Cathedral Village, a St. Johns residential community, was developed to bring together art, music, and the greater North Portland neighborhood. Cathedral Village leveraged an integrated design process to achieve Earth Advantage Platinum Certification. This 4-story, 94,535 sf, 110-unit affordable housing community provides homes for low and very low-income individuals and families, with eight (8) units designated as Permanent Support Housing (PSH). Onsite supportive services include a community room, laundry area, teen lounge, playground, children’s garden, barbeque, picnic areas, and a dedicated music room. The project and development teams worked with a local non-profit, VIBE of Portland, to include a music room to host family programming that provides children access to musical instruments to explore and record music. The total cost of Cathedral Village was $38,060,000.

This development brings housing to St. Johns families with children who call this neighborhood home. One of the biggest lessons from this project was to honor residents as experts in what they need. Early community outreach and the design team’s questions uncovered what is truly valuable to residents. For example, building performance and prioritizing building safety through the lens of how Trauma Informed Design (TDI) principles can benefit all. At the beginning of design, it was imperative to work with the acoustical engineers to ensure a maximum of 45 decibels in the interior of the building due to the proximity to the railroad. Triple-glazed windows were selected for the courtyard-facing units and end units.

The health and well-being of occupants was a primary consideration and focused on three sustainable pillars: energy reduction, water conservation, and air quality. Before construction, there was remediation of the brownfield site to remove unexpected, contaminated soils. Universal design practices were integrated to create an accessible exterior shared courtyard, children’s garden, and barbecue area. The mechanical design integrated whole building ventilation supply driven without recovery (Direct Outside Air Supply), air-sourced heat pumps for common areas, and MERV-13 air filters for maximum resident health. The building features Energy Star lighting and appliances, low-flow plumbing fixtures, and high-efficiency condensing water heaters. Additionally, the development team applied for the PGE Renewable Development Fund and received funding for a roof-top solar energy generating array.

Design team flexibility and adaptability were key lessons learned. This project started when the COVID-19 lockdown began in early 2020. How the whole team communicated and documented project progress shifted to an entirely virtual environment before transitioning back to hybrid. The design team had to creatively research and source materials and building components impacted by global supply-chain shortages.

Art and music are a cornerstone of the St. Johns neighborhood culture. Partnering with the local non-profit VIBE of Portland, Cathedral Village incorporates access to musical education experiences at the non-profit's first onsite music studio, where instructors help children play and record music. The community room was programmed to invite the neighborhood into the relationship with the residents. Flanking the entry courtyard, the community room fosters indoor-outdoor communal gatherings and human connection while providing a venue for resident music performances.

Photographer: Laura Swimmer