Location: Gresham, United States

Design Team: Holst Architecture / Adjaye Associates

Area: 8,826 m²

Year: 2026

Photography: Christian Columbres / KLiK Concepts

Design Features: East County Library in Gresham, Oregon, was designed by Holst Architecture, with Adjaye Associates involved through design development. The 8,826 m² civic building transforms an underused park-and-ride site into a public destination, using timber colonnades, plazas and pedestrian links to nearby light rail and bus services to establish a new communal living room for East County.

A broad trapezoidal roof rests above an almost square volume, extending into deep porches that address transit and civic space on different sides. Rather than privileging one formal front, ramps, steps, planting and repeated columns organise several approaches. Monumental glulam supports draw visitors under the canopy while turning arrival into an experience of moving between trees.

The programme is arranged as a gradient from active to exploratory and focused. Creative learning, auditorium, children and teen spaces occupy the west; collections, community rooms and an audiovisual studio form the centre; quieter window seats and work areas settle along the east. A double-height atrium and timber-screened spiral stair connect the two principal public levels, keeping reading, gathering and movement visually linked.

Approximately 1,200 glulam beams and columns and nearly 300 cross-laminated timber panels work with concrete and steel cores. Carefully notched members conceal lighting and building services within the exposed grid, while north-facing roof lights carry diffuse daylight deep into the plan. Structure therefore establishes not only load paths but also rhythm, acoustics and the principal interior character.

Timber continues through wall panels, balustrades, storefronts and custom furniture, paired with a concrete base, green textiles and community artworks. The children’s area opens to outdoor play and a roof terrace looks toward the surrounding landscape. Photovoltaics, air-source heat pumps, radiant floors and battery storage connect the low-carbon structure to everyday performance, with LEED Gold certification targeted.

The library’s significance lies not only in housing nearly 200,000 items but in bringing reading, making, performance, recording, play and public services into one freely accessible building. Its large timber frame remains welcoming through clear sightlines, varied places to pause and spaces designed for different ages and sensory needs, translating civic monumentality into repeatable daily use.

Design Team: Holst Architecture was founded in Portland in 1992 by John Holmes and Jeff Stuhr and now works from studios in Portland and Minneapolis under owners Kim Wilson, Renée Strand, Dave Otte and Kevin Valk. The practice combines civic purpose, social equity, wellbeing and low-carbon construction with legible structure, warm materials and sustained community engagement. It was named the 2020 AIA Pacific Northwest Region Firm of the Year; Fora Health received a 2023 AIA National Healthcare Design Award, and East County Library received a 2026 AIA Oregon Honor Award.

Holst Architecture carried East County Library through completion, with Adjaye Associates involved through design development; Brittany Shreiner served as design principal and Kim Wilson as principal-in-charge. Magnusson Klemencic Associates provided structural engineering, PAE Engineering delivered building systems, PLACE designed the landscape, Tillotson Design Associates developed lighting and Fortis Construction built the project. The exposed timber frame concentrates Holst’s concerns for social use, material honesty and environmental performance in one system, aligning architectural concept, engineering and public life.