On 2 1/2 acres of graded wooded land just southwest of Portland, Nordic Northwest hired us to build and site a structure to be the local home for the art and culture of the five Nordic countries: Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark and Iceland.

A building devoted to the cultures of five different countries must be flexible and so our design program places its premium on adaptability. Inside you’ll find six malleable compartments: A café, teaching kitchen, offices, and an exhibit gallery are all bookended by a great room on one end and a board room on the other. The plan is arranged so that compartmentalized spaces effortlessly transfigure through the use of cleverly nested sliding walls and an employed relationship to the outdoor areas: The space and the sense of space expand and contract to meet the varied needs that a celebration of five cultures rightly requires.