in Nigeria decided it wanted its new campus to look like one in the United States, so it hired Portland-based .

The design process for two 80,000-square-foot dormitories and a lecture hall has been challenging because of an accelerated project schedule and the fact that it is taking place overseas, said Henry Fitzgibbon, a partner with the firm.

“Believe it or not, it’s not that far off the beaten path,” he said. “(But) they have a lot of different ways of practicing architecture and construction over there.”

Ebonyi State University was founded in 1996 and presently operates in the facilities of a former university. School officials are looking to build a new campus.

The project’s contracting system is based on the model in the United Kingdom, which formerly had claim of Nigeria. Owners provide contractors with building materials and project supervision – contractors are more like “labor brokers,” Fitzgibbon said. As a result, Soderstrom has had to provide some of the construction supervision for the project.

Another challenge is that the school’s officials expect the project to be done by fall 2013. So, the firm has had to use a “fast-track” system, wherein foundations are designed first and then other parts while foundations are being built. Even though the dormitories and lecture hall are not fully designed, construction is already under way.

“It’s broken up into stages,” Fitzgibbon said. “(The speed) has been a huge challenge.”

Because the site is near the equator, no heating systems will be necessary. Building designs are similar to those for previous Soderstrom projects – brick veneers covered in either gridiron or light-gauge steel studs.

Eventually, Soderstrom will design the entire campus. All 41 buildings will need to be done in less than 12 months and from thousands of miles away.

“The governor (of Ebonyi) came to the United States and visited a western style university and decided he really wanted that for his people,” Fitzgibbon said. “You have to design it the best as you can get.”

“On the Boards” is a weekly feature that spotlights local firms’ best design work. Submissions from architectural and engineering firms are encouraged. Please call 503-802-7240 or email ontheboards@djcOregon.com.

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, a billion-dollar company based in China, hired to take its retail stores to the next level.

Four new “superstores” – in Beijing, Nanjing, Shanghai and Guangzhou – now mimic large appliance stores in the United States. The decision to follow an American model rather than an Asian one was not easy, according to Craig Davenport, a principal with MulvannyG2.

“There was a lot of arguing about it,” he said. “We were working with a company that wasn’t quite sure what it wanted to do yet. Part of the process was trying to narrow down what direction they wanted to take.”

Two options existed: the Japanese example, with little space and a lot of signage (similar to large markets); or the American (Sears) one, with organized areas and designated floors.

Suning officials decided to go with the latter, because it would give customers a more balanced and ordered shopping experience, which the company hoped to achieve with the new stores, Davenport said.

“It used to be where they would provide the shell space, and then companies like Samsung would come in and build their own corner,” he said. “You’d have to go from store to store to compare. The new option is to get away from that and bring it all together so that it’s more run by the Suning employees.”

All four stores are in downtown areas. Three of them are six stories, and the store in Nanjing has approximately 107,000 square feet.

The stores have similar designs: multiple levels surround an atrium in the middle. Escalators were installed throughout the buildings.

MulvannyG2 had only a few months to design the buildings because Suning wanted to open them in time for the Chinese holiday season.

“The schedule became the most difficult thing for us,” Davenport said. “There were a lot of things we wanted to do that we couldn’t do on these first four stores.”

MulvannyG2 is hoping to work again with Suning. It’s planning to build 16 additional stores in the near future, and may eventually build hundreds more across the country.

“This process of going back and reflecting on what worked and didn’t work is very natural to us,” Davenport said. “We hope to do the same with them in China.”

“On the Boards” is a weekly feature that spotlights local firms’ best design work. Submissions from architectural and engineering firms are encouraged. Please call 503-802-7240 or email ontheboards@djcOregon.com.

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Brian Fleener realized the possibilities of retail design when he traveled to Brazil.

“They do it in a way we really haven’t done here,” he said. “There wasn’t one moment that I wasn’t asking questions.”

