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Next year, architecture firm Hacker will move into a new space of its own design 鈥� a six-story, cross-laminated-timber building in Portland’s Central Eastside.

PMC Building LLC will own the building, 鈥淓astside Office,鈥� which will face Southeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, between Stark and Washington streets. Currently, the site holds a parking lot and a building occupied by Portland Music Co. That structure will be demolished, and the business will move to a space on Southeast McLoughlin Boulevard.

Hacker’s Alex Zelaya, a project architect, and Corey Martin, a principal, said they drew inspiration for the design from traditional industrial workplaces and timber-framed warehouses. With large windows, the building will be able to let in ample natural daylight and provide views of the surrounding neighborhood and landscape.

The upper five floors will be office space, and the ground floor will hold retail and restaurant space. The interior will feature double-height spaces, inspired in part by Hacker’s former studio in the Balfour-Guthrie Building.

Glue-laminated columns and beams and cross-laminated timber floors will be fully visible throughout Eastside Office’s interior. The light exterior will come from a combination of textured, mortar-washed bricks and the large windows that make up the majority of the fa莽ade.

Use of mass timber in large structures has become increasingly popular, and Zelaya and Martin said Hacker has been interested in such construction for a while. One project Hacker designed is the First Tech Federal Credit Union office in Hillsboro 鈥� at 150,000 square feet, it’s the largest cross-laminated timber building in the United States under construction (though larger projects are in the works).

鈥淚t’s taking wood to the next level,鈥� Zelaya said. 鈥淭here’s a very strong case to use wood for these projects, as a renewable and local resource that’s very abundant.鈥�

Hacker is seeing increasing numbers of clients who want wood in new buildings, Zelaya said. It’s become the architects’ favorite material to work with for a variety of reasons, he explained. One is its renewability, but another is how it ties into biophilic design, which aims to reconnect people with the natural environment.

People who work inside a wood office space can have lower heart rates and greater productivity, Zelaya said.

鈥淚t just feels good to be inside of a wood space,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e always try and find ways in which we can connect people to nature. 鈥� People are healthier and happier in these spaces.鈥�

The design calls for 90,400 square feet in Eastside Office. An outdoor courtyard is planned on a portion of the site. Expectations are for construction to last 14 to 15 months, with move-in to follow next year, in summer or early fall.

鈥淏uilding something that will be just as useful now as it will be in 50 or 100 years is our goal,鈥� Martin said. 鈥淭his building feels that way. You’ll look at it 50 years from now and it won’t seem too dated and it won’t seem out of place.鈥�

The project is expected to achieve 70 percent energy reduction below the baseline. Some of the integrated sustainable features include the large operable windows and doors allowing natural air ventilation, the VRF (variable refrigerant flow) heating and cooling system, energy recovery ventilation via a dedicated outdoor air system, solar control, a flow-through stormwater planter that treats all on-site rainwater and roof space reserved for a future solar array option.

The building is being developed in partnership with Beam Development and Urban Development + Partners. Andersen Construction is the general contractor. More details about the project are available at .