Cottonwood Canyon State Park

Wasco, OR
Owner:
Oregon Parks and Recreation Dept.
Wasco, OR
Owner:

Oregon Parks and Recreation Dept.

Cottonwood Canyon Experience Center is a new multi-use facility in Oregon’s second largest state park. Cottonwood Canyon State Park, established in 2013, has over 8,000 acres along the John Day river. Prior to the Park’s founding, the land was privately owned for decades with limited public access. The park was established as a monument to the outdoor experience and as a gateway to the natural habitats and wildlife that can only be found in this unexplored territory of Oregon.

We teamed with Oregon Parks and Recreation Department and Signal Architecture + Research to build four new cabins, a brick masonry shower/bath facility and the central building which is the Experience Center. The 1,500 square-foot building includes shaded outdoor space, windbreaks, wood stove hearth, and walkways connecting to camping and cabin sites. The multi-use facility includes classroom space, interpretive displays, activity and meeting areas, a park-specific library, and gathering space for events.

After substantial completion of the project, the owner added four additional cabins to the existing contract. The owner was hopeful the cabins would be complete for the upcoming grand opening. Under a one-month time constraint, our team completed each 400 square foot cabin in record time — seven days per cabin, bringing the project to an exciting completion right on schedule for opening.