Fleener, vice president of retail stores development for , visited Sao Paulo for a global conference on retail merchandising and visual display. But he was affected more profoundly by walks along the city’s streets. He saw retail structures designed via a method called regionalism: use of local materials and aesthetics to create a blend with surroundings.

The technique isn’t used often in Portland, but it should be, according to Fleener.

“We have a social responsibility to understand the materials that are local,” he said. “There are compelling reasons to use them more.”

Regionalism is based on two themes: sustainability and client experience. By using local materials – such as wood, rocks and plants – architects can ensure that projects will have a smaller carbon footprint, no harmful elements and limited negative environmental impacts from shipments.

Regionalism also is about creating a connection with clients – or, as Fleener calls it, a “harmonic resignation.”

“They’re going to feel more at home and they’ll think, ‘Wow. This is local,’ ” he said. “You want to understand how (clients) are wired almost instantly. As you respond to them as they are, you create that harmony and that harmony builds trust and rapport.”

Fleener noticed that Brazilian shops used indigenous wood for almost everything – from countertops to floorboards. In other instances, indigenous plants and stones were used as building facades, lighting fixtures and shelves.

However, regionalism goes beyond just materials; it’s also about matching the aesthetics of nearby buildings, which also contributes to harmonic resignation. For example, many stores in Brazil had board-formed concrete walls and not many windows, Fleener said. They matched the local houses, which were built in the 1950s with the same concrete.

Not all cities in Brazil are like Sao Paulo, where a chapter of the Retail Design Institute is located. But substantial use of regionalism may be why the country is atop the A.T. Kearney Global Retail Development Index of emerging retail markets. For the index, a number of variables are used to determine which countries have the highest potential for retailers.

One of the reasons Portland designers don’t use regionalism as much is cost. More time and money are needed to use local materials and match surroundings, according to Shauna Stinson, owner of Portland-based Vizwerks.

Stinson wishes she could use the strategy more, but clients’ budgets don’t always allow for it, she said.

“It’s almost always part of the discussion,” she said. “What percentage of that actually comes out where you end up using regional materials? It’s not as often as everyone would like.”

Also, use of regionalism depends on what constitutes “regional,” Stinson said. Vizwerks, for example, sometimes chooses materials to suit the area’s climate.

Ankrom Moisan Associated Architects also tries to incorporate regionalism in its retail designs, though such projects make up only a small portion of the firm’s business, said Fred Painter, a senior associate.

“We try to make (projects) look as much like the Northwest as possible,” he said. “I’m not sure how (Brazilian designers) do it, but (we use local materials) on accents, like columns, wall areas and trellises.”

Fleener believes local retail projects can incorporate regionalism to a greater degree. For example, a store on Mount Tabor, a dormant volcanic cinder cone, could feature volcanic rock in its finishes, he said. Or a waterfront restaurant could use Willamette River wood debris for its countertops. This is the type of creativity and resourcefulness used in Brazil, Fleener said.

He hopes to incorporate it more in MulvannyG2’s upcoming projects and that other architects and project owners will do the same.

“Where (Brazil is) at culturally and socially in terms of design aesthetic … it seemed like they had it down in spades,” he said. “I’m currently talking to retailers about these ideas. This is something I’m very passionate about.”

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The trade war between U.S. solar manufacturers and China continues to blaze, and today the U.S. Department of Commerce stirred up more controversy with its announcement that any duties levied by the U.S. will be charged retroactively.

The -led celebrated the ruling, a response to what Commerce Department called “critical-circumstances” between U.S. solar manufacturers and China. The coalition sees the ruling as a step toward victory in its anti-dumping and anti-subsidy trade complaint filed last November.

But the faction of U.S. solar installers and other companies that oppose the trade complaint – the – today released a study that paints a devastating picture of the domestic solar industry if tariffs are placed on Chinese modules.

The economic analysis, prepared by the Brattle Group, finds that a 100 percent tariff on imported solar cells and modules from China would result in as many as 50,000 net lost jobs in the U.S. over the next three years. The study also anticipates retaliatory tariffs placed on U.S. exports of polysilicon to China, which could put nearly 11,000 more U.S. jobs at risk in the first year.

