The Portland Culinary Institute is situated on the corner of Couch and Gleeson Streets in Portland, Oregon. The Institute functions not only as a place of learning, but also as a place where students can share the culinary experience with the world. The Institute includes multiple teaching kitchens and lecture halls for students, as well as a large public auditorium, event space, and restaurant where students and faculty alike can interface with the community and shar what they have created as well as offer education to others.

Being the first large scale project tackled during B.Arch education, the foals of this project were to establish a connection to the context, develop a better understanding of circulation patterns, utilize building structure as a design element, and create a balanced facade.

In the design of the Portland Culinary Institute, considerations were made to implement a gradient of public to private spaces, emphasize the visual connection between floors in order to foster collaboration and interaction, create a social core, and take advantage of the possibility to connect with the commuity.