Skanska USA Building teamed with SRG Partnership and Behnisch Architekten to complete a 147,000-square-foot refurbishment of Portland State University’s existing Graduate School of Education and School of Business Administration in downtown Portland.

The $50.223 million project included renovations to the Karl Miller Center as well as a new 36,000-square-foot pavilion. A visually captivating glass atrium connects the two.

The project targeted LEED Platinum certification. The Karl Miller Center features a modern, cantilever design, the complexity of which posed plenty of challenges for the project team. Close collaboration and strong communication allowed the project team to successfully complete the project, despite having to conduct construction while classes were in session. Unusually harsh winter conditions also required Skanska and its subcontractors to turn to innovation and get creative in order to deal with unusually heavy rains and freezing temperatures.

A close working relationship also allowed the project team to help PSU reach its goals for sustainability. Features such as a green roof and a series of filtering planters and high-performance walls and windows resulted in the project earning LEED Platinum status.

The project was completed in time for the beginning of the fall 2017 term, earning praise from administrators from PSU‘s business school.

“Even with a myriad of challenges, the construction crew and subcontractors were professional and attentive … no small feat as the building was also occupied with over 4,000 students on the last day of the project,” Cliff Allen, dean of the business school, wrote in a letter of recommendation for the project.

Submitted by: Skanska USA Building

Location: Portland, Oregon

Project cost: $50.223 million

Start date: August 2015

Completion date: September 2017

Owner/developer: Portland State University

Architect: Behnisch Architekten, SRG Partnership

Engineer: Catena Consulting Engineers

General contractor: Skaska USA Building Inc.

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Portland State University’s held a grand opening last week for the Karl Miller Center, the modern new home of the university’s School of Business, which includes 100,000 square feet of renovated space and a 43,000-square-foot addition. The $60 million project features a five-story atrium with crisscrossing stairways and bridges, over three times as much classroom space as the school previously had, and common areas designed to foster interaction between students and faculty. The project was designed by Behnisch Architekten and SRG Partnership, and was built by Skanska.

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Portland State University’s School of Business unveiled its new building – part renovation, part new construction – during a ribbon-cutting event on Tuesday. Michael Kocher, project leader with Behnisch Architekten, which worked with SRG Partnership on the project, spoke with the 91��Ƶ Monday afternoon. This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.

91��Ƶ: How did Behnisch Architekten get involved with the project?

Michael Kocher: A couple different threads, I would say. One was (firm partner) Stefan Behnisch met one of the principals at SRG Partnership at a meeting one time and said if there is ever a good project, a good fit, maybe we could team up and do a project together. So they were kind of keeping us in the loop for this one.

The president (of PSU) at the time said we’d like somebody with a bit more international flair, somebody that brings something a little different here. And so that is when SRG saw the opportunity and said let’s team up with Behnisch and maybe that will make a very interesting team for the RFP.

91��Ƶ: What was breakdown of duties?

Kocher: Being here for all the construction demands on a daily basis is just something we are not capable of doing, so (SRG) definitely took the lead in that realm. In the early phases, our team – Stefan Behnisch, Matt Noblett, who is a partner in the Boston office, and myself – made trips out here. We were more in on the front end and towards the middle, and detailing it was more of a collaborative process.

91��Ƶ: What does a firm like yours, with an international profile, bring?

Kocher: It is different perspective. We just finished projects in the Ukraine, France and all these different countries. So, obviously, you build up a lot of different experience and knowledge of working with different cultures and different ways of doing things. I think what we bring is we take that shared knowledge from all those different cultures and it informs our architecture in a way.

91��Ƶ: What project had the most impact on the design?

Kocher: (PSU) saw our law school (the Angelos Law Center) in Baltimore and they said, ‘We want something like that in Portland.’ Every site is different. We get the idea that we like that building, we like that feeling. How do we achieve that in our project?

91��Ƶ: What are you most proud of?