In response, Gordon Brisner, president of SolarWorld Industries America released a statement calling the study “highly speculative.” Brisner argues that the study ignores the illegality of China’s trade practices and the impacts those actions have already had on solar manufacturing jobs.

If the Department of Commerce imposes preliminary countervailing duties on March 2, the duties will apply to all imports of cells and modules from China brought into the country starting Dec. 3, 2011. The agency is scheduled to issue a separate preliminary ruling on anti-dumping duties on March 27.

The U.S. International Trade Commission issued a preliminary determination on Dec. 2 in agreement with the claims that Chinese imports are harming the U.S. solar manufacturing industry.

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A group of American solar manufacturers, led by Hillsboro-based , has ignited a trade war with China that has divided the industry – nationally and locally.

The U.S. Commerce Department last week opened an investigation into accusations made by seven American solar manufacturers that Chinese counterparts are “dumping” solar panels into the U.S. at prices lower than the cost of making and distributing them.

To counter the influx of cheap Chinese products, which increased more than 350 percent from 2008 to 2010, according to SolarWorld, the coalition is asking the U.S. government to impose tariffs of more than 100 percent on solar panels manufactured in China.

In addition to the seven manufacturers that form the Coalition for American Solar Manufacturing, approximately 75 companies have officially registered their support for the anti-dumping and countervailing duty cases that SolarWorld filed in October.

“At a time when we have such high unemployment and stagnant job creation, allowing foreign competitors to undercut the market just really isn’t fair,” said Keith Knowles, president and owner of , an installation company with offices in Beaverton and Pendleton. “If Oregon is going to be moved back into a thriving state, I feel strongly that we can’t undermine any efforts for domestic manufacturing to take off.”

Other companies expressed support for the petitions based on the belief that Chinese manufacturing might entail environmental degradation.

But another American trade group was formed last week in opposition to SolarWorld’s petition, which it views as harmful protectionism that will drive up costs and stunt industry growth. The Coalition for Affordable Solar Energy (CASE) represents solar-energy system buyers and installers that argue that the vast majority of American solar industry jobs are in sales, marketing, design, installation and maintenance – positions that depend on affordably priced, often Chinese-made, solar panels.

“Solar is one of the few job-creating industries in the U.S., and the imposition of tariffs would undermine that growth,” said Kevin Lapidus, speaking on behalf of CASE and also MEMC/SunEdison, where he is vice president of legal and government affairs.

For Sunlight Solar Energy, a Bend-based company that deals and installs panels, lowering prices is important for business.

“Inexpensive Chinese modules create more of a market for us, so at the dealer (or) installer level, it creates jobs,” president and founder Paul Israel said.

But some customers demand U.S.-made products, so Israel’s solution was to create two options – American-made “premium” installations, featuring mostly SolarWorld parts, and “value” installations featuring parts made in China and other foreign countries.

Even if individual American companies are benefiting from comparatively inexpensive Chinese products, the Coalition for American Solar Manufacturing is accusing the Chinese government of harming the U.S. solar industry by offering Chinese companies subsidies that break international trade laws.

“We just think that as the largest and most experienced solar manufacturer left in the Americas, it is incumbent on us to lead the effort to defend domestic manufacturing,” SolarWorld spokesman Ben Santarris said. “We have the resources to counter what China is attempting to do to competition from the U.S. and to mount a challenge to (China’s) illegal predation on the U.S. solar industry.”

The flood of cheap Chinese products is the primary cause for a 40 percent decline in world market prices over the past year, which has resulted in thousands of lost jobs and seven U.S. manufacturers closing or downsizing operations, according to the coalition.

SolarWorld this year shut down its California production line, citing cheap Chinese competition as part of the reason for shifting all of its U.S. production to Hillsboro. Across the country, many nonmanufacturing job losses have not been announced, Santarris added.

