2006 SCUP/AIA-CAE Awards

Cascade Campus Master Plan

Portland Community College with Yost Grube Hall Architecture

Click to view a pdf presentation of the project.

The Portland Community College Cascade Campus serves the North/Northeast community, the City of Portland and Oregon. The campus itself consisted of a few buildings acquired when the private Cascade College closed in 1970.

The guiding objectives outlined in the Master Plan are, indeed, a "tall order", and include an increase access to comprehensive educational programs; creation of a campus that maximizes connections between facilities to encourage sharing and interaction between students, faculty and staff; build a sense of community among these participants as well as the surrounding community; create an adaptable and flexible campus to accommodate growth; create a unified campus design through the establishment of visionary master plan defining parking, infrastructure, circulation, and landscape and building guidelines.

The process steps are major: passed a $144 million bond issue by involving the community in the planning process; drafted a "Good Neighbor Agreement" to ensure that the neighborhood would have a voice and role in the school's expansion; utilized the City of Portland's Land Use tool, The Impact Mitigation Plan to develop a zoning overlay for the campus; joined the neighborhood association, work group, and the light rail planning project, all necessary for successful implementation.

The resulting Cascade Campus expansion strengthened the institutional presence along the community main street, and expanded in multiple mid-scaled buildings that fit into the urban character rather than the usual community college block mega-structures. The expansion includes four new buildings, major additions to three existing buildings along with remodeled classrooms and the addition of student gathering areas and study spaces.

This new campus uses a consistent design vocabulary to reinforce its identity while maintaining the character of the neighborhood. The PCC Cascade Campus is used for a combination of college and private commercial activities which encourages accessibility and openness.

The results of this enormous undertaking? Effective integration with the community, urban regeneration, imaginative reuse of campus buildings, complexes and open space, reinforcement of the host community, and creation of shared spaces and facilities. All of this was understood to be a potential mechanism to reinvigorating the vitality of the neighborhood. In addition, the college expansion was a catalyst for a new light rail serving commuters and students resulting in reducing campus parking.

This master planning and building effort transformed the Cascade Campus from a small satellite campus to a comprehensive campus with the increased course offerings, and the ability to obtain a two-year degree without transfer. It is the only PCC campus located in urban Portland. The result is a campus that embodies the concept of an educational hub for North and Northeast Portland, provides a link to the community, and is considered a safe and pleasing space to learn and visit.

The nation's community colleges continue to demonstrate the importance of their contribution to higher education by diligently meeting the educational needs of their student population.