De La Salle North Catholic High School Renovation/Addition

Location: Portland, Oregon

Year Constructed: 1950

Work Completed: 2021

Nominator: Bora Architecture & Interiors

Project Budget: $21M

DeMuro Award Recognizes: Oregon Heritage, Reuse, Equity, Affordability

History:  De La Salle North Catholic High School opened in 2001 to provide a rigorous, faith-based, college preparatory high school education to underserved students in the Portland area. Students attend class four days per week and work for a local company one day per week as part of the school’s innovative Corporate Work Study Program (CWSP). CWSP provides both work experience and networking opportunities while helping to offset the cost of education and break the cycle of intergenerational poverty. No capable, motivated student is ever turned away if they cannot afford the school’s modest tuition. Nikolas Tucker worked at Bora as the first CWSP intern before heading to Columbia University on a full-ride scholarship for architecture. Upon completion of his degree, Nik returned to Bora and worked as part of the design team for this project. 

Overview: After evaluating over 40 potential sites, De La Salle High School and Bora found St. Charles Parish to offer an ideal opportunity for transforming an outdated space into a vibrant new high school campus. The parish’s 30,000 square foot school wing, which was built in 1950, expanded in the 1950s and 60s, and closed in the 1980s, was repurposed and renovated to meet today’s needs, by including flexible classrooms, a student commons, a visual arts center, a maker space, and new biology, chemistry, and physics and laboratories. A 21,000 square foot addition features a commons and gymnasium which can accommodate events. Existing and new structures converge to create a central courtyard that serves as the heart of the 350-student campus. By leveraging the “good bones” of the existing building – including natural daylight and good circulation – the design team stretched every dollar raised to create a beautiful, functional, and sustainable high school campus. 

Congratulations to the entire project team:

Bora Architecture + Interiors

St. Charles Parish

P & C Construction

Bora Architecture + Interiors

Lango Hansen

Heinz Mechanical Industries

Catena Consulting Engineers

Interface Engineering

Mazzetti / BHE Group

Acoustic Distinctions

Shiels Obletz Johnsen

 

Photo credits by Josh Partee