AIA Oregon 2025 Architecture Awards 2030 Recipient -
Beaverton Year-Round Shelter by Ink Built Architecture
CE Pending
Redefining Shelter: Designing for Dignity, Not Just Efficiency
This presentation explores a new model for low-barrier shelter design rooted in dignity, safety, and human experience. Through the City of Beaverton’s shelter project, we’ll share how collaborative processes—engaging service providers and individuals with lived experience—shaped a trauma-informed, sustainable environment that prioritizes autonomy, rest, and belonging. Attendees will gain insight into how design decisions, from spatial layout to material choices, can meaningfully impact outcomes for people transitioning out of homelessness.
Learning Objectives
Explore ways to design spaces that center the shelter guest’s experience through the journeys, interactions, and opportunities available to a guest on any given day, so they can focus on their healing and planning for their next steps.
Discover strategies for immediate and long-term energy efficiency and climate response that still prioritize human health and comfort.
Discuss how to integrate trauma-informed design as a primary framework to realize better outcomes for real people, while increasing accessibility beyond base ADA standards.
Identify ways to ensure that the responsible management of limited resources translates into maximized utility and dignity for the final occupant.
Presenters
Ink Built Architecture
Melynda Retallack, LEED BD+C
Mel brings over 30 years of experience shaping thoughtful, high-performing design solutions across a wide range of project types. She thrives in complexity—bringing clarity, strategy, and momentum to projects that demand it. Licensed in Oregon and Washington, Mel is a steady, guiding force for teams, providing high-level leadership, QA/QC oversight, contract administration, and land use expertise that keeps projects moving while protecting design intent. She holds a Bachelor of Architecture with a minor in Environmental Studies from the University of Oregon and completed a fellowship at the Mackintosh School of Architecture at the Glasgow School of Art.
Beyond practice, Mel is deeply invested in community and leadership. She serves as Chair of the Board of Directors for Camp Fire Columbia and is a past Chair of the Camp Namanu Board. Her contributions have been recognized with honors including DJC Woman of Vision (2019) and the 2023 Circle of Excellence. She has been an active member of CREW and a past contributor to the Cascadia Green Building Council and the Green Building Interest Group, where she served as Chair. Her work has earned multiple project awards, reflecting a career grounded in design excellence, leadership, and meaningful impact.
Andrea Wallace, AIA, LFA
Andrea brings over 17 years of experience in architecture and interior design, leading with a sharp eye for beauty, a deep commitment to inclusion, and a belief that design can—and should—do more. A Licensed Architect in Oregon and Living Future Accredited Professional, Andrea is a driving force behind thoughtful, human-centered spaces rooted in trauma-informed design and a love of art. She pairs big-picture vision with precision, consistently pushing projects beyond expectations and delivering work that resonates on both a functional and emotional level. She holds a Master of Architecture from the University of Oregon, where she also completed the Rome Program Fellowship, along with a Bachelor’s degree in Art History focused on Architecture History and Theory.
Deeply engaged in her community, Andrea contributes to Architects in Schools through the Architecture Foundation of Oregon, serves on the Bond Oversight Committee for Banks High School, and has supported the City of Hillsboro’s Housing Needs Analysis Community Advisory Committee. She is also a regular volunteer with Habitat for Humanity. Her leadership and impact have been recognized with honors including DJC Woman of Vision (2023), Women Who Lead (2024 and 2025), and multiple 2025 Construction All-Stars awards, alongside numerous project awards.
Thank you to the May COTE Digital Design Series Sponsor:
