Laurelwood, Oregon

Built starting in 1904, this property just west of Portland operated as a private religious boarding high school for almost a century before the school moved away. The property has since been operated as Ananda Laurelwood, a spiritual retreat center, and is now the focus of our project.

The campus includes 130 dorm rooms, 20 bedrooms in houses,  apartments, and suites, 54 acres of land, and over 130,000 square feet of workshops, labs, classrooms, offices, gym, auditorium, and many other functional spaces and amenities. Another 150 acres of mixed agricultural and unimproved land was previously optionally attached, but is not likely to be available again.

Harmony Hall ("Girls' Dorm", Kitchen, Dining)

Science Building (Labs, Kitchens, Auditorium)

Administration Building (Office, Theater)

Harmony Hall

Originally the Laurelwood Academy Girls' Dorm, this building was in active use by Ananda Laurelwood as residence and function space. The ground floor includes the kitchen and dining area, laundry facility, and some office and functional space. The upper floors (1-3)  contain approximately 60 dorm rooms, a few apartments, common restrooms on every floor, and additional kitchens on the top floor. One of the two Deans' Houses is attached by enclosed elevated walkway. Most of this building was renovated 10-20 years ago.

This building will be immediately usable when we launch.

Kitchen Cook Area

Prep surfaces, huge gas stove, ventilation

Kitchen Prep Area

Prep surfaces, one of many fridges

Buffet

Foreground serving area
Background dining area

Third Floor Kitchen

Some rooms/pods will have access to these smaller shared kitchens

Lobby

First floor entrance
Stairs behind, rooms left and right

Laundry

Washers and dryers on the ground floor

Single Room

Many of the dorm rooms are made up for single occupancy

Double Room

Double occupancy will be optional

Bathroom

Each common bathroom has toilet stalls, sink(s), and shower stalls

Administration Building

Both Laurelwood Academy and Ananda Laurelwood used this building for their main offices, its classrooms, social, and functional space, and the theater.

This building will be almost entirely usable when we launch, with minor plumbing work needed to bring it up to full speed.

Front

The main entrance to the Campus

Social Space

Baby grand piano just out of frame

Conversation Pits

CoDwell organizer Xander pictured relaxing mid-tour

Music Classroom

Tiered floor for band seating

Theater

200 seats here, 100 on the balcony above, 100 more in storage.

Dance Classroom

Another large space with great natural light

Gym

The gym was used for sports, including basketball, volleyball, and recreation including roller skating. More recently for large indoor gatherings. Additional amenities include the locker rooms, a large balcony, and halls of small functional rooms.

The gym and music rooms will be immediately usable when we launch. The locker rooms will require significant rehab.

Gymnasium

Beautiful hardwood floor
Two basketball courts
Over 100x100ft clear span

Stage and Curtains

60x30ft stage with additional back and side stage areas

Balcony

90x36ft with hardwood floor

Industrial Building

A wonderful find for our makers and builders, this building previously housed auto, wood, and welding shops. Although the portable and semi-portable equipment is gone, the infrastructure remains. The wood shop has dust collection. The welding shop has power distribution, plumbed oxygen and acetylene, and fume extraction. The auto shop has in-floor lifts. Every shop has one or more roll-up doors. The classrooms shown on the floor plan will be converted to additional shops, including machining, high tech fabrication, and others.

The main shops will be accessible on day one and usable as we bring in equipment, which will progress over the span of days, weeks, and months. Refitting the classrooms as additional shops will take additional time.

Auto Shop

Lifts in the floor have their arms temporarily removed

5 roll-up doors and vehicle bays

Wood Shop

Central dust collection visible overhead, with air return on the far wall

Roll-up door allows material delivery and project extraction

Welding Bay

8 bays as pictured, with ventilation and plumbed oxygen+acetylene

8 more with power distribution for electric welding processes

And that's not even half the shop!

Science Building

Laid out with "Science" on one side for the boys and "Home Ec" on the other side for girls, with no connection between the two halves, this building tells part of a story of educational and religious gender segregation. Fortunately we're able and willing to knock down walls and install doors, so that legacy won't stop us from using the building to its full potential. The facilities here have a lot of functional potential, although some rehab will be required.

Some parts of this building are immediately usable, while other parts will require roof and water damage repair.

Class Auditorum

Vintage seating on a sloped floor

Years of dust since it was last used

Chem/Bio Lab

Work surfaces with water, drain, and propane plumbing
A second such room exists, with the furniture temporarily removed

Mini Kitchens

Six small "home" kitchens from the Home Ec area

Boys' Dorm

Three floors. Approximately 70 dorm rooms, a few apartments, some additional office and recreation space.

This building requires, and is already in the middle of, significant rehab, including replacement of plumbing, drywall, and flooring, installation of insulation and new appliances, likely entirely replacing the bathrooms, and installing some kitchen facilities.

Additional indoor spaces not pictured above:

Outdoor

Depicted here are the full ~50 acre campus and ~150 acres of additional land. All of the buildings described above are just the top right corner of the outlined area. Also visible here are the jogging track, a few gravel roads, and wide swaths of clear and lightly forested land. Smaller details not obvious at this scale are the creek, gardens, orchard, wastewater treatment, and fresh water holding tanks.

Apples

The operating orchard has a few hundred trees, mostly apple but also some pear and plum

Vineyard

The property is part of the Chehalem Mountains AVA and is surrounded by vineyards and wineries. On site there are just a few hundred feet of grape vine plantings, but room for many more!

Gardens

About one acre is currently or recently gardened with a mix of vegetables and some existing fencing and structures

Fire Suppression Tank

The sprinklers and fire hoses on the property are fed from this huge (300k gal?) pool located uphill from the campus and refilled with natural spring water

Wastewater Treatment

A close up view of a few of the many stages of the on-site wastewater treatment facilities

Shed

An outdoor storage building for tractors and such