Located in Portland’s Central Eastside Industrial
District, the site is in an area caught between the
industrial nature of its past and the current commercial
gentrification of its businesses. Although
the area is not residentially zoned, there is a substantial
amount of illegal loft housing filled mostly
with industrial artists.

In response to the current conditions of the area’s
inhabitants, the school categorizes its program into
three primary groups: the Cathedral, the Field, and
the Home. Each group has its own vertical circulation
core but is connected by a horizontal corridor
that also acts as public display space. Skin function
and design is dictated by the needs of the
individual space and varies from operable screens
in the Home block to pixilated wall openings in the
Cathedral block.
The two ground plane levels, the actual ground
level and the Burnside bridge which is bolstered
to twenty-two feet above, provide the public visitors
and students separate entries to the building.
The buildings base includes the reception desk
and public display spaces as well as acting as the
distribution hub to the categorized spaces of the
building.
The access to the Home includes boxes that are
extruded from the hallways and act as public and
study spaces. Large individual studio style rooms
include basic amenities and open up to the outside
through pixelated transparent panels and operable
translucent screens.
Internally oriented classrooms are attached to the
fields space which allows the external world to be
a voyeur in the design and construction process.