Julia West House

Julia West House is a 12-story cross-laminated timber (CLT) building featuring more than 50,000 square feet of housing, amenities, and services within its small footprint. It provides 90 units (60 studios and 30 one-bedrooms) of Permanent Supportive Housing. The community serves houseless BIPOC elders and individuals earning 30% or less of the Area Median Income (AMI), with on-site services to provide residents with support tailored to each household’s needs.

Julia West House is currently Oregon’s tallest Mass Timber building. The wood structure benefits the environment by having a lower carbon footprint than concrete or steel, which also contributes to the warm, natural material palette in the interiors—an important aspect of trauma-informed design. Wood ceilings and glulam columns are left exposed in the building’s interior, contributing to a warm material palette inspired by the Pacific Northwest’s local ecology. This extends to the units, where natural light is prioritized to create a calm and comfortable urban living experience.

A ground-floor shade canopy and a roof-deck overhang provide residents with additional solar protection. Large windows recess into the subtle projection of the west façade, providing glimpses of copper metal paneling and additional shade for residents.

One goal of the project was to create a building that reflects the heritage of its inhabitants and honors the values that tie its community together. One way this is achieved is by expressing the building’s communal spaces on its façade as large carve-outs in its massing. Much like the historic communities that remained connected by traveling along the ancient waterways of the Columbia River, these spaces are connected by a single basalt-like crack that runs between them, adding a subtle articulation to the façade.

Recent data shows that approximately 25% of the houseless population in Portland is adults aged 55 and over, with a disproportionate impact of homelessness on communities of color (2023 Oregon Statewide Homelessness Estimates). The 100% PSH community is designed to serve adults aged 55+, 45% of whom identify as BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color). On-site service providers were selected to give residents support tailored to their needs. Case management services are provided by the Native American Rehabilitation Association of the Northwest (NARA Northwest) and the Northwest Pilot Project, with resident services provided by the Community for Positive Aging.


See the Mass Timber in Affordable Multi-Family Housing paper by WoodWorks.

See the WoodWorks Case Study on Julia West.