Backlog for contractors reached 9.1 months in May and experts said the climb was due in part to data center investment across the nation.

The 9.1 score was from a member survey taken between May 20 to June 3. It was higher by 0.3 months from April and 0.7 months from May 2025, officials said.

“Backlog rose to a nearly three-hear high in May,” said Anirban Basu, chief economist at ABC, in a statement. “This increase largely reflects the massive data center investments taking place across the nation.”

Basu noted 14 percent of ABC members were under contract to work on data centers and experienced higher backlog of 11.6 months compared to firms that aren’t with 8.6 months.

“The way this boom is disproportionately benefiting larger contractors helps to explain why contractor confidence slipped in May even as backlog continued to climb,” he added.

Data center projects have been widely credited with keeping the industry afloat at least since July 2025.

Backlog increased in every region except the South. However, the South remains the region with the longest backlog of 10.3 months and the largest year-over-year increase in backlog of 0.9 months. In the middle states, backlog grew since last year by 0.7 months, according to ABC.

Readings for sales, profit margins and staffing levels fell in May, the association’s confidence index showed. However, the readings for the three components were above 50, suggesting growth for the next six months.

The American Institute of Architects reported its fell to 48.3 in April, compared to 49.8 in March. This means the share of architecture firms that reported a decline in billing was more than the share the reported an increase.

National architecture firm billings haven’t crossed the 50-point threshold since January 2023, AIA officials said. Officials noted the value of new design contracts was close to returning to growth and three consecutive months of inquiries of new projects in April.

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The national American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) recently honored the Portland Japanese Garden‘s Cultural Crossing project with its Award of Excellence. It’s the annual awards program’s highest honor.

Garden Curator Sadafumi Uchiyama and the project’s landscape architecture firm, Walker Macy, were part of a team that included Kengo Kuma & Associates, Hacker, KPFF Consulting Engineers and Hoffman Construction. The Award of Excellence recognized: execution of details; use of a cohesive, place-based and landscape-led design approach; design excellence and technical problem-solving; and balance between Japanese and contemporary design and construction methodologies.

“The Portland Japanese Garden posed highly complex geological, environmental and site development challenges – and we were challenged to create a place that expands the definition of what a Japanese garden can be,” Walker Macy principal landscape architect Chelsea McCann stated in a press release. “The project’s success was made possible by our creative and collaborative architecture, engineering and construction partners. With a shared vision of new garden spaces that seamlessly integrated buildings and the site, our process melded science and art to create a place of meaningful, immersive experiences. This project was truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”

Crews finished building the Cultural Crossing in April 2017. The project has garnered a number of awards, including a regional honor from Engineering News-Record and one from the American Institute of Architects‘ Portland chapter.

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The Living Building Challenge is generally considered one of the top green building certification programs in terms of both prestige and rigor. In short, that’s why Mahlum Architects chose to follow that path for its new office in inner Southeast Portland.

Now, Mahlum selected for its new home an existing warehouse that had been converted into office space. There was no chance for the project team to obtain full Living Building certification from the International Living Future Institute.

However, one of the challenge’s seven “petals” – materials – appeared to be within reach. That is where Mahlum chose to focus.

“Petal certification has been around since the beginning of the standard, but it’s allowed (the ILFI) to scale the program,” said Jay Hindmarsh, a Seattle-based Mahlum associate principal and head of the Living Building Challenge portion of the renovation, which covered a 7,500-square-foot office space. “The materials petal is insanely difficult, but for Mahlum it was a way for us to embrace our values around walking the talk. We’ve been advocating for our clients about better materials and lower-carbon materials, and we looked at each other and said our new space should be beautiful but also should be super healthy and have a low-carbon footprint.”

Mahlum’s new space is located in the Custom Blocks‘ south building, at 1380 S.E. Ninth Ave. The single-level building was at one time a metal stamping shop, but was gutted, renovated and seismically retrofitted.

“We were trying to find a place in Portland that would allow us to be near clients and the community,” Hindmarsh said. “The interesting thing about the space is that it had just fairly recently gotten a core and shell upgrade, but in a lot of ways there was a great historic shell there, and it was interesting to see a space where we could envision quantifying all materials we were bringing in.”

