An important advantage to using Deconstruction Services is that one can donate the salvaged materials and get a tax-deduction. These materials make up over one-third of the inventory at the center.

Widespread support

The warehouse expansion ensures the center's self-sufficiency and increases support for Our United Villages' community enhancement work. Through neighborhood outreach, people of all backgrounds are invited to explore how they can work together on a grassroots level to address community concerns.

Craig Kelley, an Our United Villages board member, coordinated the expansion project. R&H Construction coordinated incoming reused materials, from door hardware to lumber, and oversaw volunteers.

The building's architecture is the creation of Mark Lakeman and Christine Yun of Communitecture. Both the contractor and architect donated some services.

Support for the $2.7 million expansion of the center has been strong and wide. For example, hundreds of volunteers assembled window panels, moved building materials and helped with cob construction.

The Portland Development Commission provided $1.25 million in low-interest loans, Portland Metro and the city of Portland granted $240,000.

In a time when nonprofit funding has become extremely competitive, grants from Meyer Memorial Foundation ($200,000), the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust ($150,000) and Spirit Mountain Community Fund ($75,000) show their strong belief in sustainability. More than $665,000 has been received from myriad foundations.

Promoting sustainability

ReFind Furniture demonstrates reuse in a creative way with a product line that includes picture frames and mirrors made from molding scraps and small mirror and glass pieces, wall storage made from drawers, and sturdy tables crafted from milled clear vertical grain Douglas fir from the center's lumber yard.

"It's the inventive reuse of things that would otherwise enter the waste stream," says Erin Piccolo, ReFind assistant.

The new buildings are covered in recycled materials, including cedar shingles, windows and century-old dimensional lumber. They include the second commercial building code-approved earthen masonry or cob construction in Oregon.

One of the warehouses has an open bay facing a sidewalk, providing a gathering spot for passersby. Inside, the public can sit down on a cob bench and learn about alternative building methods.

Raised planting beds flanking the new buildings treat all the rainwater that falls on the added 28,000 square feet. Stormwater not managed by the planting beds is absorbed by a pervious concrete parking lot.

With parts for the building salvaged from sources as diverse as a housing project, a downtown hotel, an old barn and even skylights from the local zoo's penguinarium, it's hard to imagine a more appropriate way to expand and support Our United Villages' community-building goals.

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