Downtown Rockwood is a catalytic, ground-up, mixed-use development on a five-acre site at the heart of the Rockwood neighborhood in Gresham, Oregon. Designated as a town center within the Portland Metropolitan area long term plan, the 214,000 sq ft of new floor area in three significant buildings and extensive public realm forms a sustainable engine for generational upward mobility, urban regeneration and community resilience. Rockwood is the most socioeconomically and culturally diverse locale in the Pacific Northwest. It is also one of the youngest. The client and design team fully embraced the unique opportunity to establish an architectural language, spatial flexibility, programmatic diversity and public engagement process that enabled the built result to reflect and enduringly serve the entire community.

At the heart of the design lies a substantial new community plaza and food-focused market hall. The two are integrally linked and programmed to support an 18-hour community of varied activities with safe spaces for all community members to gather, shop and recreate. Forming the other key edges to the plaza are a four-story mixed-use office and retail building, and a five-story mixed-use multi-family building that harbor a private medical and dental clinic, County wellness center, community college business development center, commercial training kitchen, child care facility, multiple restaurants and fine-grained merchant retail spaces. The market hall pioneered the concept of a regional food hub combining micro- to medium-format restaurants and food stalls in an all-seasons communal hall with craft food product manufacturers, caterers, commissary and dedicated commercial kitchens, as well as educational facilities. The public spaces are devised to support a wide variety of programmed activities from outdoor music, theater and dance performance to community cultural festivals to a farmer’s market. The plaza is home to a concert series. The Market Hall hosts community and private events of all kinds and has become a go-to destination for festivals and events for most of the public agencies and non-profits operating in the area.

Located adjacent to a MAX light rail stop, the project is a prototype and template for the urbanization and resilient revitalization of under-developed and neglected suburban communities, to invert a trajectory of blight and decay into one of empowerment, pride, employment and local entrepreneurship. Rooted in a methodology of genuine, meaningful community engagement, the urban design strategy developed and deployed here combats gentrification and displacement while allowing a broad cross-section of boats to rise among the local community. The project was initially conceived by the Gresham Redevelopment Commission, an organization formed within the City of Gresham government to guide the regeneration of the Rockwood area. As the architect and master planner for the development, YBA enjoyed working collaboratively with the lead developer, as well as city, county and regional government, local people, businesses and organizations to realize a new and enduring heart center for this incredible and highly deserving community: Downtown Rockwood.

The community of Rockwoood and its challenges are indicative of those in vast and growing suburban areas in the United States due to long-term macroeconomic patterns of deeply stratified incomes, investment and displacement. YBA is proud to be a leader in the innovation of design, development and engagement strategies that help lift communities like Rockwood out of poverty and stigma toward brighter outcomes and better futures. Learn more at Downtown Rockwood.