Woody Guthrie is a 64-unit multi-family, mixed income apartment building in Lents Town Center. The four-story building includes one, two and three-bedrooms units, three-bedroom townhomes; a community room; outdoor plaza; and play area. The design draws inspiration from songwriter Woody Guthrie’s time spent in Oregon when Guthrie lived in the Lents neighborhood for a month during 1941. Woody Guthrie’s tenure in Oregon was brief, but the songs he wrote for the Bonneville Power Administration captured the spirit of the time and continue to resonate today. Guthrie’s dedication to the plight of displaced farmers and unemployed workers is the reason that ROSE CDC chose to name this project in his honor.

During the design phase, imagery of the box car emerged. The box car, a literal vehicle for those searching for a better life, provided guidance to the form and materiality of Woody Guthrie Place. The building’s massing depicts a line of box cars – three distinct masses coupled via recessed joints in the building. The primary form of each mass floats above the solid base as a box car floats above the railroad tracks. The materials used on the building reflect the rich textures seen on traditional box cars of Guthrie’s era. The layering of those materials on the building represents sliding boxcar doors with repeating vertical elements that create a rhythm at the street level evoking the sense of a passing train.

The project received a PGE Renewable Grant Solar Award, which covered the costs to install PV panels over 70% of the roof. Woody Guthrie has a 402-solar panel system which will produce 149,300 kWh annually, providing a 42.5% in energy cost savings in additional to the other energy savings measures (via Energy Trust of Oregon Incentives). The project was certified LEED for Homes Midrise Platinum.