The space could not be retrofitted to achieve net-zero energy or water use. But that wasn’t a problem for either Mahlum.

“The most sustainable buildings are the ones that are already built,” Hindmarsh said, paraphrasing Carl Elefante, a past American Institute of Architects president. “Aside from cost issues, clearly we were going to be renovating a space. This concept of net-zero material impacts is where a renovation typology suits itself to the materials petal. We’re not touching the enclosure, so there was a chance for us to not focus on new construction type components and try to promote investment in local economy.”

Slightly more than 50 percent of the products came from within 500 kilometers of the site, with some of the biggest gains coming from sourcing wood salvaged from the existing building. Also, by working with Salvage Works, a Portland supplier of reclaimed wood products, the project team used lumber originally used to build Fort Vancouver to create wall cladding, display cases and more. Such accents complement the existing heavy timber in the former warehouse, as well as a host of Forest Stewardship Council-certified wood products sourced by another Portland firm, Sustainable Northwest Wood. The latter were mainly plywood and lumber used to frame the new space.

“There’s a threshold for salvage products and we vastly exceeded that,” Hindmarsh said. “This embraces the philosophy of not having superfluous materials. Materials should be true to themselves, especially with the Living Building Challenge. If you’re adding in and designing in things that need to be vetted you’re making things hard for yourself.”

Working under Living Building Challenge version 3.1, Mahlum staff vetted over 350 products and materials for red list compliance. One that fit the bill was EcoSmart drywall manufactured by USG, which is known for its popular Sheetrock brand.

“We had never used this one, as it has just come on the market,” Hindmarsh said. “But it lists a 20 percent reduction in carbon emissions for the drywall, and it’s also made in Rainier (Oregon), so it was win-win for all.”

Portland’s Quartertwenty crafted custom workstations to serve Mahlum’s 50-plus employees in the new office.

“We had to catalog all the pieces of wood and steel, the nuts and bolts, the coating on the steel, the weight,” Hindmarsh said. “And getting that done was a huge lift. We were able to get something that met all our design and ergonomic needs and ended up being LBC compliant.”

Finally, waste diversion is required for certification; debris can’t simply be carted to the landfill. In the end, however, the project team managed to recycle close to 95 percent of waste materials generated on site.

General contractor Perlo Construction finished the project last year. Mahlum moved in this past November, and petal certification was achieved on March 17.

It was a very valuable learning experience for the Mahlum team, Hindmarsh said.

“I think my recommendation would be do your homework and understand what it will take,” he said. “It is a great opportunity for architecture firms and design firms to really put their process in a petri dish and look at it and their materials library and reflect on their practices.”

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The notion of equity in design can have many different meanings.

For instance, the U.S. Green Building Council in 2013 introduced Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design social equity pilot credits. They address equity within the project team, equity in the community around a project and equity within the project supply chain. However…

“When folks questioned us about the human impact we found it was missing the people side of the framework,” said Kimberly Lewis, U.S. Green Building Council senior vice president for market transformation and development.

Six years later, the LEED social equity credits remain a work in progress. But Lewis believes the design community can do more to move the needle.

“We struggle with amplifying the message,” she told attendees at a panel discussion Tuesday at the Center for Architecture in Portland. “Our heart and our mission are as powerful as we want, and it’s a great social justice message. But to the people on the street all things are local, and engaging vulnerable communities is not easy. Trust takes time, and we have a responsibility to shift the conversation. It’s us – even here.”

The discussion was part of Portland’s second annual Sustainable Building Week, a weeklong event dedicated to sustainable design and construction.

Equity has to do with access and empowerment, said panelist Elaine Aye, a regional manager with RWDI Consulting Engineers and Scientists. A good example, she added, is the .

Created in 2009 by Prosper Portland (the Portland Development Commission at the time), the Lloyd EcoDistrict uses public money to prioritize projects and programs that address transportation, water, energy, waste and education. It’s all in the name of prosperity, environmental quality and social welfare.

It’s a unique framework for sustainable development that has seen its share of success, Aye said. She pointed to an effort to retrofit buildings with LED lighting as one example.