Kocher: This space (the pavilion) is pretty amazing. Everybody is raving about it. The faculty and staff love coming through here.

91��Ƶ: What was most challenging?

Kocher: The renovation. You never know what you are going to find when you start taking walls down and seeing exposed structure. There were some challenges there.

91��Ƶ: What did you do to increase energy efficiency?

Kocher: We were going for the highest (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) status you can get, but we wanted to go beyond that and I think that is what our office brings. We saw an opportunity, with the climate, to not use air conditioning in the new building. (The new construction) is passively cooled. How we did that was to utilize a certain percentage of concrete slabs, ceiling fans and operable windows. They automatically open up in the night time to night flush, allow cool air in.

91��Ƶ: What will you use from this project in others?

Kocher: The cooling. It will be a metric. I wouldn’t say that we pluck and say we want to reuse this. It’s like we get into the design of the next project and when something comes up, a detail or how we resolve this color or that color, it will be like, ‘What did we do on the Portland job again?’

91��Ƶ: Did the end result meet your vision?

Kocher: I would say we are all very happy with the end result.

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Skanska is putting the finishing touches on a two-year project to build a modern new home for the Portland State University School of Business. In addition to the complete renovation of approximately 100,000 square feet of existing space, the Karl Miller Center includes the construction of a new five-story pavilion building that connects to the existing building via an atrium with a series of criss-crossing stairways. The project was designed by the Boston office of German-based firm Behnisch Architecten and Portland-based SRG Partnership.

The pavilion will add 15 new classrooms, as well as interactive spaces and a tutoring lounge. The open layout is designed in part to foster interaction and collaboration between students and faculty. It includes three large, tiered classrooms – one with capacity for 80 students, and two with capacity for 60 — that were not able to be built in the existing building due to column spacing.

The pavilion building and atrium are passively cooled. Windows will automatically open in the evening to let in cool air, which will be absorbed by the building’s exposed concrete. The project is on target for a LEED Platinum rating.

Work on the pavilion and the east side renovation is slated to wrap up next month. Major work remaining includes flooring and finish work, startup and commissioning of HVAC equipment, and site work. A grand opening is scheduled for Sept. 19, and classes will begin in the building the following week.

(Editor’s note: This story has been modified from an original version to reflect the correct name of the school, which has been shortened to the School of Business.)

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When construction wraps up this fall on a renovation and expansion of the Karl Miller Center, the building is expected to become the most energy efficient structure on Portland State University‘s downtown campus.

Keeping the project on task during the past two years hasn’t always been easy for project team members as they faced challenges ranging from winter snow and ice storms to adjusting work schedules to accommodate occupants using the building during construction.

However, careful planning, clear communication and solid teamwork helped keep the project in the running to qualify for platinum status in the Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design rating program, according to David Dwyer, a project executive with Skanska USA Building.

When pursuing the highest level in the LEED program, every point counts. So while the building was being gutted completely, any material that couldn’t be reused was recycled, Dwyer said.

An atrium and pavilion, representing 40,000 square feet of new construction, feature materials that maximize daylighting. A passive cooling system includes windows that open automatically to allow cool air to enter the space, Dwyer said. Once a specified temperature is reached, the windows automatically close. A series of fans then circulate the air to maintain a consistent temperature throughout the space.

The pavilion, on the north side of the building, also has the capacity to perform what Sam Stadler, project architect and project manager for SRG Partnership, describes as a “night flush.” During hot times of the year, the automated windows open at night to allow hot air that has built up in the space during the day to be released while allowing in cool air.

“In the morning, the building actually closes,” Stadler said. “It’s like the building is breathing.”

The exterior of the new addition features Alaskan Yellow cedar siding, which is rated by the Forest Stewardship Council and will help the building score LEED points.

“Originally, it was designed as a mass timber structure; that really didn’t price out,” Stadler said. “We were looking for other ways to integrate wood and a suggestion was made to use wood cladding. It was a genius move. The distinction between the renovation and the new portion is really aided by the cladding.”