But Oregon’s solar trade group has taken a neutral stance – its members include companies from both sides of the issue.

“It brings the issue close to home given that SolarWorld has such a presence in Oregon – they’re manufacturing right in our backyard,” said Glenn Montgomery, executive director of the Oregon Solar Energy Industries Association. “But it’s a perfect example of where the interests of one constituency could be counter to another. It’s difficult to say how this will affect the solar family in Oregon.”

The International Trade Commission will determine Dec. 5 whether Chinese exports have harmed the U.S. industry. If the ITC was to vote that there is no injury to U.S. manufacturers, the Commerce Department’s investigation would end.

If the ITC was to find in favor of the petition, the Commerce Department would deliver a preliminary decision on the anti-dumping claim as early as mid-January but no later than March, and could retroactively impose duties on importers of the Chinese modules.

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The federal Department of Commerce announced today that it will investigate Chinese trade practices based on accusations made by an Oregon-led group of American solar manufacturers.

Hillsboro-based on Oct. 19 filed petitions with the International Trade Commission and the Department of Commerce alleging that Chinese manufacturers of solar products are illegally dumping silicon solar cells into the U.S. market. The trade commission immediately launched an investigation, and the Commerce Department has now decided to also conduct an intensive, year-long investigation.

Two executives from SolarWorld Industries of America, the largest U.S. producer of crystalline silicon solar cells and panels, testified on Tuesday before the trade commission.

Gordon Brisner, president, and Kevin Kilkelly, president of U.S. sales, represented the Coalition for American Solar Manufacturing, which includes six other unnamed manufacturers of the crystalline silicon solar technology.

The petitions also assert that Chinese manufacturers are receiving massive subsidies from the Chinese government, such as contract awards, financing breaks and supply chain payments.

Brisner presented evidence that Chinese exports to the U.S. rose more than 350 percent from 2008 to 2010 and continue to rise. Exports from China in July exceeded those from all of 2010, Brisner said.

The coalition contends that the flood of cheap Chinese products is the primary cause for a 40 percent decline in world market prices over the past year. The results, they claim, are thousands of jobs lost and seven U.S. manufacturers closing or downsizing operations.

“We just think that as the largest and most experienced solar manufacturer left in the Americas, it is incumbent on us to lead the effort to defend domestic manufacturing,” said SolarWorld spokesman Ben Santarris. “We have the resources to counter what China is attempting to do to competition from the U.S. and to mount a challenge to (China’s) illegal predation on the U.S. solar industry.”

To counter the surge, the coalition hopes the federal government will impose retroactive duties on Chinese exports.

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Turkey is reeling from the 7.2-magnitude earthquake that shook its eastern border last week, and engineers based in the Portland-metro area are warning, yet again, that Oregon is running out of time to prepare for a seismic disaster.

Soon after the earthquake struck, , a Vancouver, Wash.-based engineering firm, dispatched three of its Istanbul-based engineers to assess the damage in two of the cities hit hardest – Van and Ercis.

Temperatures in Van were near freezing last week, but local residents slept in tents out of fears that their homes would collapse during aftershocks at night. However, most of the damage was non-structural, according to Yusuf Zahit Gundogdu, a Miyamoto International engineer who traveled to the disaster zone a couple of days after the quake.

The damage assessments mainly revealed cracked walls, collapsed chimneys, and suspended ceilings, gypsum sheeting and plasterboard walls.

The scene in Ercis, approximately 70 miles north, was much bleaker. More than 80 multistory buildings fell.

“When we arrived, we were shocked to see the number of buildings that had collapsed in such close proximity to each other, particularly on the main street,” Gundogdu said in a written account.

Many of the buildings crumbled because of poor construction and inferior concrete quality, according to Gundogdu. Problems caused by soft or weak ground stories featuring large openings for storefronts or parking were compounded by inadequate support and connections.

“You can find so many similar buildings in downtown Portland,” said Kit Miyamoto, president and CEO of the engineering firm. “Everyone knows they are really dangerous. These buildings can be strengthened prior to an earthquake, but we are learning the same lessons over and over again.”