“The value of a framework is it creates a path for an individual, an organization, a building type,” she said. “We had two listening sessions in the community and it was fantastic. We asked about resiliency and climate change, and it’s diverse. It impacts everyone differently.”

The key point, Aye said, is that the discussion involved the community and not merely a project team.

“In the world of an eco-district it is the essential elements that have to be done,” she said. “There are resiliency, equity and sustainability; those are the essentials, and we have to address them systematically – not at the building level, but at the society level or at the city level.”

Money for such initiatives is always an issue, said panelist Dave Otte, partner and development director at Holst Architecture.

But Aye said the issues at hand go beyond mere funding. It’s also a matter of listening to the wider community before making critical design choices.

“I think we scale it up by having conversation, by listening and observing what’s in our communities and finding the touch points where we can effect change,” she said.

Panelist Afton Walsh, community outreach director for Walsh Construction, agreed and pointed to the passage last year of Metro‘s $652 million affordable housing bond measure as an example.

“If you live in the metro area, you passed a monumental affordable housing bill last November,” she said. “On top of the city of Portland bond from 2016 the community has really stepped up, and we need to now fix this. Implementation obviously is just getting under way, and that will be the real scorecard.”

To build equitably, Walsh said, means using new and more efficient materials to advance energy performance, indoor air quality and other areas.

But those are the places where developers often look to save money, Otte noted. That is particularly true with affordable housing projects, he added, especially those constructed with the expectation of profits from the sale of the building.

“The bond is a great step, but frankly we’re playing catch-up – and in some ways we’re going in the wrong direction,” he said. “There’s something to be said for a long-term investment in housing, and sometimes we lose sight of the fact these buildings will be around for 60 years, so much of it is based on the cost per unit and not based on the quality per unit.”

Otte added that he hopes this does not come back to bite public housing authorities in coming years when they make use of Metro bond dollars.

“Housing is not just a human right; it’s also health care,” he said. “So investment in housing will pay off in ways we don’t even understand yet. Look at the long-term benefits from an energy and social justice perspective, because every project out there will still have a (financial) gap; every project will struggle to find a way to get built. It’s a stop-gap and it is going to take everyone working hard together and having the conviction and drive to make it happen.”

Otte noted that designers and builders are in a strong position to guide the conversation.

“We are the trusted agents in society, more than politicians and policy makers,” he said. “People will listen to us, and that’s an exciting opportunity. It’s in this discomfort that we’re going to be able to move the needle. That’s where design gets exciting, is in that discomfort.”

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Local architecture firm William/Kaven Architecture recently received an Honor Award from the American Institute of Architects’ Michigan chapter for a home project completed last year.

Camp MINOH, located near Charlevoix, Michigan, is a 4,000-square-foot private home designed for extended family stays. The project team sought to encapsulate regional history, from French fur trappers to Al Capone’s mobsters to Ernest Hemingway.

The building’s ground level has concrete floors, exposed ceiling beams made from fir trees and cabinets made of black walnut and blackened steel. The upper floor, in contrast, has oak accents dispersed throughout.

Camp MINOH is far from urban distractions and enclosed by trees, save for the back deck, which is mere feet away from the edge of Lake Michigan.

“We got a permit in somebody’s living room, basically,” firm partner Daniel Kaven said. “It’s a rural location.”

The project started in 2014, but completion was delayed because of challenges presented by harsh winter weather, Kaven said, adding that he had never worked in such a remote location.

Kaven and fellow partner Trevor William Lewis accepted their award in Rochester Hills, Michigan, in a Tudor-style mansion once owned by the auto-pioneering Dodge family.

“The project is really amazing,” Kaven said. “It was really enjoyable to build something that was on a sort of end-of-America location.”

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Stepping into the empty space of a new office packed with modern amenities and aesthetics, it’s easy for John Howorth to reflect on his professional journey, which began in 2009 when he founded 3J Consulting, a civil engineering and community planning firm.

At that point, during what Howorth described as the lowest point of the Great Recession, he was working alone in a 138-square-foot office smaller than many bedrooms. By the next year he was sharing the cramped space with two more employees.

“I don’t know where my head was at,” he said. “That was a big, big struggle mentally.”

