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A team of Portland-based SERA Architects‘ staffers has earned a special recognition award in an international design competition.

Participants in the 2014 Architecture at Zero competition were tasked with creating buildings that meet net-zero-energy targets set by the California Public Utilities Commission. Six SERA staffers in about a month designed a 60-unit, 69,500-square-foot affordable housing complex that generates more energy than it consumes on a site in Oakland, Calif.

The SERA design team volunteered time on lunch breaks, nights and weekends to complete the design of 鈥淔lourish,鈥� which relies completely on the sun for energy production, said Jeffrey Maas, a SERA sustainable design analyst. SERA staffers teamed up with engineering firm Glumac to design the building that features extensive solar panels and solar thermal panels that heat water, along with various measures that reduce overall energy consumption, he said.

鈥淎 lot of us were interested in pushing the boundaries with housing,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e thought it would be fun to see how far we could go with energy conservation.鈥�

This effort impressed the competition judges, who earlier this month honored it with one of three awards given to professional entries. Two awards went to student designs. The jury of design professionals praised the Flourish designers for their strong energy analysis, thoughtful balance of public and private space, and approach to indoor and outdoor retail spaces.

One of the most challenging parts of the design process, Maas said, was figuring out a way to include a series of courtyards on the constrained site. The curvy building design frames these outdoor spaces, he said.

鈥淲e designed places where we didn’t want the building and then we designed the apartments around those spaces,鈥� he said.