When Community of Hope had the opportunity to expand their existing program that offers shelter to houseless, single parent families, they reached out to Convergence to help them envision what was possible. The available land wraps around their current building, but they wanted to preserve some space for a playground and to maintain visibility of their donated mural. We developed a list of space and future resident population needs. The facility was to focus on affordable housing for families, so the units needed to have more bedrooms than a typical building. The design was kept at 3 stories tall to make it work better as a walk-up and to keep costs down. All entrances were kept along the streets to promote neighbor interaction and resident safety. Convergence did the schematic design work free of charge as one of our major pro bono projects.

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Starting with a site two blocks from our office and the goal of getting people off the street and on the path toward permanent supportive housing, we were able to donate our services to help lead the design process for the City of Portland/Multnomah County/Do Good Multnomah joint client with space programming, site/building design, project budgeting, and permitting. To do this, we gathered a team of pro bono professionals: Rachel Hill Landscape Architect and WCL Engineering from our neighborhood, and PAE from downtown Portland. Our neighbors Gene Darco Painting and Placecraft joined in supporting the project, as well as major involvement by the Homebuilders Foundation. Our vision was to use lessons learned from the two other managed transitional housing villages in the state (the Veterans Village and Kenton Women’s Village) and build on those successes to help the residents thrive in a space that prioritizes accessibility and uses biophilic design to support their mental and physical well-being. For more information on the project, visit A Home For Everyone or read our blog post.

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The St. John’s Bizarre is an annual neighborhood event that takes place in the historic neighborhood of St. Johns, Portland. Convergence worked with the organizers of the St. Johns Bizarre to updated their main event map, a key wayfinding tool that guides vendors and guests through the range of activities that take place. We also prepared a to-scale site plan that was critical for City of Portland Planner review and approvals.

The St. Johns Bizarre is a “uniquely-crafted celebration that kicks off the summer street fair season in Portland,” held on the same day as the St Johns Parade. An all volunteer crew coordinates the 200+ craft vendors, several music stages, a variety of great food, and tons of games and activities.

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This project aimed to procure the design and manufacturing of custom, neighborhood-themed, decorative street sign toppers. These sign toppers, installed by the City of Portland, add to the aesthetic and cultural character of the St. Johns Main Street District and St. Johns neighborhood. Joseph Purkey was the Project Manager and oversaw design, fabrication, and installation of the project. In order to involve project stakeholders, the community was invited to submit designs and representatives from the St. Johns Neighborhood Association, St Johns Boosters, and St Johns Farmers Market voted on the winning design.

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Located across the street from our office, the goals of this project required masterplanning to make the playground more usable and to capture stormwater runoff. A comprehensive stakeholder engagement process with school staff, students, parents and neighbors was conducted to prioritize a list of activities and functions for the playground. Working closely with the nonprofit group, Depave, the work was phased to fit within budget and volunteer labor constraints. The limited funding was through grants and partnerships and most of the work was done by volunteers. The end result was the creation of a
new stormwater basin, removal of approximately 8,000 sf of asphalt, and the addition of a mini turf soccer field. Convergence Architecture worked with Robin Anne Smith Landscape Design and both provided all design services pro bono.

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