This 13,464 square foot building was designed as an addition to an existing, traditional built structure. The existing structure was fabricated to blend in with the background and flow with the mountains and landscape along the Columbia River. It was extremely important to the Wanapum that the modular addition was designed in a manner that would allow for the building to blend seamlessly with both the existing structure and the backdrop of the countryside. The front entrance of the heritage center merges nicely with the 18 modules Pacific Mobile Structures installed that house several administrative offices, a conference room, a library, a full kitchen, multi-purpose restrooms, and a sound-proof room for audio recording. The natives are able to look out to the incredible view along the river knowing the building they work in to maintain their heritage does not take away from their land they hope to honor.

The owner needed to connect a traditionally built museum to a permanent modular building leaving a seamless appearance. The specialized room for audio recording will allow the owner to record the few remaining speakers of the native language. The sound-proofing and preparation for this room meets all the owners’ requests, as restoring their heritage for future generations was the purpose of the entire building. The listening rooms, the assembly room and the library are all equipped with A/V screens. Resource efficient skylights were installed throughout the building allowing natural daylight to serve as a light source.

Pacific Mobile was able to work with the architects and owners to design and build a cost-effective, solution-code structure providing a better answer by combining modular and tradition build construction. The remote location of the heritage center made it much less expensive to build the addition in the factory; requiring fewer crews onsite. Low maintenance, horizontal metal siding was used to extend the lifecycle of the building.