A utopian community of sorts is in the works in San Jose, California.

SERA Architects has designed for nonprofit developer First Community Housing and design-builder Lendlease a mass-timber housing development with 365 affordable units. The McEvoy and Dupont Apartments will be two 13-story (including a podium level) towers with numerous amenities. Also, a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design platinum rating is being targeted.

“There’s so much to tell about the project,” said Veronica Hinkley Reck, a principal in SERA Architects’ Oakland office, “being in that it’s 100 percent affordable, high-rise, tall timber and LEED ������پ��Գܳ�.”

The McEvoy Tower will have 224 apartments (142 studios and 82 one-bedroom units) intended for individuals and couples. The Dupont Tower will have 141 apartments geared toward families with one, two or three bedrooms each.

The complex will be located next to San Jose Diridon Station. Nicknamed “Grand Central Station of the West,” it’s near Google’s Downtown West mixed-use site now in development.

The McEvoy and Dupont Apartments developer, Hinkley Reck said, was interested in trying a lot of different things to ensure the project would be both sustainable and affordable to build. Starting with the structure, there will be a concrete podium, but then towers with cross-laminated timber slabs and glulam timber columns with a steel lateral core system.

The entire facade will be prefabricated and lifted in whole unit-size panels, some even with balconies attached. The mega wall panels are designed to be up to 30 feet long, but final dimensions are still to be determined. The structural panels (billets) will be up to 10 feet by 40 feet. Use of all factory-cut mass timber will reduce construction time, Hinkley Reck said.

PAE is the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing design engineer for the project. The podium, ground-floor amenity space and two towers will be 100 percent electric with on-site solar panels.

Agriculture has long been an important part of San Jose, and Hinkley Reck said the project team wanted to celebrate this history in the architecture. The white, gray and green colors of the building facades are intended to represent the agricultural fields that one might have seen when flying over San Jose before it became a metropolis.

Inside the structures, the project team sought to highlight mass timber anywhere they could. “Currently we are exposing wood at unit and amenity space ceilings at some columns,” Hinkley Reck stated via email. “We are also using timber storefronts at the retail and amenity spaces, instead of aluminum.”

Residents will have access to many communal features on the 1.13-acre site. There will be an urban farm on the podium level and gardens on the roof as well as a playground and play area in between the towers. Inside, people will be able to use a yoga studio, bike rooms with a bike repair station, a computer lab, a communal kitchen, laundry facilities and support services. Four rooftop terraces will serve as gathering spaces.

“You are thinking of it as a micro-city,” Hinkley Reck said.

The project team started by determining “what do you need to put into it for people to survive,” she said, and then “how to include it,” and finally “how to make it beautiful.”

A lot of collaborative work took place, Hinkley Reck said, to provide options for SERA Architects’ clients and paint a picture of what’s possible.

“We’re trying to do a whole lot in a really unique way in a challenging construction cost climate,” she said.

“We are really excited to have designed a healthy and highly sustainable project where people can thrive,” Hinkley Reck stated via email. “And we are particularly delighted that by using timber in lieu of concrete we are not just creating a more inviting design, but we are reducing embodied carbon by 32 percent. And if you look at the systems that PAE has designed, our operational carbon savings on top of that is tremendous.”

Currently, the McEvoy and Dupont Apartments project is in the permitting phase.

Design Beyond Borders is a 91��Ƶ feature offering a look at the projects outside of Oregon being tackled by local architecture firms. To have your firm’s projects considered, contact the 91��Ƶ newsroom at 503-802-7222 or newsroom@djcOregon.com.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect incorporation of clarifications throughout.

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To make way for glamping rooms planned at the W San Francisco hotel, the bees had to move.

The luxury hotel, as part of its food program, had bee colonies occupying outdoor terraces. Then the honey-producing insects were moved to a higher floor to provide more space for guests.

“They didn’t need that much space,” Brent Grubb, Skylab Architecture managing principal, said of the bees.

The insects’ move allowed creation of five indoor-outdoor glamorous camping rooms, which extend onto an outdoor terrace that overlooks the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

Hospitality has come a long way from the days of continental breakfast.

