Richard Woodcock Education Center at Western Oregon University

The Richard Woodcock Education Center is the new home to The College of Education (COE), and unites all three divisions of COE under one roof, including the COE’s Regional Resource Center on Deafness. The Education Center includes ten flexible classrooms, four seminar rooms, two active learning classrooms, one active learning computer lab, and one standard computer lab. A specialized STEM classroom helps teachers learn how to teach science, technology, engineering and math curricula. A flexible, multipurpose space supports studying and small group activities, as well as faculty meetings and other COE community events.
CLT panels are used for load bearing walls, floors, and ceilings, and are left exposed in key student gathering areas known as Collaboration Hubs. CLT also comprises the two-story feature wall which supports the main stairs, along with the external wall and solid guardrail wall of the secondary stairs. The project was the first building to use structurally-certified CLT produced in the U.S. The decision to source locally-produced panels, made of Oregon-grown Douglas fir and manufactured in Riddle, Oregon, was a way to take sustainability and rapid site erection to the next level, demonstrating the possibilities of wood as both structure and decorative finish.