The Architecture of Belonging

The Architecture of Belonging is a community for growth, care, and connection, designed for single mothers and pregnant people aging out of Oregon’s foster care system. Located at PCC’s Southeast campus, the project weaves housing, healthcare, childcare, and education into one supportive environment.

Supporting youth aging out of foster care is crucial because they face a significantly higher risk of homelessness, unemployment, inadequate education, and involvement in the criminal justice system compared to their peers.

The system often fails to equip youth for independent living, largely due to a lack of life skills training and ongoing support systems that would ease the shift from foster care to adulthood. Providing support services like housing assistance, educational guidance, job training, and mental health care are vital to ensure their stability and well-being.

Through listening and reading the personal stories of those who have experienced foster care, pregnancy in care, extended care, and the list goes on. I identified 5 key needs to help frame and guide this project.

A strong emphasis on growing community, finding ways to define independence while needing to still rely on others as you learn how to support yourself and now your budding family, trying to heal from past traumas and break cycles of judgment and abuse AND doing it all while venturing into new terrain.

Imagine you had a turbulent relationship with what home, family, and mom and dad mean, and now you are at a point where you would get to redefine those things and embody home in a whole new way for a time. This project asks: How can architecture best support that redefinition and that growth?