space for the LGBTQ community. Doors open 5:45 PM. Refreshments will be served.

AWB-Oregon welcomes Rafael Toma Solano, project manager and trainer with Cascadia Clusters, to our June open meeting. A nonprofit general contractor, Cascadia Clusters trains homeless individuals in framing, roofing, insulating, and finish carpentry. Toma will discuss Cascadia Clusters' role in the development of Agape Village, a self-governed community of tiny homes for the houseless, and other local projects. He will highlight design and building lessons learned, as well as the goals and process of Cascadia Clusters' training program. Doors open 5:45 PM. Refreshments will be served.

NOTE: Our charrette for the Q Center will take place in July.