Concrete and unreinforced masonry buildings on the West Coast – schools, in particular – must be seismically strengthened, Miyamoto said.

“The knowledge base is there; it’s just a matter of acting on it,” he said, emphasizing that the process to make these buildings stronger is becoming more cost-effective.

Miyamoto recently met with officials of a Southern California school district to discuss possibilities for seismic upgrades, and some of his recommendations would cost as little as $50,000 per building. Seismic shock-absorbing devices and materials to strengthen unreinforced walls are available and becoming cheaper.

And yet the U.S. is “not even half as prepared as the Japanese,” Miyamoto said.

Although many scientists predict that a major earthquake will hit Oregon in the coming decades, the state lacks a decent warning system, Miyamoto said.

“A warning system is a very cost-effective solution, and training and education are almost free,” he said. “You just have to realize that the risks exist.”

Miyamoto added that private residents and the commercial sector also must become involved.

“Ninety-five percent of the buildings are occupied by non-governmental (groups), so we can’t just wait for the government to do these things,” he said. “That’s just not good risk management.”

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Portland-based was awarded a $121 million contract from Facebook to construct a data center in Lulea, Sweden. Fortis will be working with of Redwood City, Calif. and to build the 300,000-square-foot building.

Construction is beginning this month and is scheduled for completion in December 2012, and two more data centers are planned for the region. The building is designed to meet the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design gold rating.

Fortis and DPR are currently working on Facebook’s data centers in Prineville and Forest City, N.C.

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Alexis Sanal examined the designs of two schools in Scappoose on Monday, but her mind’s eye was focused on a coastal, Middle Eastern city that skirts the Red Sea.

Sanal, an architect based in Istanbul, is working on the conceptual design for a school to be built in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. She thought that touring a few American schools might spur some design ideas, and because her mother works for the Oregon School Boards Association, she was able to arrange the Scappoose tours, as well as a meeting with architects at ‘s Portland office. Their conversation sparked cultural comparisons and a dialogue about how the design of a school can elevate learning.

DLR Group, which has worked with the OSBA for more than 12 years, produced the recent designs for Otto Petersen Elementary School and the remodel and addition to Scappoose High School. Several innovative design elements in both schools inspired Sanal, who was born in the U.S., but moved to Turkey with her husband, Murat, nine years ago. They are partners and owners of a firm that shares their last name – Sanal.

When speaking of the high school’s new auditorium, Alexis Sanal remarked how “adult” the environment felt.

“It’s not a child’s environment,” she said. “It has an air of clout, but with a young energy. I can see how that could help students prepare for the next stage of maturity.”

And Sanal appreciated that Petersen Elementary’s library is an open, centrally located space that invites students to wander in and out. Because the students are trusted in the library with minimal security, the space encourages spontaneous interactions between staff and students – which the designers believe creates a better learning environment.

“What is a classroom anyway? How do you define it?” DLR principal Richard Higgins asked during the meeting. Higgins and Sanal agreed that “the classroom” includes any place where learning happens, and not only a room that holds with the chalkboard and desks in it.

By consciously setting up a school to encourage certain kinds of interactions, they said, architects can help learning happen in more kinds of spaces. The challenge, according to Higgins, is to convince communities and school districts of the importance of those design tactics.

To that end, DLR Group has developed a formal, yet flexible process. Over many months, the architects host several rounds of community meetings and design consultations with faculty, students and staffers. Sanal was a bit surprised by DLR’s exhaustive transparency, but its success impressed her.

“Their design work is not determined by their collaborative approach, but rather enlightened by it,” Sanal said in a follow-up conversation with the 91��Ƶ. “What is exciting about DLR’s practice is they are moving public schools forward.”

Marysville Getchell High School in Marysville, Wash., is a prime example: The campus recently won the prestigious James D. MacConnell Award for K-12 education design.

