Beaverton
City Library

The Beaverton City Library's defining feature is its diamond-grid glulam lattice ceiling — a structural system in which every member is load-bearing, fully exposed, and arranged into a complex repeating geometry that reads simultaneously as engineering and craft. Pendant light fixtures hang from the nodes of the grid; floor-to-ceiling glazing at the perimeter floods the interior with natural light.

The APA (American Plywood Association) published this project as a case study titled "A Forest of Columns." The name captures it: standing inside, you're surrounded by vertical timber members at varying angles, each important, each visible. Separately beautiful and simple, together a complex quilt of wood.

The structure was fabricated by Calvert Glulam of Chehalis, Washington. The roof framing alone was valued at $375,000 (2000 dollars) — a meaningful data point for understanding the cost premium of exposed structural timber.

Design Intention

What strikes most on return visits is how the ceiling creates a kind of civic intimacy — the scale is large (69,200 sq ft) but the exposed structural grid brings the eye up and holds it. The space feels inhabited by its own structure. It doesn't perform warmth; it is warm, because every surface decision was made deliberately.

Water + Ventilation

The complex has accessible drinking fountains at the exterior. An open question: could water access be designed to be turned off seasonally, with vendor connections (vents, power) on top of or adjacent to the fountain infrastructure? Worth exploring as a dual-use utility node in a market context.

Thomas Hacker's daughter Sarah was contacted after this visit. The library's file listed Thomas Hacker as designer but held no direct contact. The email sent to Sarah asked about her father's approach — specifically: how do you design for a community? How do you create space that is inspirational? What does community-led design look like in practice?

These are live questions for MFM. A permanent market structure isn't just infrastructure — it's a civic act. The Beaverton Library demonstrates that a building can be technically excellent (structurally expressive, durable, ADA-accessible) while also being beautiful and human-scaled. Getting input from Thomas Hacker or his firm on how they approached community participation in the design process would be valuable.

Within visual range of the library entrance is a ground-level splash pad — and it's the most useful precedent we've found for the question of multi-use hardscape. When the water is off, the surface is completely flush with the surrounding pavement. No above-grade fixtures, no barriers, no posts. It's drivable. A vendor could set up a stall directly on it without modification.

That's a meaningful design finding for MFM: a splash pad is a one-day-a-week market surface that happens to be a water feature the other six. Or vice versa. The same ground-level infrastructure logic that enables integrated lighting (like the Targetti fixtures at the East Portland Library) applies here — keep everything flush, keep the surface programmable.

The Kiosk

Adjacent to the splash pad: a small permanent kiosk serving coffee and snacks, with benches and trash receptacles clustered around it. This is the supporting infrastructure that makes a splash pad a place rather than just a feature — seating, food, shade, waste management. The kiosk is modest in scale but it anchors the space and creates dwell time.

For MFM, a permanent kiosk at 7700 SE Stark — even something small and low-cost — would signal year-round activation and give the site a face on non-market days.

The Farmers Market Lot

The Beaverton Farmers Market operates in a parking lot that is part of the same civic complex — within the same block or immediately adjacent, with mature tree canopy providing shade across the vendor stalls. The library, the splash pad, and the market share the same site. They don't compete; they compound each other's draw.

This is the model: civic anchor (library) + activated public space (splash pad + kiosk) + weekly market (farmers market lot) in a single walkable complex. Each use reinforces the others. The Montavilla Farmers Market at 7700 SE Stark has the same opportunity — the lot, the street edge, and the surrounding neighborhood are the raw material.