It’s no secret that Oregon Health & Science University has compiled short lists of firms still in the running to design and construct two new buildings in Portland’s South Waterfront District. However, university officials have declined to name these finalists that responded to a request for proposals in August.

Now, industry sources say six teams of architects and general contractors are vying for the projects.

Industry professionals, who requested anonymity, confirmed that the three teams moving ahead in the interview process to design and build the $340 million Center for Health and Healing South are ZGF Architects with Hoffman Construction, NBBJ and GBJ Architecture with Turner Construction, and SmithGroupJJR and Mahlum Architects with Mortenson Construction.

Sources said teams interviewing for the contract to design and build the $160 million Knight Cancer Research Building are ZGF with Mortenson Construction, SRG Partnership with McCarthy and Andersen Construction, and Perkins + Will and Hennebery Eddy Architects with Skanska.

The university anticipates having a design-build team in place for the Center for Health and Healing South in mid-December and one for the Knight Cancer Research Building by early January 2015.

The estimated 675,000-square-foot Center for Health and Healing South will hold ambulatory surgery services and outpatient clinics for cancer treatment and cardiovascular surgery. It also will house the clinical trials for OHSU‘s Knight Cancer Institute, an 80-bed guesthouse, a conference center, a central utility plant and a parking garage.

The approximately 330,000-square-foot Knight Cancer Research Building will have research labs, administrative offices, a conference center and parking. Plans to construct the center got a boost last year when Nike co-founder Phil Knight promised to give $500 million to the Knight Cancer Institute if OHSU could raise $500 million more in two years.

Construction is scheduled to start on both buildings is scheduled to start in March 2016 and finish by July 2018.

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Portland-based DOWA-IBI Group Architects has earned international recognition for careful consideration of student and community input while designing Trillium Creek Primary School in West Linn.

The firm received the James D. MacConnell Award from the Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Council of Educational Facilities Planners International for contributions to the $15.9 million West Linn-Wilsonville School District project. DOWA-IBI Group accepted the award earlier this month during the organization’s annual conference, in Portland at the Oregon Convention Center.

A jury of planners, architects and other design and construction industry professionals unanimously selected the project for the award, said Barbara Worth, CEFPI director of strategic and private development. The honor emphasizes school planning that improves the places where children learn, and the Trillium Creek fit the bill perfectly, she said.

“This was a testament to what we believe in, which is collaborative planning,” she said.

Jury members were particularly impressed with DOWA-IBI Group staffers’ efforts to find out what students would like to see in the school, which was completed in 2012. Students’ feedback that made it into the final design included a slide in the school library.

“It’s just a truly incredible school and they very much engaged the community in the school,” Worth said.

DOWA-IBI Group Architects was one of four finalists for the MacConnell Award. Mahlum Architects, which has offices in Portland and Seattle, also was a finalist for its work on Captain Charles Wilkes Elementary School in Bainbridge Island, Wash.

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A close design-build partnership is being credited for the successful completion of a fast-tracked residence hall project at Pacific University in Forest Grove.

Mahlum Architects and Walsh Construction managed to complete the $13.5 million, 61,500-square-foot Cascade Hall project in 13 months, much quicker than typical for a structure that size, Mahlum principal Kurt Haapala said. The building opened recently, before students started fall classes.

“This was probably one of the most aggressive schedules we’ve had to address,” he said. “We had to do this in half the time.”

To meet the tight timeline, the Mahlum design team had to work extremely close with Walsh staffers and the owner’s representative, Inici Group, Haapala said.

“It took a kind of partnership, all-hands-on-deck approach,” he said. “It also required us to think differently about how we deliver our project.”

Part of the process involved stationing a Mahlum architect on the job site, Haapala said.

“The nuance is we really moved our design effort into the job trailer,” he said. “We had to put one of our lead architects in the field before we finished schematic design … It was kind of the secret ingredient. Our architect in the field had to make field decisions.”

Haapala said having an on-site architect was so successful that he’d like the firm to apply the approach for other projects.

