June 6, 2008

Growing in the Gorge
College projects in Hood River and The Dalles are due for completion this fall

By SUE RYAN
Hood River News

     Gorge college students will enjoy a spectacular view of Mt. Adams and Mt. Hood from the third floor of a new campus in Hood River.
     The Indian Creek campus of Columbia Gorge Community College is slated to open this fall. The $6 million, 24,000-square-foot building is the initial phase of the first long-term permanent campus being built on a 12-acre site in the Heights.
Dr. Susan Wolff, the college’s dean of instruction, has been involved with the conceptual focus of the first permanent campus and how its design should fit Hood River’s character.
     “Many people came up with the icons of the gorge, for example the basalt rock formations and flowing rivers,” Wolff said.
     “The whole planning, building and designing process has honoring the communities we serve.”
     That was the intention of architect Richard Higgins, of the DLR Group. They put pencil to paper with the thought of translating the community’s vision into reality. During a recent tour, Higgins pointed out some of the features expressing the desire of an environmental setting.
     Saws whirred in the background as workers hustled around the campus, continuing to finish up the details before its Sept. 4 grand opening. When students come through the front door in the fall, they will find a very different entrance than what they have been used to at the Big 7 building in downtown Hood River.
     “It’s open for a very deliberate reason,” said Higgins.
     “Students will be able to come on campus, have a place to hang out and meet other students or to be between classes.”
     A space to learn but room to kick back shows up in the features of a double-sided fireplace with light shining in from northern windows above. The informal tone comes with 21st century educational infrastructure including standing-height tables with edges scalloped to hold a leaning body and electronic plug-ins located above.
     Part of the campus isn’t contained within four walls but flows by outside as integral to the plans as the outlines on a blueprint. Higgins said one of the concepts was to engage the creek on the lowest level of the campus building.
     “There will be two science classrooms on the lower level, one outdoors and one inside,” he said.
     “A walkway will be built and a bridge to cross the creek to include it as a fully functional part of the overall design.”
     The Hood River campus is one of two upgrades the college is working on. In The Dalles, it is spending almost $8 million to build a new 35,000-square-foot Health and Science building. Community groups who weighed in on the process were clear that they wanted each structure to suit the different environments of the individual towns.
     “We kept the memorable goals in the forefront of the planning concept; for example, the desire to have a different flavor here than in The Dalles,” Higgins said.
     “This one is intended to fit into the context of Hood River, the coloration is very different here with warm colors then there is the topography, the site, views and orientation of the building for the best northern and southern exposure.”
     Besides finishing up the interior, balconies and landscaping; the college has a contractor firing up systems to check their operation now — far ahead of the opening date. CGCC is working with Heery International, Inc. of Portland. Randal Miller has taken on the role of project manager for the Hood River campus.
     “Just to make sure that all systems, heating and air-conditioning, are operating optimally so the owner doesn’t have to worry about that,” Miller said.