As 3J Consulting celebrates its 10-year anniversary, the company boasts a team of more than 30 people eager to move into their new work space: a 12,000-square-foot office in Beaverton that will include a gym, shower and outdoor patio.

Portland-area architecture and engineering firms are continuing to push forward in expanding their workforces and avenues of work, reflecting an industry trend of growth.

A decade past a devastating recession that halted construction projects around the country, local architecture firms are hitting something of a peak. Many that survived the struggles of the last decade now find themselves larger than ever.

“It’s been a crazy five years, I’ll tell you that,” said Natasha Koiv, a principal and staffing director at SERA Architects. “We are surprised that the housing market in Portland has continued to be as busy as it has been.”

SERA is one of several architecture firms looking to expand its portfolio and grasp on the Portland market. The company is now up to 164 employees, with 148 in Portland and 16 more in a new Oakland office. Seven years ago SERA had 85 employees.

Development outside of the downtown area has led to more projects in Portland, Koiv said, but SERA is trying to diversify its portfolio outside of the Northwest. The firm has recently done some design and planning work for Stanford University and Google, and is hoping to add nine more employees to its Oakland office by the end of the year.

“It’s a big effort now that we’re over 160 people,” Koiv said. “We’re too big a firm now to be dependent upon whatever happens in the Oregon economy.”

Another local firm making big strides is LRS Architects, which has more than doubled its number of employees between 2012 and this year, from 61 to 135.

“We’ve been in a constant growth mode,” Managing Principal Trish Nixon said. “We have everything from people right out of school to people in their 60s.”

Like SERA, LRS has pushed to tackle new and diverse types of projects. The firm requires a range of employees whose experiences might be better suited for one assignment or another, Nixon said. Based on the competition LRS has had in hiring architects, she thinks that most other firms are experiencing similar growth patterns.

ZGF Architects, one of Portland’s most established architecture firms, has offices around the country and one in Canada, with 717 total employees. Less than two years ago the company had slightly more than 600 employees.

According to the American Institute of Architects’ Architectural Billing Index, the number of billings and design contracts each decreased in only one month going back to August 2018.

But that doesn’t mean another recession isn’t coming.

“There’s one on the way; we just don’t know when,” Howorth said. “We kind of take it as it comes, but we try to be positioned well.”

Having already experienced a recession helps. Howorth said national leadership will have learned its lessons from a decade ago, and when another recession happens, it won’t be as severe.

Besides taking on new types of projects like those associated with transportation and public works, Howorth has worked to create a company culture that fosters retention. The workplace is flexible for employees with families or time commitments, and the new office’s amenities were decided upon through a company survey.

3J’s reach has also extended to college campuses around the Northwest, where the company takes part in career fairs and other events. For the first time this year the firm has brought on several interns for summer work.

“When I came in and started talking in my little interview, I could just feel that everybody truly loved this company,” administrative intern Lexie Sawin said. “They’re able to be themselves here and enjoy the work.”

This unlocked article courtesy of 3J Consulting

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The American Institute of Architects has named the Oregon Zoo‘s Education Center one of its 10 COTE Top Ten award winners for 2019.

The AIA Committee on the Environment awards program, now in its 22nd year, recognizes completed projects that exhibit exceptional design excellence and environmental performance.

The $18.7 million, 20,000-square-foot Education Center was substantially completed in 2017. It was designed by Opsis Architecture to show zoo visitors that “small things matter” to environmental health. Recently, the building received a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design platinum rating.

“The COTE Award reflects Opsis Architecture’s lasting commitment to creating beautiful architecture that nurtures people and place,” Heather DeGrella, the firm’s sustainable design director, stated in a press release. “It is truly the most authentic honor we could receive. We are proud to have been partners with the Oregon Zoo and Metro on this significant building.”

The project team also included general contractor Fortis Construction, civil engineer KPFF Consulting Engineers, MEP engineer PAE Engineers, structural engineer Catena Consulting Engineers, and landscape architect/interpretive consultant Jones & Jones.

The center provides the zoo a base for educating children about sustainability, natural systems and habitats, and more. It features classroom and meeting space, offices, gardens, an environmental science laboratory and an outdoor nature learning and play space.

