Architects: Holst Architecture; Adjaye Associates (past partner)
Size and location: A new library similar in size to Central Library (around 95,000 square feet) on a new site in East County (1297 NW Eastman Pkwy, Gresham)
Timeline: Planning for design is underway into 2023; construction will likely begin in early 2024; scheduled to be complete spring 2026
Get involved
What do you want your library to look like? Join in these upcoming community events and let’s build these libraries together.
Community events will be updated as they are scheduled.
Gifts to The Library Foundation will support an interactive early learning space, a dedicated creative learning lab, study space for teens, an audio video studio and an outdoor space for families at East County Library.
New features
East County Library will be a new building, built from the ground up with easy access for all East County residents. By building an almost 95,000 sf new library on a new site, the library can dream big with the community and provide services in a diverse location.
The design team includes Holst Architecture, a local, award-winning, women-owned firm with experience building for the community in East County. Notable projects include The Nick Fish, which provides quality affordable housing in Portland’s Gateway Urban Renewal Area.
Contributing to the project through the design development phase was Adjaye Associates, an international architecture group known for their inspiring work on recent projects including the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington D.C.
Based on input from community members, new features may include:
- A large auditorium with flexible seating for cultural celebrations, lectures, performances and family programs
- A makerspace to host classes to explore everything from construction to 3D printing
- An audio visual studio with technology that provides users a professional studio experience
- A teen room with space for technology, homework and creative expression
- Secure family space with indoor and outdoor children’s play and learning areas
- Outdoor space for community members to relax and connect including an outdoor theater and plaza for music, speakers and more
- New art that represents the community
The designs featured on this page are early drafts and are not final. Keep up to date with this livestream inside the construction site. And check out the entire new East County Library in this fly-through.
On July 8, 2022, Multnomah County Library and TriMet announced an initial agreement to begin a due diligence period of 120 days to negotiate the library’s prospective purchase of the Gresham City Hall Park and Ride as the site for the East County library. On October 24, 2022, the parties extended the due diligence period by 60 days with a goal of finalizing the agreement and purchase by early 2023. The purchase was finalized on June 30, 2023.
Centering the community
Community input is especially important for East County Library as it is an entirely new building. MultiCultural Collaborative (MCC) helped guide the first phase of community engagement. They led the focus groups for the 2016 Framework for Future Library Spaces. This framework has closely informed these building projects.
Community Library Champions from community organizations will work with residents in East County and beyond to gather their dreams for this new library. These organizations include:
- Black Economic Collective
- El Programa Hispano Católico
The design team and Champions engaged heavily with teens to inform the design of the future teen space. Focus groups were held with teens at:
- Rockwood Library
- Rosemary Anderson High School
- Alba Collaborative
- El Programa Hispano Católico
- The Black Economic Collective
- Gresham Youth Advisory Council.
The team also went to events at the Center for Advanced Learning and Gresham High School to share more information about the new spaces.
Over 550 people cast their vote in a public teen vote to determine the color scheme for the new teen space, with online voting and physical voting stations at:
- Gresham High School
- Dexter McCarty Middle School
- Rosemary Anderson High School
- Rockwood Youth Opportunity Center
- Gresham Library
- Rockwood Library
- Troutdale Library
The winner, Cool Coastal, is the color scheme for the new teen room.
Learn about how community engagement has guided all the projects.
