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Yet Oregon State University wanted its new Marine Studies Initiative building to enhance its marine biology program and other scientific disciplines. Saltwater access was critical to that mission.

KPFF, along with YGH Architecture and Geotechnical Resources Inc., took that as a challenge.

The result is a vertically oriented three-story building. A tsunami refuge, located on the rooftop, is intended to provide a safe haven in the event of a major earthquake and tsunami.

鈥淲e did site-specific modeling to really drill down on what we think the ground motion shaking and tsunami depths were at the site,鈥� said Josh Richards, a KPFF principal in Portland.

The building features structural redundancy to mitigate the risk of failure and collapse, incorporating lessons from U.S. embassies abroad.

The Marines Studies Initiative building is part of the OSU Hatfield Marine Science Center. Meanwhile, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has expanded its operations at Yaquina Bay, turning the coastal town of 11,000 into a scientific hub.

The Marine Studies Initiative building was constructed during a fierce debate about how best to prepare for a Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake that could prove devastating.

鈥淚t鈥檚 just probably best not to put things into the tsunami zone at all, no matter how strongly they build them,鈥� Chris Goldfinger, an OSU professor and an earthquake geologist, told The Associated Press last year.

Richards said he鈥檚 confident in the state-of-the-art code requirements and performance criteria that were used to build the Marine Studies Initiative structure.

鈥淭here are always people that are going to think and say that it can鈥檛 be done and the risk is too high,鈥� he said.