Wasco County Historical Museum, The Dalles, OR
48,000 sf
Completed in 1997

THA Architecture, with Walker Macy landscape architects, provided full architectural and site planning services for the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center and Wasco County Historical Museum. The interpretive center and museum are housed together in a building ensemble located on a dramatic bluff overlooking the Columbia River Gorge in Central Oregon. The Gorge is not only central to the region's cultural heritage, settlement patterns and economic development; it is a natural phenomenon of unparalleled beauty that connects Oregon's eastern desert landscape with its major western cities and eventually to the Pacific Ocean.

The entire project incorporates twenty-two acres of natural landscape, including trails, overlooks, orchards, gardens, picnic areas and a pond. The Center introduces visitors to the natural and human history of the Gorge and its influential position in the region's past, present and future.

The Columbia Gorge Discovery Center and Wasco County Historical Museum received a 2001 AIA Northwest & Pacific Region Honor Award, a 1997 Portland Chapter Citation Award, and a 1997 AIA Portland Chapter Craftsmanship Award.

Sustainable Design Highlights:
Greater than 30% energy use reduction from national average of building type (measured EUI)