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In 2006, the 2030 Challenge was issued. It asked the global architecture and building community to commit to using carbon-neutral designs for all new buildings, developments and major renovations by 2030.

The American Institute of Architects took action to support the challenge by offering its 2030 Commitment while aiming to “transform the practice of architecture in a way that is holistic, firm-wide, project-based and data driven,” according to its mission statement.

More than a dozen years later, many firms in the Pacific Northwest are on board. As of last year, 25 firms in Oregon are official signatories. That is a significant number compared to the worldwide number of slightly more than 500.

Members of local firms that have adopted the 2030 Commitment say it has not only helped the industry evolve, but also changed how its businesses operate.

“It’s really focused a goal for the industry,” said Yukari Kubo, a project architect with Portland firm Yost Grube Hall Architecture. “It’s always been deeply entrenched in our projects, but it was nice to have it laid out. I think it helped the whole industry move in that direction and have an overarching goal.”

Since 2009, participating firms have reported annually their portfolios’ performances. Data collected includes building type, area, baseline energy performance, and predicted energy performance. It’s hard to quantify the results. But the AIA suggests that in the past year, 2030 Commitment participants reported energy savings equivalent to the carbon that would be sequestered by 21 million acres of forest.

Meanwhile, firms are constantly engaged in the effort to improve energy efficiency using data, expertise and best practices provided by fellow participants. This is done mainly via the Design Data Exchange, a national database in which participating firms can enter their own project data each year. But how firms pursue the 2030 Challenge goals is up to them.

“They don’t tell you how to do it; they just say ‘do it,’” said Erica Dunn, an architect and design team manager with design-build firm Green Hammer, which signed onto the 2030 Commitment in 2017.

Yost Grube Hall and Seattle-based Mahlum Architects, which has an office in Portland, both became signatories in 2009. Members of both firms have since found adoption of the 2030 Commitment leading to fundamental changes.

“I want to say most of it is around understanding about what the metrics are in every project and what the impact of design decisions will do to your energy use,” said Jesse Walton, a Mahlum associate who works out of the firm’s Seattle office.

Kubo agreed.

“For now, it’s a place where we put our inputs,” she said. “We don’t use it for design; we use it to see how our buildings perform.”

Total carbon neutrality may be the end goal, but participants at this point are striving to simply increase their numbers of such projects. Currently, the 2030 Challenge target is for 70 percent of projects to be carbon-neutral. That target will rise to 80 percent in 2020 and 90 percent in 2025. In 2017, just 10 firms in the U.S. reached the 70 percent mark.

That might seem like a low number, but the idea is for the 2030 Commitment to serve as a motivational tool. Some architects liken it to the introduction of the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design ratings system.

“The first time they rolled out LEED in ’97, the first thing (founder) Rob Watson said is that this is not a measure of sustainability, it’s about performance and getting better,” said Logan Cravens, an architect with Carleton Hart Architecture, which signed onto the 2030 Commitment last year.

Signatories also say the 2030 Commitment helps shape their clientele, as well as the types of projects they take on.

“With the client piece, I strongly think that even though we’re competing for a lot of these projects, a lot of times we’ll have follow-up projects with clients,” said Ericka Colvin, an architect with Yost Grube Hall. “It’s evident and appealing to clients, and it’s something that we’ve been part of for a decade.”

That appeal tends to stand the test of time, she added.

“I think even though it’s not talked about in every single project or competition for a project,” she said, “once they know about it, it’s important in our future relationship with them.”

Walton said Mahlum has had a similar experience.

“I think it has definitely attracted clients who appreciate energy-efficient design to us,” he said. “We work with a lot of big school districts, and some are more green-leaning one way or another, and it has definitely affected some things we do.”

It also has helped build a strong internal vocabulary, Walton added.

“It can be presented to clients when we go out for interviews and proposals,” he said. “I think the devil is in the details, though. Maybe it doesn’t affect bigger-picture design moves, but it definitely affects siting.”

Other firms are adjusting to the workload tied to reporting associated with the 2030 Commitment.

