campus renovation – Daily Journal of Commerce /news/tag/campus-renovation/ Building and Construction News in Portland, Oregon and the Pacific Northwest Mon, 20 Oct 2025 13:44:56 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.6.6 /files/2023/08/favicon.webp campus renovation – Daily Journal of Commerce /news/tag/campus-renovation/ 32 32 UO Portland Multi-Building Campus Project /news/2025/07/03/uo-concordia-campus-renovation/ Thu, 03 Jul 2025 19:58:55 +0000 /?p=510755 UO transformed the former Concordia campus into a dynamic hub with upgraded housing, academic spaces, and historic preservation for modern use.

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With heavy timber trusses and a soaring ceiling, the Innovation Hall is now a dynamic interdisciplinary event space to host presentations by students, faculty, and visiting speakers. Photo credit: Ryan Gobuty

Project name: (UO) Portland Multi-Building Campus ProjectLocation: Portland

Completion: September 2024

Size: 251,380 square feet

Owner/Developer: University of Oregon, Portland

Architects: Housing (27th Avenue, 30th Avenue) – Holst Architecture; Oregon House – Peter Meijer Architect; Library & Learning – SRG Partnership; – Lever Architecture; Portland Campus Center – ; Innovation Building – ; General Campus and Holman Apartments – Soderstrom Architects (exterior), PLACE (landscape architect)

Engineers: Housing (27th Avenue, 30th Avenue) – Interface Engineering; Oregon House – KPFF, ColeBreit Engineering; Library & Learning – Holmes, Interface Engineering, Samata Consulting Engineers; Highland Hall – Valar Consulting Engineering, Arris Consulting, Reyes Engineering; Portland Campus Center – Catena Consulting Engineers, Interface Engineering; Innovation Building – ABHT Structural Engineers, Interface Engineering, Capital Electric; General Campus – Capital Engineering & Consulting

General Contractor: Howard S. Wright, a Balfour Beatty company

Submitting Company: Howard S. Wright, a Balfour Beatty company

Other Associates/Key Consultants: General site – Sav A Tree; Highland Hall – O-LLC Lighting Designers, University of Oregon Energy Studies in Buildings Laboratory; Innovation Building – Jensen Hughes (code consultant), Tenor Engineering (acoustics), m.thrailkill.architect (specifications)

Subcontractors: A2 Fabrication, Allegion Access Technologies, Asbestos Abatement Contracting, Bell Hardware of Portland, Berrien Concrete, Brandsen Hardwood Floors, Bratcher Painting, Building Material Specialties, Chown, Clean World Maintenance, Columbia River Painting, Concrete Inspection Services, Culver Glass, Curtis Restaurant Equipment, Dallas Glass, Davidson’s Masonry, DeaMor Associates, Detailed Touch Painting, Diverse Works, EC Company, Excalibur & Associates, Faustrollean Fixture, Finish Line Concrete Cutting, Floor Solutions, Flynn BEC, Fred Shearer & Sons, Funax Cleaning Services, Gibson Door & Millwork, Harlen’s Drywall, Hermanson, Interior-Exterior Specialist, J.S. Perrott & Co., Janelle Waltz, Johnson Controls, Lanz Cabinet Shop, Legend Custom Woodworking, Linear Floor Installers, Matrix Industries, McDonald & Wetle, McKinstry, Metro Access Control, Michael’s Precast Concrete, Mid Valley Glass & Millwork, Ness & Campbell Crane, NW Construction Services, OEG, Paragon Tile & Stone, Pavement Maintenance, PBS Supply, Pdx Pressurewash, PDX Refinishers, Performance Contracting, Pioneer Sheet Metal, Pioneer Waterproofing, Prestige Tile & Stone, Pure Safety Group, Pye-Baker Fire & Safety, RDH Building Sciences, Refa Erection, Reyes Engineering, Rubenstein’s Contract Carpet, Savatree, Sawtooth Caulking, SDB Contracting Services, Sharon Maxwell, SI Contracting, Skyline Construction Services, Spectrum Custom Interiors, Streimer Sheet Metal Works, Superior Interiors, Super Metal Fab, T Gerding Construction, Teufel Nursery, The Johnson Collective, Thermobond Buildings, Town & Country Fence Co. of Oregon, Valley Shades, WH Cress, Weitman Excavation, Western Partitions, Western States Fire Protection, WFJ Janitorial Services, Zeeland

The University of Oregon has breathed new life into the former Concordia College campus in Northeast Portland through a comprehensive project that reimagines the historic property for modern educational needs.

Howard S. Wright partnered with UO on the transformative initiative spanning more than 14 separate refresh projects, working alongside 23 different architects and designers to create contemporary residential, educational, research and administrative facilities. There were more than 500 craftworkers onsite, with craftperson hours totaling 122,964.

At the heart of the renovation is the UO Portland Campus Center, originally constructed in 1953. Opsis Architecture led a dramatic transformation that removed solid walls from previous additions to visually connect formerly disconnected spaces. The team replaced a concrete bearing wall with steel columns and relocated networking systems to a prefabricated concrete shelter to ensure campus resilience during seismic events.

The Innovation Building, designed by TVA Architects, represents a sustainable approach that retained much of the existing structure while creating naturally lit corridors flanking open design studios. The former chapel now serves as Innovation Commons, featuring custom pivoting steel frame walls that transform the space from intimate presentation areas to a large event hall. A key feature of the space is the platform, which functions as both a stage and a backdrop for storage.

Perhaps most distinctive is Highland Hall’s transformation from a former gymnasium into the new home for the Department of Architecture. Lever Architecture preserved the building’s historical significance while incorporating innovative sustainability features. Highland Hall’s new entry vestibules, two new seminar rooms and partial height dividing walls between studios are constructed from 7-inch-thick mass plywood panels reclaimed from a test structure at the TallWood Institute’s A.A. “Red” Emmerson Advanced Wood Products Laboratory at Oregon State University. The project team noted that this is the first project they are aware of to reuse mass plywood panels at this scale. The renovation also included extensive envelope upgrades exceeding current energy codes.

All projects were completed with minimal disruption to campus operations, ensuring students could occupy housing buildings ahead of academic years 2023 and 2024.

The university emphasized exceeding minority, women and emerging small business participation goals by enhancing accessibility to bid packages and tailoring them to accommodate smaller firms’ needs. The team more than doubled the goal, with an average of 19 percent .

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