The ReBuilding Center 
Portland, Oregon | 2005

The widely acclaimed ReBuilding Center features the highest recycled and natural content of all commercial architecture in the USA.  Surrounded by enormous bioswales that feature native flowering plants in support of insect pollinators, the ReBuilding Center has provided an anchor for the rejuvenation of the economy of the Mississippi Avenue corridor.  Since the inception of this project, Communitecture has provided all necessary design documents and presentation tools to assist their very successful fund raising efforts.  This includes preliminary concepts and presentation materials to assist them in acquiring PDC financial assistance in order to purchase their first set of buildings.  The two new large-scale buildings successfully relate to the scale and fabric of the surrounding community, and the existing buildings on the site have been seismically upgraded and reconfigured to accommodate new functions including new administrative offices.  The new offices provide a strong sense of connection between everyone that works within the individual spaces by incorporating radial walls and a common intersection for gathering and other activities.  With Orange Construction as the creative contractor, each office was built out using an endless array of doors, windows, moldings, and all manner of formerly commercial artifacts; even the "new" floors are made of recycled doors.  The project also includes numerous ecological features including earthen masonry (cob), recycled building materials, vast skylights and clerestories, and a permeable parking lot.