Lafayette is a small town in Oregon’s Yamhill Valley with a rich history. Founded by the early pioneers of the Oregon Territory, the community has grown steadily in recent years as a bedroom community to Portland, Salem and McMinnville.
In 2016, FFA was selected to work with the Lafayette City Council and City Staff to design a new City Hall & Fire Station facility in preparation for a November 2017 bond measure. The design team and project stakeholders engaged with the residents of Lafayette to gather stories and learn about important historic events which would inform the tailored design of the building. Using the feedback generated from these community outreach sessions, architectural options were developed to help test the City’s design priorities and to truly connect the project to the place it will serve. The preferred option pays homage to Lafayette’s historic ‘Council Oak’ which, in Lafayette’s early days served as the gathering place where community business was done.
FFA collaborated closely with volunteer fire fighters to design strategies to shorten response times and with City leaders to develop a City Hall which will support their mission of delivering exceptional customer service in a warm, welcoming environment. The final deliverables for this first phase of the project include presentation-quality graphics to be used in bond planning and outreach in preparation for the election.
2017 (Pre-Bond Package)
16,000 sf
The first district court proceedings in Oregon were held in 1846 under a large tree located on the plot dedicated as the town commons. This historic tree was known to all as the ‘Council Oak’.
Excerpt by White, J. (1992). Lafayette ‘Athens of Oregon’