Skylab Architecture was charged with designing an update for the W, which opened in 1999. The work involved nearly all of the guest rooms, event spaces and conference rooms in the 411-room hotel – one of the most prominent in San Francisco.

“How do we create a different hotel experience than the typical, ubiquitous hotel experiences?” Grubb said. “A lot of the differences are subtle.”

Only the ground-floor lobby was not updated as part of the project. It may be renovated in a second phase.

Lighting technology, for example, has improved by “leaps and bounds” since the ’90s, Grubb said. So color-changing LEDs were installed in meeting rooms and other public spaces to provide atmosphere for events.

Gold nuggets appear as a design motif throughout the hotel, reflecting San Francisco’s history. The city’s topography is reflected in the ceilings. A dust-like material gives the walls a shimmering quality in certain light, suggesting sunlight and gold. Fractal tile in bathrooms is an abstract representation of gold mining.

Skylab made other calls in consultation with the client. A swimming pool was removed in favor of a fitness room – the first of W’s new-generation FIT brand. The circular gym looks like something out of science fiction TV, with rows of machines arranged around sweeping, curved seating in the center. The center area serves as a self-serve lounge. The room is topped by a naturally lit glass dome.

“It feels like a whole new hotel experience,” Grubb said.

A new event space, Social, overlooks the museum on an outdoor terrace.

Conference room walls evoke waves with an angular form, and wood is used to remind guests of California’s redwoods.

In guest rooms, beds were lowered to provide better views through windows. Custom furnishings were added, including built-in lounge seating, window seats and counter-height desks that were designed to function as a standing workstation or cocktail bar.

TRACE, the ground-floor restaurant, features string drapes – meant to evoke San Francisco’s fog – to divide tables. The upstairs bar, in contrast, uses glass walls for noise reduction.

The project was designed before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, so no changes were made in response to it, Grubb said. However, the hotel has been closed, delaying the public debut of Skylab’s work.

Skylab has been engaged on the project for about four years (Grubb declined to release the project’s total budget). The architecture firm previously designed other W hotel renovations, including one for W Seattle in 2012.

Design Beyond Borders is a 91��Ƶ feature offering a look at the projects outside of Oregon being tackled by local architecture firms. To have your firm’s projects considered, contact the 91��Ƶ newsroom at 503-802-7221 or newsroom@djcOregon.com.

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With experience gained in Portland’s early embrace of mass timber, some local firms are taking their knowledge of the material to other markets.

Hacker, for instance, is designing a six-story mixed-use office building with 310,000 square feet at San Francisco’s bustling Pier 70 historic site. The Portland firm prevailed in a competitive application process with Forest City, a developer that has since been acquired by Brookfield Properties.

The speculative office building will be only the second structure primarily built of cross-laminated timber in San Francisco, and it will be considerably larger than the first such building.

Part of the job for Hacker has been educating regulators. The city of San Francisco is contracted to review permitting for the project, which is planned for Port of San Francisco land.

“The jurisdiction currently is pretty unfamiliar with mass timber as a building technology,” said Stefee Knudsen, a Hacker principal in charge of the Pier 70 project. “Until the new code cycle comes into play in California, and until the jurisdiction understands the building technology, they’re being very careful with the building material. It’s taking a little bit more effort for Brookfield to be one of the first out of the docket.”

CLT was always being considered for the project.

“One of the reasons the developer was interested in having us compete for the project … was because they were interested in mass timber from the beginning, but they weren’t entirely sure it would pencil,” Knudsen said.

CLT remains slightly more expensive than traditional concrete and steel construction, Knudsen said. Budget projections showed CLT would cost about 3 percent more than the alternative, she added.

“We’re working on whittling that down,” she said.

As so few CLT buildings have been sold, it’s unclear if they will command a premium from investors. So far, CLT buildings are not attracting higher rents than comparable concrete buildings, but they are showing better stability from tenants.

“There’s increased data that the (CLT) buildings are being leased faster (and) they’re staying leased longer,” Knudsen said. “There is a return on investment, even if there isn’t the simple bottom line you find on day one.”

