WILLIAMS AVENUE APARTMENTS
PORTLAND, OREGON

The Williams Avenue Apartment Building, also referred to as “The Canyons”, is a 90,000 square foot building with 70 rental apartments and is constructed with glue-laminated timber columns, beams and cross-laminated timber floor plates.

The building’s most interesting feature is the 14-foot wide, naturally ventilated central corridor, or “light court” which was inspired by Chicago’s historic Brewster Apartment Building. The light court brings light and air into the core of the building and also creates a vital social space where tenants have the ability to socialize and connect with their neighbors.

The building concept also features a narrow pedestrian alley at street level along the back side of the building which is envisioned as a unique shopping and entertainment destination point that evokes the romantic character of similar public spaces found in dense urban districts of Europe or Asia.

Design work provided for a local developer.