Carleton Hart Architecture’s sustainability committee is compiling the first batch of project data it plans to submit this month to the Design Data Exchange. The firm is receiving some help from an intern hired with money from an Energy Trust of Oregon grant.

“It’s our first year, so we were looking to get a wider spread of projects,” said Carleton Hart architect Julia Mollner. “We were looking at how we were doing over the past eight years, and it is daunting. But at the same time it’s really reassuring when we realize we’re right on par with national averages and we’re working at the same level other firms are. It’s about keeping up on reporting.”

Although Green Hammer has just one year’s worth of projects under its belt, Dunn said the firm is already striving to set an example for others.

“While we know this is the focus for our company, we hope the 2030 Commitment really encourages other companies to see that it is possible to do this work across your entire portfolio and not just a single project at a time,” she said. “Hopefully it will encourage everyone else to rise to the challenge and meet the commitment.”

The 2030 Commitment in Oregon:

Ankrom Moisan Architects, 2015

Bassetti Architects, 2017

Bora Architects, 2012

Carleton Hart Architecture, 2018

DLR Group, 2009

Dominek Architecture, 2018

FFA Architecture and Interiors, 2017

GBD Architects, 2016

Green Hammer, 2017

Hacker, 2013

Hennebery Eddy Architects, 2015

Holst Architecture, 2017

Interface Engineering, 2016

KMD Architects, 2009

Mahlum Architects, 2009

Mazzetti, 2009

Opsis Architecture, 2013

Otak, 2011

PATH Architecture, 2018

SERA Architects, 2010

SRG Partnership, 2015

Studio-E Architecture, 2018

Waterleaf Architecture, 2017

Yost Grube Hall, 2009

ZGF Architects, 2009

Source: American Institute of Architects

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Larry Ferar was beginning to consider retiring from the Portland design firm he founded that focuses on wineries and distilleries. He needed a landing spot for his longtime employees.

Principals at Soderstrom Architects, who have known Ferar for more than 30 years, saw an opportunity to bring in work that would diversify their firm’s portfolio. They began talking, and let the idea ferment. As of Jan. 2, a blend was made.

Laurence Ferar and Associates is no more, but Soderstrom agreed to take on five employees, including three architects. The practice is now known as Ferar Studio.

“They’ve been financially a very viable company over the last decades that they’ve been in business, and they bring to our market-sector mix a whole different clientele, which I think adds stability to both companies as the economy ebbs and flows,” said Dan Van Calcar, managing principal at Soderstrom.

“They also have a very similar design approach to us,” Van Calcar added.

With the addition of Ferar’s people, Soderstrom now has 44 employees.

Larry Ferar first worked with Cameron Hyde, a founding partner of Soderstrom Architects, in the early 1980s while designing Beaumont Middle School. Ferar went on to start his own firm, and shifted focus to wineries beginning with a project for Adelsheim Vineyard in Newberg. Ferar met the Adelsheims when his wife taught their daughter.

Ferar & Associates ended up designing six phases of various expansions as Adelsheim Vineyard grew along with the popularity of Oregon pinot noir. Ferar and Associates went on to design numerous other wineries and tasting rooms, including Alexana and Van Duzer. Also, the firm was responsible for a master plan and conceptual design for Résonance Vineyard.

The work has expanded beyond Oregon’s wine country to Canada and New Zealand, and consulting on winery designs in China and England. Larry Ferar has also worked as a consultant with Olson Kundig of Seattle.

For its Oregon projects, Ferar Studio often works with Andrew Scott Construction in McMinnville.

Ferar Studio also designs distilleries, an area where Reed Lewis, an architect who became Ferar’s first employee in 1988, has expertise. The firm designed Clear Creek Distillery in Portland, among others. Those projects have become a larger portion of the studio’s portfolio.

“Clearly there’s a growing interest in distilleries and distilled products,” Lewis said.

Distilleries must be designed according to strict building codes because of high-proof alcohol’s volatility.

Ferar and Associates’ first winery projects were for production facilities only. That meant an industrial feel, with space for barrels and crush pads. But in recent years, wineries have placed more emphasis on tasting rooms and special events spaces. Vintners and distillers typically clear a higher profit on wine and spirits sold in-house rather than in off-site stores or bars.

