91视频

The design of the Multnomah County Health Department‘s new headquarters will require changes. The Portland Design Commission denied a bid for approval on Thursday, though it will take another look at the project next month.

Construction of the nine-story, 157,000-square-foot building, designed by ZGF Architects, is set for a vacant lot at Northwest Hoyt Street and Sixth Avenue, next to Bud Clark Commons and near Union Station.

The building’s ground floor will house a pharmacy, a lobby, work space and a loading area. Upper levels will hold medical clinics, offices and administrative work areas. Other details include a precast concrete exterior with a glazed window wall system, acrylic stucco and painted metal panels for window projections and box rib metal panel for the ninth-floor walls and rooftop mechanical screen.

Joanne Fuller, director of the Multnomah County Health Department, told the Design Commission that the building will accommodate 鈥�500 living-wage jobs.鈥� The neighborhood is expected to gain approximately 300 people per day, so programming will account for activity on nights and weekends.

But the building’s light color bothered Commissioner Don Vallaster, who said it should respond more to other buildings in the neighborhood.

鈥淎 lot of buildings use red brick, but this is a very cool, almost austere white building,鈥� he said.

Gene Sandoval, a ZGF partner, said the color, which he called light gray, is in accordance with other civic buildings in town.

Another concern expressed by Vallaster was the lack of canopies, but Sandoval said they would block views from the street of an 8-foot-by-10-foot piece of art in the building’s lobby.

City staffers did not recommend approval and said the applicant needs to submit a plan for stormwater management and certify the size of the eco-roof with the Bureau of Environmental Services before bonus floor area can be granted. A maximum floor area ratio of 9:1 is possible because of bonuses from the bike locker room and affordable housing replacement fund.

City planner Puja Bhutani said the building also needs a larger entrance on Northwest Sixth Avenue. Staffers had concerns about coherence, materials and other details, such as metal sills with stucco surrounds on the windows. They also said a recess of four to six inches at the ground level should be shallower to prevent trash accumulation.

Commissioner Tad Savinar praised the ZGF team for giving a 鈥渧ery clear and illustrative presentation,鈥� but also criticized the design.

鈥淚 would not approve because it’s a cage keeping the animals out and it’s not doing the neighborhood any good or the building any good,鈥� he said. 鈥淔or me, the canopies and east facade are stumbling blocks.鈥�

The project is slated to return before the Design Commission on Oct. 27.