The design of the Pier 70 building pays homage to the district’s industrial past, including shipbuilding.

“We’re trying to play with that history – timber is kind of a new thing, but it’s really an old thing,” Knudsen said.

Portland was one of the first American cities to embrace CLT, although the material’s popularity spread earlier in British Columbia, Canada, and some northern European nations. Now, CLT is gaining acceptance outside of the expensive West Coast markets, which can command higher rents.

In Milwaukee, a design has been approved for a 21-story CLT tower, and the developer is working to add two stories, . In Minneapolis, a seven-story, 220,000-square-foot mass-timber office building called T3 opened in 2016. European firms are continuing to build projects with CLT, including a concert hall planned in Nuremberg, Germany.

Hacker is working on another CLT design for Brookfield, in Reston, Virginia. That project, which is in an earlier design phase, would rise six stories with about 120,000 square feet.

The San Francisco building won’t be completely CLT. Concrete will be used for the subterranean level, and steel brace frames will be used for the lateral structure.

The building will have two ground-floor retail spaces; one is likely to be a restaurant.

“The ground floor is really designed so it can adjust over time,” Knudsen said.

The project team is hoping to break ground in April. KPFF Consulting Engineers is also working on the project. Swinerton Builders is the general contractor, led by its San Francisco office. Swinerton’s Portland office is lending expertise with securing CLT supplies.

Design Beyond Borders is a 91��Ƶ feature offering a look at the projects outside of Oregon being tackled by local architecture firms. To have your firm’s projects considered, contact the 91��Ƶ newsroom at 503-802-7222 or newsroom@djcOregon.com.

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A boutique ski hotel in Northern Idaho designed by Portland-based Skylab Architecture will break the mold of a classic luxury getaway, bringing snowy vacations into the contemporary era while retaining elements that shape the identity of the local skiing culture.

The design team’s working vision statement: “Seattle cool meets Idaho ski bum.”

Construction recently began on the 30-room hotel at Schweitzer Mountain Resort near Sandpoint, Idaho.

Internally, the building references old ski equipment and bright ski suits of the 20^th century, with materials like granite, basalt and Douglas fir honoring regional identity. But on the outside, cedar, metal and an abundance of glass will make the place thoroughly modern.

“What Skylab’s trying to do is interpret the regional history and culture of Schweitzer, and then kind of put a twist on it,” Skylab designer Jamin AAsum said. “It’s a modern aesthetic, it’s a modern take on a ski lodge.”

AAsum said the hotel is being designed to compete with other ski resorts in Idaho, such as those in Sun Valley, while also attracting a new generation of younger skiers. He said the hotel aims to “bring Seattle to Schweitzer” with its modern amenities and styling. It’s a “ski-in, ski-out” hotel, which means guests can hit the slopes right from their rooms.

Skiers can seek refuge from the slopes at a 50-seat restaurant or in unique bar and lounge areas, and a terrace will provide outdoor gathering space on fair-weather days.

Guest rooms offer views of nearby Lake Pend Oreille, while common areas are oriented toward Schweitzer Mountain. At the opposite end of the building from the restaurant and bar is what AAsum called “the living room,” a place for families to relax and play games, and a rooftop space will contain a spa with hot tubs and an outdoor shower.

There are challenges to building on the side of a mountain, AAsum said. Construction crews can only access the site via a nine-mile-long road between the months of June and October. Due to the grade of the site, the 42-car below-grade parking garage is essentially being cut into the side of the hill.

Foundation work is currently under way at the project, which is being built by Spokane-based general contractor Walker Construction. The Spokane office of DCI Engineers is the project’s structural engineer, and Denver-based Dunn + Kiley is the landscape architect.

While the initial design is being built for skiing, AAsum said the ultimate goal will be to create a year-round, modern facility that can be used for summer activities as well.

“It’s a little rebellion,” he said. “It’s not quite the quiet ski hotel.”

Design Beyond Borders is a 91��Ƶ feature offering a look at the projects outside of Oregon being tackled by local architecture firms. To have your firm’s projects considered, contact 91��Ƶ architecture and engineering reporter Alex Visser at 503-802-7224 or avisser@djcOregon.com.

