A highly successful and, dare I say, architecturally brilliant and beautifully built facility. -Ted Wheeler, Portland Mayor Central City Concern, a local nonprofit founded in 1979, serves adults and families in the Portland area experiencing homelessness, poverty, and addiction. Embodying this mission, Blackburn Center not only gives people a chance for housing, healing, employment, it gives residents and patients the same comforts others experience daily. Our vision for Blackburn Center: Help people heal through comfort, community, and safety. Through home. The gable, which almost every child recognizes as “home,” became our design principle, reflected in Blackburn Center’s instantly recognizable form. The gable is far more than an aesthetic decision, though: Blackburn Center closes the gap faced by most supportive housing projects, where housing is located blocks or miles apart from mental and physical health services—making consistent healing inaccessible for residents. Our design integrates housing and healing under a single gabled roof. Blackburn Center’s layout reflects patients’ journeys to healing. The ground floor is a commons area for check-in, registration, and services, including a pharmacy and teaching kitchen. Level Two is the main clinic, serving the entire housing program and close to fragile patients on Level Three. Levels Four and Five are single-room occupancy (SRO) with shared services and facilities. Apartments on Level Six hold permanent housing, supporting people nearly ready to live on their own. Even the climate response system focuses on health. Interior modules have been separated, creating open spaces for light and air. Exterior landscapes are easy to reach for therapy and meditation. Solar panels and solar shades offsets energy use to reduce CCC’s utility bills. Slot windows maximize light. Finally, Blackburn Center is on the path to Earth Advantage Platinum certification. It incorporates resiliency and green building principles to provide a healthy environment for its occupants.

"[Blackburn Center] is a testament to the dignity and potential of each person we serve, with an elegant and elevating environment to prove it." -Dr. Rachel Solotaroff, CCC president and CEO Because home is intrinsically connected to a person’s overall health and well-being, every space supports Blackburn Center’s dual functions of housing and healthcare. Each housing area holds single-occupancy rooms with shared common spaces, organized into “neighborhood pods.” These pods emphasize stability, comfort, and community while functionally adapting to each person's different needs. Given the often delicate states of residents and patients, we divided Blackburn Center into four modules and established secure, clearly delineated entry points: for the main entry, for dedicated transitional housing intake, and for ambulance staging with direct respite entry. Balancing the needs of the front desk, clinic staff, and patients, the main lobby also includes a clean-up room where patients can shower. A private space lets staff greet and take in new clients entering directly off the street. One key element designed with client input: bathroom timers and lights—used to signal possible overdoses—that notify staff if a patient has been in the bathroom too long. Each floor is color-coded, helping people recognize which floor they’re on. Acrylic signs, with simple iconography, account for diverse clients and let the staff easily add updates. Operable windows, airflow, and sound-proofing minimize sounds and smells, and ceiling fans and tempered air in the shared central spaces cool Blackburn Center.