But in the early planning stage, Craig Mason, DLR principal and lead designer of the school, faced some doubts about the campus, which is a series of four, small learning communities with a shared common building.

The end result, however, was received well, which Mason and Sanal agreed often happens when they push for cutting-edge designs.

“Change takes everyone outside of their comfort zones,” Sanal said. “But (architects) need to prepare for the society we want to be a part of in 40 years.”

In Turkey and much of the Middle East, only elite, private schools are pushing for creative advances in pedagogy and school design, according to Sanal. But now, with inspiration drawn from DLR Group, Sanal hopes to broaden the movement for progressive schools as she continues her design work for the school in Jeddah.

“Examples of success are the best vehicle for confidence and enthusiasm toward positive change,” she said.

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In the depths of a grim economic downturn, and are embracing a big opportunity.

The Oregon-based firms recently won a five-year contract to work on a major development project in Doha, Qatar, in the Middle East. The plan is to transform 76 acres of the city’s center into a cohesive, energy- and water-efficient district aesthetically rooted in Qatari tradition.

“This is a substantial project, said Ralph DiNola, a Green Building Services principal. “I know we’ve had an economic slowdown around the world, but this is one of those bright spots.”

, a Qatari real estate development firm, announced its appointment of the Oregon-based team in July, following a long bidding process.

“We’ve done work in sustainable township planning in Abu Dhabi,” said Omid Nabipoor, president of Interface Engineering. “It was through our reputation and word of mouth that we were invited to provide a proposal. And we realized they needed a combination of sustainability consultants as well as engineers, so I brought GBS onto the team.”

The $5.5 billion project involves development of a mixed-use area featuring commercial and residential properties, hotels, mosques, a school, a public transit system and other community-oriented infrastructure.

Each building will involve separate architects, engineers and Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design consultants; however, Interface and GBS will implement a sitewide framework to ensure that all buildings come together to meet client goals.

“We were brought in to put the layers on top of each other – to look for precedents, accuracy, and to make sure everything is implemented that’s gone into the plan,” Nabipoor said.

The project could become the largest one outside of the U.S. to implement LEED for Neighborhood Development – a rating system that the U.S. Green Building Council piloted in 2007 and approved in 2009.

The project is being built to master design standards devised by Arup, an international design, planning and engineering firm responsible for the structural design of the Sydney Opera House. The document prepared by Arup is more than 1,000 pages; it brings a cohesive vision to the downtown, with a focus on the city’s cultural context. It also sets aggressive goals for energy efficiency, water efficiency and other sustainability metrics.

As the project moves forward, Interface and GBS will be charged with making necessary amendments to the original design standards.

“Having goals and standards are not unique,” said Andy Frichtl, principal at Interface, “but the standards that have been put in place for (this project) leave very few rocks unturned.”

Energy goals include reaching efficiency levels 31.5 percent greater than minimum requirements, and providing 75 percent of all hot water loads with solar thermal power. Water conservation is a significant challenge because most potable water must go through desalinization processes, which increase electricity usage.

Each building is expected to generate at least 10 percent of its energy from photovoltaics, which Frichtl said is a challenge because of the limited wall area of the high-rise buildings and required architectural aesthetics.

But the aesthetics are what several team members find most significant about the project. Though the region continues to add glass high-rises and other structures completely out of context for the culture and climate, the design inspiration for the new “Heart of Doha” is traditional architecture of the Persian Gulf region.

“Basically, it’s a transition from the kind of modern, international style that’s so common there, to a design that really looks at the traditional forms of urban planning,” DiNola said. “It’s using traditional architectural forms and materials, but in contemporary way.”

The first phase of construction is under way for the six-phase project, and approximately 60 percent of the buildings have been designed. As the team from Oregon ramps up its efforts in Doha, it is not only consulting, but also reconsidering strategies.

“They’re thinking very big scale, not just block by block,” DiNola said. “As we look to bring sustainability to Portland, are we thinking about putting infrastructure in the ground that would lead to one of these distributed infrastructure projects that could be of this scale?”

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