The experience of the project team – from the main team of general contractor Skanska and designers SRG Partnership and Behnisch Architekten to a list of subcontractors – wasn’t just critical to maintain high standards for sustainability. It also helped keep the project on schedule despite some hefty challenges.

“Everybody’s been through this rodeo before,” Dwyer said. “You begin it (in) the problem-solving mode and you move on – that’s just construction. You might be surprised by some things, but it’s an organized chaos.

The organization factor came into play even before construction began. The Karl Miller Center serves as the home of PSU‘s School of Business, which meant that the building would be occupied while construction took place. The solution the team came up with pays tribute to the origins of the building.

The Karl Miller Center was actually built in two phases, between 1979 and 1989. In order to undertake rehabilitation, the team moved occupants and daily activities into one half of the building. A wall was built to separate the two sides of the building. Electrical, mechanical and other systems, all located in the center core of the building, were decoupled so that crews could begin gutting the empty half of the building. Once all rehabilitation work was complete, occupants were relocated to the newly renovated portion so crews could tackle the rest of the building.

But even with such careful planning, there still were times when anticipated work had to be delayed or rescheduled.

“You can’t have jackhammers going when students are taking a (midterm or final) test,” Dwyer said.

The project encountered another unexpected delay this past winter when snow, unusually cold temperatures and freezing rain combined to shut down work on projects across the Portland-metro area for several days.

In order to recoup some of that lost time for the Karl Miller Center, Dwyer said, some work had to be re-sequenced. Extra workers were brought in and some strategic overtime was added. Those small changes made a big difference over the span of a few months.

“We’re down to the last 5 percent of the job,” Dwyer said. “We’re on track to finish on time. We’re going to get there.”

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Team members behind the renovation/addition of 138,000 square feet at the Portland State University School of Business Administration had used BIM before. But never like this, they said.

Instead of merely detecting clashes in the piping and conduit, building mapping software in this case helped ensure every piece of the project was routed appropriately. And with the first half of the project now turned over to the owner, and the remaining, entirely new construction, the team is breathing a little easier.

The ‘perfect storm’

Lots of firms bid for the $60 million project before PSU decided to withdraw its RFP and not select a winner. The feedback it provided SRG was to add “international flare” to its next proposal.

“They wanted the project to have a bigger profile than what a local firm could provide,” Stadler said.

SRG was familiar with Stuttgart, Germany-based Behnisch Architekten and its principal Stefan Behnisch through green design circles. And Behnisch himself is said to have a personal connection with PSU.

“So it was really a perfect storm for us,” Stadler said.

Since the “rejuvenation” effort began in 2015, SRG has worked hand-in-hand with Behnsich’s Boston office – the Germans in charge of the big-picture vision, and SRG handling matters like delivery, documentation, logistics, and even hosting Stefan Behnisch on several trips to Portland.

What the team turned in was ambitious – in the case of the renovation, a clean and airy modern update to 1970s design, and new construction featuring a showpiece atrium encased in sloped glass. Workmen last month waterproofed the glazing and added steel members to support several massive skylights. Shoring recently came off the slab, exposing many different tight radiuses and angles.

BIM functioned here, as on every project, as a shared resource for team members down to the foreman level. It was key to the “intensive” semi-weekly meetings of project leaders. Skanska‘s mechanical, electrical and plumbing partners for the project were also involved, keeping data constantly updated. Skanska’s VDC (virtual and design construction) manager, Robert Smith, has been on-site throughout, helping glue together different 3-D models and coordinating the latest designs with foremen and other managers.

Skanska project manager Ryan Gay said that in his opinion, the intent of BIM is to coordinate what’s being installed to make sure everything fits. This project has been that, plus design evolution – or, essentially, “designing as we go.” Overall, there were “consistent” changes to what Skanska was installing.

“Some of it’s just tinkering, moving things a foot in either direction to get a certain look,” Gay said. “Some of it’s redesigning the entire electrical system.”