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ZGF Architects has an exacting task in designing a 275,000-square-foot office expansion for California’s teacher pension system.

The building must link to an existing tower with a five-story parking structure. It must provide ample light and promote healthy choices for about 1,200 workers, and achieve net-zero energy. And it should look good from Sacramento, too.

The proposed building in West Sacramento, California, would serve as the headquarters of the California State Teachers Retirement System, known as CalSTRS. Upon completion of the expansion, CalSTRS plans to earn income on the existing tower by offering for lease approximately 200,000 square feet of space.

A photovoltaic array on the rooftop and a high-performance building envelope will combine to achieve the net-zero energy benchmark, said Kathy Berg, a partner at ZGF Architect’s Portland headquarters who is leading the design team.

About 80 percent of the building’s energy needs will be generated onsite by the photovoltaic panels. The project team is targeting LEED Platinum status from the U.S. Green Building Council.

Designers are also working to make the building present an appealing appearance when viewed from across the Sacramento River in Sacramento proper. West Sacramento is a separate municipality.

“We wanted to have a really nice composition, and not just a big tower and a mini-me,” Berg said.

The expansion would reach only five stories – relatively short for such a large building. The architects considered taller designs, but decided a shorter, wider profile provided key advantages, Berg said.

“One of the benefits of the larger floor plate is it allows the departments to have better adjacency to each other,” she said. “It also encourages the departments to have better collaboration.”

The rhombus-shaped parcel also influenced the design, she said.

The expansion connects to the existing tower via a skybridge. ZGF is clustering shared amenities – such as a fitness area and tech support – near the skybridge to help unify the two-building campus.

The project prominently features a central staircase. Architects have worked to make the stairs “visible and accessible, and pleasant to walk, to encourage people to use stairs instead of elevators,” Berg said.

The building uses a concrete structure for the benefits of its thermal mass and the ability to expose the structure. The envelope is predominantly a curtain wall system, with a mix of metal panel and glazing. A perforated screen fronts the garage levels.

The design features a central atrium that will diffuse light throughout the middle of the building. Extensive glass is also used on the exterior elevations to welcome light in.

DPR Construction, based in Redwood City, California, is the general contractor through its Sacramento office. Ridge Capital, Inc. is serving as project manager.

The project is budgeted so as not to exceed $300 million. Funding will be provided through lease revenue bonds. Ground-breaking is on track for summer 2019, with occupancy to follow in mid-2021.

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Texas Christian University is building a new facility that has nothing to do with its most beloved sport. The school known for its football fanatics is spending $53 million to build a performing arts facility on the campus’ eastern edge, where a parking lot sits currently.

“The project expands their educational facilities and gives them a 700-seat concert hall,” said Michael Tingley, Bora Architects‘ principal in charge of designing the facility.

One of the first tasks for architects was coming up with a way to ensure the building would be complementary.

“The campus is a mix of buildings from different eras,” Tingley said. “Some are relatively recent and others are very old. We tried to match the materials of the campus.”

The facility will include an auditorium as well as a 5,000-square-foot rehearsal hall for the school’s marching band. The biggest challenge in designing the space was meeting acoustic requirements so that the building would be able to host competitions.

“The Van Cliburn International Piano Competition is arguably the world’s finest,” said Richard Gipson, director of the TCU School of Music. “It was founded here at TCU. Ultimately, we are hopeful that it could (be served by) a venue in a little more appropriate size.”

The competition was held on the TCU campus before moving to a facility in downtown Fort Worth, Texas, in 2001. The junior competition is scheduled to move to Dallas in 2019.

In order to host early rounds of the competition, the concert hall must have acoustics vastly superior to anywhere else on campus. The auditorium’s roof will be nearly 60 feet high – twice the height of the rest of the building.

“The concert hall is a particularly large place,” Gipson said. “We need that size for acoustic volume. It will allow the volume to build and bounce.”

The hall will also have curved reflectors above the stage. They can be moved, depending on the size of the group playing and the size of the audience. Seating will surround the stage rather than only in front of it to improve sightlines.

