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The Collaborative Life Science Building being proposed in Portland’s South Waterfront is living up to its name.

The project presents opportunities for Oregon Health and Science University and Portland State University to work together, and officials say there will be collaboration in construction of the 420,000-square-foot building as well.

PSU officials, who are handling the contracts for the project, awarded the general contracting work for the $190 million project to the Portland offices of JE Dunn Construction. Moreover, the architecture contracts have been awarded to Portland-based SERA Architects and Los Angeles-based CO Architects.

鈥淲e’re following the collaborative nature of this building,鈥� said Don Eggleston, president of SERA Architects. 鈥淭he project owners, (general contractor) and architects will all work on this project together out of our offices through the entire process.鈥�

SERA will be the architect of record, and complete the documentation work and follow-up work with JE Dunn. CO Architects will focus on pragmatic and design aspects.

鈥淏oth architecture firms are very excited to do the first building on the OHSU/Schnitzer site,鈥� Eggleston said. 鈥淲e get to set the design tone and standard moving forward.鈥�

OHSU plans to construct several other buildings on the site in the future.

鈥淎s excited as we are about the (Collaborative) Life Science Building, it’s really only the beginning of the Schnitzer campus, OHSU President Joe Robertson said. 鈥淒espite the recession, the continued growth of our research and education missions has made it imperative to continue to plan for ongoing growth to meet the needs of Oregonians.

鈥淗owever, we will not build (more) until we identify necessary funding.鈥�

Chip Laizure, vice president of JE Dunn’s Portland offices, said the company has worked on this project through the planning stages, and is hopeful that more opportunities will follow.

鈥淲e’re really taking a partnership approach with this 鈥� and we think it’s putting us in a good position moving forward to continue working on projects on the campus,鈥� Laizure said. 鈥淲e’ve done some iconic Portland projects with the Rose Garden and KOIN Tower, but we view this as a pinnacle project for us and the area.鈥�

OHSU will use the building to expand educational offerings, and add 20,000 square feet of space for the OHSU Center for Spatial Systems Biomedicine, a cancer research project led by Joe Gray. PSU plans to include its medical, pharmaceutical and dental schools in the building, and offer chemistry and biology classes there.

The building will be able to accommodate an additional wing if needed, and the ground floor will have approximately 7,500 square feet of retail space.

Most of the funding 鈥� $110 million 鈥� is coming from state-issued bonds. The rest is being provided by private donors, OHSU and TriMet 鈥� for alignment with a new MAX light-rail line.

Lindsay Desrochers, vice president for finance and administration at PSU, said the project team will spend the entire summer designing the building. She said the hope is for ground to be broken by October and construction to finish by spring 2014 so that educational programs can start the following fall.

Eggleston said construction could be an intricate process because of several other projects taking place in the area. Significant improvements are under way on Moody Street, and work is expected to start this summer on a new transit bridge across the Willamette River.

Project details are expected to go before the Portland Design Commission on July 22. At that time, updated renderings and design plans will be presented, and citizens will have a chance to comment.