Part of the problem was the minimal amount of ceiling called for in the original designs. Most projects hide their infrastructure – water and electrical conduit, ductwork, etc. – under dropped ceiling, so the routing of that stuff doesn’t matter much to the architecture, Stadler said. But on this project, “literally” every piece of infrastructure is out in the open.

Working in the team’s favor was the CM-GC delivery method. The process afforded “fluidity” in cost reconciliation. An example is in the exterior cladding, which was originally intended to be tiled metal panel. That choice proved costly once Skanska priced it out. The firm selected another material that would meet the project’s aesthetic goals, but the Portland Design Commission thought a higher quality was needed. Eventually, the “stars aligned,” Stadler said, and the commission OK’d the next, and final, alternative – a Morin-made, V-profile, blended mill-finish stainless steel panel in a horizontal configuration.

Other changes include wood doors designed as oak being switched to maple, because the contractor recognized the cost difference between softwood and hard. The ductwork was also swapped out in value engineering, from oval to more economical rectangular. The whole ceiling was originally supposed to be painted, but that was taken out to afford a more “industrial” look, with some of the tectum panels now painted bright accents. A passive air transfer system using offset air slots in the walls also had to be tweaked.

“It was challenging to build. We had to help design the construction because what they designed wasn’t constructable,” Gay said.

Other challenges include those associated with working on a busy college campus in a dense urban area – just-in-time deliveries, minimal staging area, road closures, noise and other construction impact mitigation. And, as with many others these days, the project has been affected by the labor shortage, Gay said. As many as 100 craft workers have been employed. On the day of a site tour last month, about 45 union and nonunion tradespeople were working.

As of last month, there had been only one reported injury on the project, and it was minor, Gay said.

The next phase should proceed faster, with material selections having already been vetted. It will be all-new construction, which is generally faster than renovation. Plus, there won’t be any asbestos to mitigate or faculty members to avoid.

‘Furniture and walls’

This project was percolating for a long time, according to Cliff Allen, dean of the business school.

He said it’s been nicer interfacing with donors and alums now that it’s fully funded.

“Fundraising for buildings, it’s difficult,” Allen said. “Our donor base loves a new building, but what they love even more is to give to the school and the students. It will be nice to get back to fundraising for things like student scholarships and faculty endowments, instead of furniture and walls.”

PSU has a number of other projects in the works, several of them comparable in cost to the School of Business Administration. The $70 million renovation and seismic upgrade of Neuberger Hall now has a contractor (Fortis Construction) and an architect (Hacker), and heavy work should begin soon. Crews broke ground in April on the new $50 million Viking Pavilion at the Peter W. Stott Center. It also features Fortis as the builder, as well as a design partnership consisting of a local firm (Woofter Architecture) and a high-profile out-of-town firm (Denver-based Sink Combs Dethlefs).

Those projects also include ambitious designs and a mix of public and private dollars. The breakdown of the business school project is about one-third private, and two-thirds from the state.

The project effectively doubles the school’s footprint. The new facility will feature 23 classrooms and 11 break-out rooms that can be reserved by students. All will be rigged with technology to enable distance learning. There will be a Bloomberg terminal-equipped finance research lab, and a primary lab for marketing research, on topics such as consumerism.

It will mean the business school can add to its enrollment of 3,800 undergraduate students, and, likely, its 400-500 graduate students. With the school sharing space with the Graduate School of Education, students, staff and faculty had grown snug in their old space. But close quarters don’t necessarily translate to collaboration, and the new facilities were designed with teamwork in mind, Allen said.

PSU has changed a lot since it began as a commuter campus. “Interaction” wasn’t being fostered by the old building and students were left to meet after class at nearby coffee shops, or not at all. The new building’s design – for all its complications to the build team – reflects the state of the industry today, and where Allen says it’s going.

“We’re trying to build camaraderie, and that’s really a change in how we view things,” he said. “The irony is, kids are using more devices and connecting in new ways, but the face-to-face is becoming more and more important to businesses.”