“The audience will surround the stage 360 degrees,” Tingley said. “It creates wonderful opportunities for teaching and helps the audience.”

The facility will also feature a large amount of wood to add warmth to the music being played. The perimeter of the auditorium will have small, vertical, wooden slats that can be moved to allow sound to pass through and then bounce off walls.

Also, a screen will be positioned above the stage to include visual elements. The projector will be housed in a soundproof booth in order to prevent noise from contaminating music being played.

“Every surface in the room is carefully thought about in terms of how it will affect the sound,” Tingley said.

The auditorium’s design will also create a crown-like exterior appearance that can be illuminated for various events. Gipson believes the project will provide great benefits for both the university and the architecture firm.

“It has been extraordinary to work with Bora,” he said. “When this project is completed (in 2020), it will cement their portfolio in the performing arts.”

The project extends a traditional commitment to the arts at a school where football is king.

“We are a program that aspires to be a national and international leader,” Gipson said. “It’s well established what a new performing arts facility can do for a university.”

Design Beyond Borders is a 91��Ƶ feature offering a look at the projects outside of Oregon being tackled by local architecture firms. To have your firm’s projects considered, contact the 91��Ƶ newsroom at 503-802-7222 or newsroom@djcOregon.com.

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A new hotel is in the works near Seattle’s iconic Pike Place Market. Ankrom Moisan Architects is designing a 14-story building to stand at 103 Pike St., on the east corner of Pike Street’s intersection with First Avenue.

Currently, plans call for two stories of commercial space, topped by 12 stories of hotel rooms. Also, five residential units might be included in the building. In total, 83,300 square feet of space is planned.

The project is making its way through the Seattle design review process. The latest meeting before the Seattle Design Commission, on Tuesday, resulted in the group requesting another hearing. Commissioners don’t have major concerns with the design, according to Allison+Partners‘ Natalie Price, who spoke on behalf of Ankrom Moisan Architects. Rather, issues are with details such as setbacks and treatment of the building’s alley side, she said.

A partnership between Seattle Properties and Stellar Holdings owns and is developing the site. The new structure will replace a three-story building that was constructed in 1901. The demolition will displace Seattle Shirt Company, Green Tortoise Hostel, Pho Mililani and Smoke Plus.

“It (will be) a family-owned hotel,” Ankrom Moisan senior designer Jenny Chapman said. “It will be a boutique hotel. It will have a rooftop bar and a lounge and second-story (commercial space).”

Project designers, during their first meeting before the Seattle Design Commission in October 2017, presented three options. The team’s preferred design called for 7,200 square feet of retail space on the first two floors and 120 guest rooms on floors three and above. But at the third floor the building would have turned.

“The stories three through 14 had a 6-degree pivot,” Chapman said.

The idea was that the triangular pivot would create more space for a landscaped roof. However, the pivot idea fell by the wayside because the Design Commission sought a structure that would honor the context of the surrounding area.

“The base and tower changed,” Chapman said. “The pivot has been eliminated. A setback was added to First Avenue and to Pike Street. It’s not huge, but now it’s setting back three feet off the street.”

One of the biggest challenges for the project team was ensuring the building would blend with surrounding structures in one of the city’s best-known areas. The upper floors will be dominated by glass and steel as a way to pay homage to the glass and steel found throughout the market.

“We proposed dropping the base down to two stories,” Chapman said. “We were proposing a departure of the setback and that was not well received.”

Aside from the addition of the setback and the elimination of the pivot, the current design keeps most of the elements from earlier versions.

No date is set yet for the project’s next appearance before the Design Commission. Construction is expected to begin early next year with completion scheduled for 2021. No contractor is attached to the project yet.

Design Beyond Borders is a 91��Ƶ feature offering a look at the projects outside of Oregon being tackled by local architecture firms. To have your firm’s projects considered, contact the 91��Ƶ newsroom at 503-802-7222 or newsroom@djcOregon.com.

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Several arts groups in San Jose, California, are getting a new home thanks to the efforts of Ankrom Moisan Architects and a nonprofit named SVCreates.

