There is nothing like doing arts, especially for a small community. It brings people together in a way nothing else will, and in Sherwood, it was a long time coming. As Sherwood grew, the city made a multi-million dollar investment in its historic, central Old Town. Our team first delivered a master plan for a six acre parcel that expanded Old Town and created the Sherwood Cannery Square PUD. The Sherwood Center for the Arts became the next step, supporting the community’s family-oriented, forward thinking vision while setting the stage for future commercial and residential growth. City leaders dreamed of an arts and events center for 15 years before the project became real, supported by the mayor, a passionate steering committee, and multiple bond funds. To reflect Sherwood’s personality and needs, we led an inclusive design process that brought stakeholders to the table, including the local school, which needed a professional quality venue for a growing theatre community. Designed as a 16,000 square foot mixed use, multi purpose venue, the building integrates Old Town context while offering a fresh, modern take on a masonry civic structure. Ground level retail activates the street, and a small plaza and wide canopy create an inviting approach. Inside, a light filled lobby and gallery space welcomes visitors, with high north facing windows that provide natural light for exhibits and events. The main hall seats 392 for performances with 75 percent telescopic seating, and up to 248 for banquets. Two classrooms support classes, training, and meetings, and a small kitchen serves concessions and catered events. Live-edge wood benches and wood trim nod to Sherwood’s logging heritage, while exposed steel and masonry reference the site’s history as a processing plant tied to the Portland rail line. The massing is composed of carefully crafted boxes that nestle around the hall to manage scale, and an inviting orange-red-tan-brown palette signals the warm energy of what happens inside. The center is already doing what it was built to do. The local school’s first major production in the new space was Mary Poppins, and more than 80 people filled the building with the thrill of a professional quality venue on opening night. That sense of ownership has continued ever since, as the Sherwood Center for the Arts brings people together to celebrate the arts and life’s milestone moments across generations.