PSU School of Business Administration

Project: renovation of six-story building and construction of student pavilion

Cost: $60.3 million ($20 million from private donations)

Contractor: Skanska USA

Architect: Behnisch Architects-SRG Partnership Inc.

Progress: first phase finished, completion of second phase anticipated for August 2017

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A project to upgrade the home of Portland State University‘s School of Business Administration will include the renovation of more than 100,000 square feet and an addition totaling 38,000 square feet.

General contractor Skanska began work on the project’s first phase in August with partial demolition of the building’s west side, which formerly housed the university’s Graduate School of Education. That portion of the building has been reduced to its structural elements and is being modernized with new HVAC, electrical, plumbing and communications systems, exterior walls and windows.

The business school will relocate into the west side upon completion of renovations in September 2016, allowing the project’s second phase to begin with demolition and modernization of the building’s east side.

The project’s third phase, which is being performed simultaneously with the renovation work, is construction of a 38,000-square-foot building that will connect to the existing building via a five-story, glass-lined atrium with a sloped roof and crisscrossing stairs and bridges.

Upon completion of that building, the business school will have 21 classrooms – three times as many as it has now. The building will also contain 10 project and team rooms, four industry-specific centers, multiple common spaces and study areas, and new offices for faculty and staff.

The $60 million project was designed by SRG Partnership Inc. and German firm Behnisch Architekten. The engineering team includes PAE Consulting Engineers Inc. for mechanical/electrical/plumbing, Catena Consulting Engineers for structural, and KPFF Consulting Engineers for civil. Mayer/Reed is the landscape architect.

The building will open in August 2017 as the Karl Miller Center, named for the grandfather of donor Rick Miller, a PSU alum.

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Creating an elite college educational program is a complicated potion. Quality professors and a good curriculum are the foundation. Portland State University School of Business Administration Dean Daniel J. Connolly believes PSU already has that part of the formula figured out. The next step is providing the students and the faculty with a state-of-the art building.

By fall 2017, the School of Business Administration will have completed a massive renovation and expansion of its current space that will increase the size by 180 percent. Ground has been broken on the project and the Portland Design Commission recently approved the expansion.

“We are delivering a phenomenal education today,” Connolly said. “We’ve got world class faculty who are teaching programs around the world, researching on the cutting edge and publishing in the main business journals. Our students are getting a very strong education. This gives us a better facility and creates an even better, stronger learning environment and allows us to go to the next level.”

The PSU School of Business Administration had shared space with the College of Education in an existing building at 631 S.W. Harrison St. The School of Business Administration will take over that space, which will be renovated.

The project will include an update of 100,000 square feet of existing building, including space previously used by the Graduate School of Education, as well as the addition of a new 35,000-square-foot pavilion on the north side of the building. The final building size will be 135,000 square feet.

The expansion is critical for the School of Business Administration because it currently offers 150 percent more credit hours than when it moved into its current building in 1986. The new extra space will provide numerous additional areas that students and faculty can use to enhance learning.

“It gives us the staging and the platform to do a lot of things we can’t do now,” Connolly said. “It creates a lot more inviting space and space that’s geared around how students learn. There’s places for group study, there’s places for ad hoc community meetup. There will be little learning communities, which we don’t have today.”

PSU chose SRG Partnership Inc. as the architecture firm for the project. SRG is working closely with German firm Behnisch Architekten on the project. Mayer/Reed is serving as landscape architect, and Skanska is the general contractor.

Engineers on the project include PAE Consulting Engineers Inc. (mechanical, electrical, plumbing), Catena Consulting Engineers (structural), and KPFF Consulting Engineers (civil).

One of the highlights of the project will be a glass atrium between the existing building and the new pavilion with entrances from plazas on Southwest Sixth Avenue and Southwest Broadway.

Connolly believes that when everything is finished, the School of Business Administration will not just enhance the aesthetics of PSU, but also the city of Portland.