San Jose Taiko, The New Ballet School, media nonprofit CreaTV and other groups currently scattered throughout the city are poised to move into the Creative Center for the Arts – a 55,000-square-foot structure planned in San Jose’s Japantown district. The centerpiece of the development is the arts center; however, it will be surrounded by two mixed-use buildings – each with 300 residential units – and a public square.

“A big part of the benefit (for the tenants) is the creativity and collaboration,” Ankrom Moisan Architects Managing Design Principal Jason Roberts said. “There is a lot of technology they can share.”

The San Jose City Council in January agreed to lease the land to the center. The vacant site was due to gain apartments in a high-rise before the recession struck in 2008.

“When (economic health) came back, we had to figure out where things belonged on the site,” Roberts said. “We are getting a similar density with lower-rise buildings.”

The mix of tenants influenced the design of the center – such as separation of Japanese drumming organization San Jose Taiko and community media group CreaTV.

“A really interesting challenge stems from the Taiko drumming, which is really loud,” Roberts said. “In the same building we have CreaTV, which wants the quietest place for its studio.”

In order to accommodate both tenants, designers turned to acoustic specialist Charles M. Salter Associates. First, San Jose Taiko and CreaTV were given space at opposite ends of the building. Then, different forms of isolating walls and spaces were chosen to further dampen sounds. Also, walls were positioned to isolate noise in San Jose Taiko’s wing.

“The first part was how we oriented the building,” Roberts said. “Then we had to make sure all the systems of the building didn’t (come near) each other.”

By separating and isolating systems and ducting, designers could limit noise produced by items ranging from HVAC systems to electrical systems.

“There was a lot of isolation of various elements,” Roberts said.

A second issue was that The New Ballet School would occupy space atop a floor of offices. Special materials were used to dampen vibrations and sounds that could have disrupted office work below.

“We had to work with acoustics specialists for the dancers that were dancing on top of offices,” said Alexandra Urbanowski, director of strategic initiatives for SVCreates. “Ankrom did a great job of designing some great offices.”

Another issue came from the fact that the building will be in a floodplain. That required raising the building’s foundation about 18 inches.

Large doors to the U-shaped building will open to a courtyard that spills into the public square, which was designed by San Francisco landscape architect Ken Kay Associates. While the center is intended to primarily be a practice facility for the artists, the layout will allow the building, courtyard and square to also serve as a stage for small performances.

“A big part of the project was to integrate it with the park,” Roberts said.

SC Builders has been chosen as the contractor and Nova Partners will serve as construction manager.

The design and permitting phase of the $32 million project is expected to continue through the early portion of 2018. Construction is expected to kick off this summer.

“The design was unique and iconic,” Urbanowski said. “The architectural achievement is that this site is significant historically.”

Design Beyond Borders is a 91��Ƶ feature offering a look at the projects outside of Oregon being tackled by local architecture firms. To have your firm’s projects considered, contact the 91��Ƶ newsroom at 503-802-7222 or newsroom@djcOregon.com.

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A new, state-of-the-art office building is in the works to house employees of three California state agencies in Sacramento. ZGF Architects is designing a $274 million, glass-covered structure to replace a vacant building on O Street in the state capital.

“We are seeing a trend in state buildings,” said Allyn Stellmacher, a partner at ZGF. “This building will be more appropriate for high-performance workforce. It will give a new look and feel on new models of government. It will be something that is there for workers and the public to see.”

ZGF Architects, Sacramento-based Lionakis and Redwood City, California-based builder Rudolph and Sletten won a design-build competition for the project. ZGF Architects is the architect of record. Lionakis is providing design, technical and local support. Plans call for a 360,000-square-foot office building. The California Department of General Services is overseeing the project, which is slated to finish in 2021.

“This building is a fundamental 180-degree shift from the bunker buildings (of the past),” Stellmacher said. “It has a glass curtain wall and looks to reflect light and be transparent. It has a focus on the pedestrian realm and looks to improve the pedestrian and transit realms.”

One of the structure’s most unique attributes will be how it responds to summer temperatures that regularly soar past 100 degrees for weeks on end. Instead of a typical forced-air system, the building will employ a passive cooling system.

