Julia West House is a twelve-storey mass-timber residential building in Downtown Portland, Oregon, United States. Developed by Community Development Partners and designed by Holst Architecture, the project merges sustainable, biophilic living with trauma-informed design, bringing natural materials, natural light, and art into a permanent supportive housing development.
The building occupies a previously underutilised 5,000-square-foot site and provides affordable housing close to healthcare services, amenities, and public transport. At 145 feet tall (44.19 metres), Julia West House is currently Oregon’s tallest mass-timber building.
Housing programme and residents
The 56,000-square-foot building provides 90 fully furnished apartments, comprising 60 studios and 30 one-bedroom units, for residents earning 30 percent or less of the area median income. The 100 percent permanent supportive housing community is designed to serve adults aged 55 and over.
Adults aged 55+ account for approximately 25 percent of Portland’s homeless population, with communities of colour disproportionately affected. Of the residents served at Julia West House, 45 percent identify as BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color).
On-site service providers were selected to support residents’ specific needs. Case management services are provided by the Native American Rehabilitation Association of the Northwest and the Northwest Pilot Project, with resident services provided by the Community for Positive Aging.
Site history
The site was acquired by the First Presbyterian Church of Portland in the 1980s and used for a range of community programmes. In 2024, the church sold the property to Community Development Partners following a proposal to develop affordable housing.
The original structure on the site was a single-family house named in memory of Julia West Lindsley, the wife of the church’s first pastor. This building was demolished to make way for the new development.
Structural strategy and fire performance
The project team includes KPFF as structural engineer and Walsh Construction Co. as contractor. Construction began in February 2024.
Early analyses compared five structural options, leading the team to select a hybrid solution combining mass timber with a steel lateral system as the most economical and efficient approach for the site. The building was delivered using Type IV-B construction (mass timber with steel braced frames) — this approach allows for exposed mass-timber surfaces while requiring a minimum two-hour fire-resistance rating for the primary structural frame.
To achieve the required two-hour rating, exposed cross-laminated timber (CLT) floor panels were analysed for structural fire performance. Much of the glue laminated timber (glulam) post-and-beam frame was wrapped in gypsum wallboard, with three layers applied to columns and two layers to beams.
“Two layers of gypsum provide 80 minutes of protection,” said Christopher Pitt, Associate Engineer at KPFF. “The remaining 40 minutes were provided by the wood itself and demonstrated through char calculations.”
Most glulam connections were designed as simple wood-to-wood bearing connections or used readily available concealed metal hangers. These were detailed to meet both structural and fire requirements, whether exposed or wrapped, helping reduce cost and speed installation.
Structural system and layout efficiency
Given the tight urban footprint, structural efficiency was central to the project’s success. The use of glulam and CLT allows for efficient spans and grid layouts. Residential units are stacked vertically, with repeated layouts from floor to floor, enabling partition walls to align throughout the building.
“Everything is straight up and down in the building,” said Nici Stauffer, Project Architect at Holst Architecture. “The elimination of corridor beams allowed us to route MEP systems easily into units without having to run them underneath the beams, which would have impacted ceiling heights. We could do this because of the proven two-way spanning capabilities of CLT panels. In the units themselves, we aligned our framing with the demising walls, so the exposed CLT ceilings and lack of overhead ductwork help the rooms feel spacious.”
Construction approach and building systems
The compact site supported the use of prefabricated mass-timber elements, which were manufactured off-site and lifted directly into place from delivery trucks, reducing construction time and neighbourhood disruption. Simple connections and an experienced installation crew further accelerated the build.
“This is a tall building with a tiny footprint, which lent itself well to a centralised HVAC and plumbing system,” said Ed Sloop, Senior Project Manager, Director of Innovation, and Chief Estimator at Walsh Construction. “The centralised system freed up space inside the units and was better for the building envelope, but it did present some challenges. Everything is tightly packed, but that would have been the case for a concrete building as well; it’s just a challenge of a dense urban development.”
Interior environment, materials, and acoustics
Acoustic performance was a key consideration. Resilient gaskets were installed at the tops of wall framing at unit demising walls to reduce sound transfer. Double-stud demising walls house plumbing and building systems while providing acoustic separation. Soffits were introduced in locations with back-to-back kitchens and other service-intensive areas.
Mass timber was left exposed wherever possible to create a warm, natural interior palette. CLT ceilings are exposed in the main living spaces of studio units and in the bedrooms of one-bedroom units. Soffits conceal utilities in entry areas and bathrooms, while hallway ceilings are covered to accommodate MEP systems.
Wood ceilings and glulam columns and beams are visible through large exterior windows, reinforcing the building’s material expression.
Communal spaces and building envelope
Residents have access to a community room, lounge, communal kitchen, rooftop patio, laundry facilities, and secure bike parking. Offices for property management, resident services, and case management are located on-site.
Communal spaces are expressed on the facade as large carve-outs within the building massing. These spaces are visually connected by a single, basalt-like fissure that runs vertically through the facade, providing articulation and continuity between shared areas. The design references historic patterns of connection along the Columbia River’s waterways.
A shade canopy at the ground floor and an overhang at the roof deck provide solar protection. On the west facade, large windows are recessed within subtle projections, offering additional shading and revealing areas of copper metal panelling.
Additional technical information was sourced from a Julia West House case study published by WoodWorks.