For wineries, the emphasis on tasting rooms contributes to a growing desire to connect visitors with the agricultural environment. Larry Ferar believes his firm has designed more wineries than any other local firm, but competition in the market may be growing.

Waechter Architecture was hired by Furioso Vineyards in Dundee to design a tasting room and winery. It opened last summer, and received two American Institute of Architects awards – one from the Portland chapter and one from the Northwest and Pacific Region.

“We like that project in the sense that to do a successful winery project, you don’t have to have done an enormous amount of these projects before,” said Ben Waechter, principal architect. “You just have to be a good architect.”

The Furioso design used a concrete base and a fully transparent glass tasting room.

“We view our jobs as architects to distill information and to come up with a clear and concise design,” Waechter said. “We rely on experts to tell us what makes a good winery or what makes a good production facility, and we use that criteria to come up with a good design.”

Fieldwork Design and Architecture was also honored in 2018 by AIA Portland for the design of Day Wines in Dundee.

Development of new wineries tends to be countercyclical to economic trends, Ferar said. In downturns, wealthy individuals look for hard assets like real estate and can get more for their money in design and construction.

Soderstrom’s new winery studio adds to its legacy that began in 1984. The firm’s principals were involved in the creation of Pioneer Courthouse Square. Subsequently, the firm has focused on work for schools, local government buildings and health care providers. Soderstrom has a long relationship with the University of Portland, and has designed several buildings on the North Portland campus.

Larry Ferar, who started with a studio in his garage on Corbett Avenue, said he plans to retire within the next several years. Ferar Studio is currently working on designs for Abbott Claim Vineyard near Carlton, Portland Wine Co. – known for its Love & Squalor brand – and a winery in Kentucky.

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Participants in the American Institute of Architects‘ program seek to achieve net zero energy use in their projects. How they accomplish it is up to them.

“They don’t tell you how to do it; they just say, ‘do it,’” said Erica Dunn, director of design for Portland-based Green Hammer.

The 2030 Commitment supports the , which was issued in 2006 to spur a global effort toward carbon neutral construction.

In 2018, Green Hammer became one of just 10 design firms in the United States to meet 2030 Commitment standards. More than 400 firms have signed on to participate in the program.

“It was surprising that there were so few firms meeting it,” Dunn said. “It was a nice confirmation that we are really pushing the envelope, that edge, in terms of sustainability.”

The 2030 Challenge ideal is that all future buildings and major renovations should be designed to meet an energy consumption standard of 70 percent below the regional or country average for the building type. Further, that standard will rise to 80 percent in 2020, 90 percent in 2025 and total carbon neutrality by 2030.

“It was a way to encourage firms to get on board with the 2030 Challenge, and also a means to start tracking what you’re doing,” Dunn said of participation in the 2030 Commitment program. “And if you’re tracking, it’s a way to improve upon it.”

Committed firms are then measured annually by their work. So firms achieving standards for 2018 are being judged on design work completed the previous year. Participants ensure consistent standards through use of the AIA’s 2030 Design Data Exchange, which creates standardized reporting and metrics and allows firms to measure their progress.

For Green Hammer, the major projects of 2017 that helped them achieve 2030 Commitment standards are the Tillamook Row multifamily project in the Eliot neighborhood of Northeast Portland and The Oaks at Rose Villa senior living community in Milwaukie. The former is the first net zero energy project of its type in the Portland area, while the latter is the first net zero energy senior living community of its type in the region.

Green Hammer also designs and builds single-family homes, and a number of those projects, Dunn said, also contributed to the firm’s achievement.

“Achieving (net) zero energy is no small feat,” said Han-Mei Chiang, president of the AIA’s Portland chapter. “Green Hammer and the other nine firms that achieved this significant milestone have helped prove that (net) zero energy buildings, the key to meeting the 2030 Commitment, are attainable in today’s marketplace.”

Dunn agreed.

“I would say it’s definitely a feather in our cap for getting it now, given that we got the Living Building certification for a 2015 design,” she said. “So that’s outside our portfolio right now, but coming off the completion of Tillamook Row, it’s been such a great project for us it’s nice to have this confirmation we’re on the right track.”

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