“It’s going to be a great addition not only to the Portland State campus, but to the city skyline,” Connolly said.

PSU State originally set a goal to raise $20 million in private funds to go along with $40 million in state-backed bonds, which was approved by the Oregon State Legislature on July 8, 2013.

The university has now reached that $20 million goal, thanks in part to an $8 million donation from Rick Miller, who earned a master’s degree in business administration from the school, and his wife Erika. The donation from the Millers was the largest the business school has ever received. Another donor, who requested to remain anonymous, has promised to double any donation of at least $25,000. PSU has also received financial help for the project from Tim Boyle, president and CEO of Columbia Sportswear Co., and his wife Mary.

Meanwhile, PSU is still looking to drum up more donations to cover the cost of design changes and add sustainability features.

“You never have enough when you’re dealing with a construction project,” Connolly said. “We’ve surpassed the $20 million goal, but the anticipated costs have gone up. We’re still seeking funds and have naming opportunities. Every bit helps. That gives us opportunities to add some new technology features. This building will have some cool sustainability aspects, but we could do more. It will all add to the beauty of the building.”

PSU’s School of Business Administration already has a talented faculty and a diverse student body. Its MBA program is ranked 14^th in the world and first among smaller programs by Beyond Grey Pinstripes for its emphasis on social and environmental stewardship. Connolly is certain that the renovation and expansion will make the program even stronger.

“It’s going to show the Portland metro and Portland business community that we are very serious about business,” Connolly said. “It will show that we are very deeply committed to this community and that we are the business school of Portland. This is a major transformation for the school that will allow us to attract the best and brightest minds with our faculty, staff and students. And it will strengthen and deepen our ties to the business community.”

Project name: Portland State University School of Business Administration

Location: 631 S.W. Harrison Street, Portland

Cost: Approximately $60 million

Construction start date: Summer 2015

Construction completion date: Fall 2017

Owner/developer: Portland State University

Architect: SRG Partnership Inc. and Behnisch Architekten

Landscape Architecture: Mayer/Reed

Engineers: PAE Consulting Engineers Inc. (mechanical, electrical, plumbing), Catena Consulting Engineers (structural), and KPFF Consulting Engineers (civil)

General contractor: Skanska

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Two SRG Partnership projects designed for university clients will need a few tweaks to gain city approval.

The Portland Design Commission last week offered feedback on a planned renovation and expansion of Portland State University’s School of Business Administration building in downtown Portland. The group also critiqued preliminary plans for the proposed Knight Cancer Research Building on the Oregon Health & Science University Schnitzer Campus in the South Waterfront District.

Portland-based SRG Partnership design teams are contributing to both projects. For the PSU business school building, the firm is partnering with Stuttgart, Germany-based Behnisch Architekten.

The proposed $46 million project calls for renovating the existing 100,000-square-foot building, at 631 S.W. Harrison St., and constructing a 31,600-square-foot addition with a new entrance facing Southwest Sixth Avenue. A modernization and upgrade to the existing structure would add 400 classroom seats and 22 break-out rooms for students. The addition would be the same height as the existing building and occupy half of the remaining project site, leaving room to create a public plaza on the northeast corner.

A glass-lined atrium space with a sloped roof would connect the existing building with the addition. The design of the building addition, a series of terraced wood trays with eco-roofs, and the new plaza space embrace the city designation of Southwest Montgomery Street as a green street, said Matthew Noblett, a partner with Behnisch Architekten’s Boston office. The ample stormwater planters on the street served as an inspiration, he told the design commission on Thursday at a design review hearing for the project.

“The Montgomery green street goes through the site and begins to influence the building ground floor,” he said. “We think of this as different from your typical urban stock in the city. The building itself is more like a garden structure. It’s fairly light in volume … It begins to express this idea of green trays.”

But city planner Jeffrey Mitchem on Thursday told the commission that Bureau of Development Services staffers believe the project design, as proposed, isn’t approvable. Among concerns of city staffers were the small size of ground-floor windows and lack of awnings on the building’s side that would face Southwest Harrison Street, he said.