“Sacramento is known for its robust summers,” Stellmacher said. “Sacramento has recognized how it fits into climate change and is making changes in its buildings all the way down to the streetscape.”

Cool air will travel through the building in spaces in the flooring and into rooms through vents. As the air warms and rises toward the ceiling, it will come in contact with radiant coolers filled with cold water; resultant cool air will then drift downward toward building occupants. That system will be paired with more traditional ones such as mechanical shades and windows that will open and close in accordance with temperatures.

Also, the amount of glazing will be approximately less than for a typical office building to make its surface more heat-resistant.

The building is being designed to Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design platinum standards. Also, the target is for net zero energy use. To meet those challenges, designers are aiming to use materials that will capitalize on the surrounding environment.

“The winds off the Sacramento River come up in the evening and can really cool down the concrete frame of the building,” Stellmacher said.

The building’s proximity to the river will present a challenge for construction due to the water table.

“The groundwater table is concern,” said Kyle Glankler, senior project manager with Rudolph and Sletten. “We are going to have to de-water the site.”

Water will be pumped from the site and then concrete and sealants will be used to make sure water doesn’t seep into the building basement.

The building will house more than 1,100 state employees with the California Health and Human Services Agency, the Department of State Hospitals and the Department of Developmental Services.

“We’re not building a Google headquarters, but it will affect the notion of how to provide a workplace,” Stellmacher said. “It really looks to connect with (the streetscape) and create a number of new work environments. In some ways it is working to change the rules on how buildings should perform.”

Design Beyond Borders is a 91��Ƶ feature offering a look at the projects outside of Oregon being tackled by local architecture firms. To have your firm’s projects considered, contact 91��Ƶ architecture and engineering reporter Kent Hohlfeld at 503-802-7224 or khohlfeld@djcOregon.com.

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When Texas A&M University officials sought to expand facilities to accommodate a growing student body, they looked to the same firm that had helped Oregon State University officials do the same: Bora Architects.

“Texas A&M came to Corvallis and toured the Learning Innovation Center,” said Amy Donohue, a Bora Architects principal. “They toured the building and were impressed with the intimacy.”

Fostering intimacy will be a challenge for the design team planning a new, $52 million building with lecture halls holding 200 to 600 seats. The Texas A&M facility will be approximately 116,000 square feet. Currently, the project is in the schematic design phase.

“It will have learning studios and about 10 large classrooms,” Donohue said. “It will also house their center for teaching excellence, instruction media services and instruction tech services.”

The building will also serve a significant architectural role on the campus. The university is split into two sections: a portion with buildings dating back to the early 1900s and a portion with more modern buildings.

“This (new) building will be a gateway presence,” Donohue said. “It is adjacent to the memorial tower. Our building is right on the bridge between historic sector and the new.”

One of the challenges being addressed by the design team is how to allow as many as 2,200 students to navigate the building easily during the window between classes.

“There will be a big exchange of people moving in and out,” Donohue said. “Moving the flow in and out so we don’t have big traffic jams is a big issue.”

Other issues are physical. The building sits next to railroad tracks used by large, heavy freight trains. The design team must account for significant noise and vibrations.

Texas A&M officials have mandated that the building be built to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design silver standards, but designers are aiming to achieve LEED gold. Achieving that level of energy efficiency in a hot climate will be difficult. On average, temperatures in College Station, Texas, from June through September are above 90 degrees. Goals will be achieved, Donohue said, by using highly efficient cooling systems and ensuring that direct sun exposure is minimized.

“It’s conducive with the orientation,” she said. “They have a much longer period when they need cooling (than in the Northwest). We have done projects in Texas, so we know how to hit our goals.”

Officials expect the building to be ready to accommodate occupants in time for the 2020-21 academic year.

Design Beyond Borders is a 91��Ƶ feature offering a look at the projects outside of Oregon being tackled by local architecture firms. To have your firm’s projects considered, contact 91��Ƶ architecture and engineering reporter Kent Hohlfeld at 503-802-7224 or khohlfeld@djcOregon.com.

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