Design commissioners said they agreed with these concerns. Several also questioned plans to construct a new connection between the renovated and expanded building with an existing campus sky bridge.

Commission Vice Chairman Ben Kaiser said that despite written testimony the commission received regarding the sky bridge’s use by people in wheelchairs to more easily navigate the campus, university officials should plan to eventually tear it down and instead make ground-floor entrances more accessible universally.

“At some point, in my opinion, (the sky bridge) should come down,” he told the design team. “I love your design. It clashes so much with that bridge.”

Commissioner Tad Savinar said he also wasn’t a fan of plans to use corrugated metal panels to reclad the existing business school building.

“You’re really going to have to work hard to get me on (board with) that one,” he said. “I don’t think you’re doing it justice with the metal.”

The project team is scheduled to return before the commission with design revisions on July 23.

Knight Cancer Research Building

The design commission also offered feedback Thursday on initial OHSU plans to construct a new building dedicated to cancer research.

Early plans for the Knight Cancer Research Building call for an eight-story, 332,000-square-foot structure fronting Southwest Moody Avenue, directly north of the Collaborative Life Sciences Building and Skourtes Tower. The proposed building would be almost exclusively used by the university’s cancer researchers and include two levels of below-grade parking, a conference center, research labs, offices and ground-floor retail space. An existing pedestrian promenade east of the Skourtes Tower would be extended northward along the new research building’s east side.

The $160 million project was fast-tracked by a $500 million donation from Nike’s Phil Knight to support OHSU cancer research, particularly in the realm of early detection, said Brian Newman, associate vice president of campus planning, development and real estate for OHSU.

“This building is really where the Knight cancer research initiative will be happening,” he said.

Knight’s donation also allowed the university to move forward with a concurrent project to expand the nearby Center for Health & Healing, Newman said.

As design of the Knight Cancer Research Building moves forward, the project team is exploring the best ways for the structure to foster collaborative research, SRG Partnership principal Jeff Yrazabal told the commission. This includes taking lessons learned from the CLSB, a combined education and research building, he said.

“Our team is truly inspired by the mission of the Knight Cancer Institute,” Yrazabal said. “We’ve been challenged to create a new model for their research environment. We’re searching for innovative ideas everywhere … Team science is really driving all these ideas for how this building takes shape. How do we encourage interaction?”

This is one reason why the design team opted for a shorter building with wider floor plates.

“We’re effectively trying to create a stair building, not an elevator building,” he said.

Design commissioners said that overall they were pleased with the direction of the project design, but offered a few suggestions. Kaiser noted that it might be better to replace a proposed rooftop terrace with smaller ones on every floor.

“Wouldn’t it be great for researchers to have a terrace on every level?” he said.

Commissioner Guenevere Millius was reminded the design team that the commission will pay close attention to how the building responds to its context.

“We’re going to be interested to see how this building interacts on all sides with the city,” she said.

A return by the project team before the commission is not scheduled yet.

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Two Portland State University building renovations are lined up, and another may follow.

Construction is scheduled to start in summer 2015 on improvements to the School of Business Administration and Viking Pavilion.

Also, the Oregon Legislature in summer 2015 could approve funding for a major renovation to Neuberger Hall. If so, ground would be broken on that project as soon as spring 2017.

SRG Partnership and Behnisch Architekten are scheduled to wrap up schematic design for the business school project at the end of August. Skanska will be the contractor.

The university hasn’t hired an architect for Viking Pavilion, but hopes to hire one this summer, PSU spokesman Scott Gallagher said. The project calls for construction of a new basketball court and a 5,000-seat meeting space.

One of university officials’ top requests of the state, Gallagher said, is for money to renovate Neuberger Hall, which houses classrooms and the financial aid and registration offices. The aging building needs work including a seismic upgrade and roof repairs, he said.

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