“There was this sense of pride of the project that transcended the typical lines between design and construction,” he said. “It was a really rewarding process, so much that we’re trying to learn from this process.”

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Mahlum Architects has been recognized as a top Pacific Northwest firm by the American Institute of Architects.

The firm, which has offices in Portland and Seattle, recently received the 2014 Region Firm Award from the AIA Northwest & Pacific Region. Mahlum is the third firm to earn the annual honor that is open to firms with a principal office in the region or a branch office here for at least 10 years. The previous winners were Portland-based THA Architecture and Seattle-based LMN Architects.

An award jury of architects selects one firm for outstanding contributions to the architecture profession in the region, which includes Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Alaska, Hawaii and Guam. Excellence in design and a track record of community engagement were among the judging criteria.

This year’s jury members were Steve Dumez of New Orleans-based Eskew + Dumez + Ripple, Larry Scarpa of Los Angeles-based Brooks + Scarpa Architects, THA Architecture principal Jonah Cohen and Works Partnership Architecture principal Bill Neburka. They praised Mahlum’s work for “projecting a warmth and clarity of design through the use of wood and design elements.”

Mahlum’s 60 staffers have worked toward a goal of earning the Region Firm Award and are proud of the achievement, said Niki Lesko, director of marketing in the firm’s Portland office. Along with a focus on design, staffers have striven to create a positive work environment through social activities and become involved in various community organizations, she said.

“It’s going beyond doing good architecture,” she said. “It’s being integrated in the community.”

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Building a residential tower with cross laminated timber could be slightly cheaper than a comparable concrete structure, according to a recent study by three Pacific Northwest firms.

Mahlum Architects, Walsh Construction and Seattle-based structural engineering firm Coughlin Porter Lundeen teamed up for “.” The feasibility study, released in May, examines the cost competitiveness of cross laminated timber versus more traditional building materials for a 10-story residential building.

Cross laminated timber panels are manufactured with lumber that is glued in opposing directions to form a solid slab that can be used for walls, floors or ceilings.

Based on estimates from Walsh Construction staffers, the study found a potential 4 percent cost savings for cross laminated timber over concrete for a 10-story building. The cost could drop more with a mix of traditional wood frame construction and cross laminated timber.

The study focused on Seattle, but the findings can translate to other cities in the Pacific Northwest, said Joe Mayo of Mahlum Architects.

“The theory was: Would this actually be a cheaper alternative and allow the city to build more sustainable?” he said. “That was the impetus.”

Cross laminated timber has gained popularity in Europe over the past 20 years, but it’s still relatively unused in the U.S. Unfamiliarity with the product in the Pacific Northwest is one barrier to it taking off here, Mayo said. Contractors are less likely to have worked with it and most cities don’t address the product in their building codes, he said.

Researchers for the study also worked with Seattle building officials to address lingering concerns about the fire safety and structural strength of cross laminated timber, Mayo said.

“It was really a way to engage the building code officials and put that in front of them saying,

‘If we did anything like this would you be willing to approve this?’ ” he said.

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The new Roosevelt Middle School in Eugene is designed to change over time. That will allow it to keep pace with new trends in education, said Alyssa Leeviraphan of Mahlum Architects, one of the project’s designers.

“The flexibility – that’s a big theme,” she said. “If you’ve got a flexible space, you can adapt to what’s coming up.”

Flexibility is evident throughout plans being developed by Mahlum Architects’ Portland office and Eugene-based Robertson | Sherwood | Architects for a $41.5 million bond-funded project to replace the aging middle school in South Eugene.

Some classrooms will be able to cater to a variety of uses, and be adjacent to meeting rooms where students can study in smaller groups or work individually. Most furniture, including shelving and white boards, will be on wheels.

Based on feedback from teachers, district staffers and parents, designers were tasked with creating a layout that allows students to loop through the school and learn about different academic or career paths.

The 97,000-square-foot school building will wrap around a central courtyard with multiple access points; students there will be able to socialize or participate in outdoor science lessons and art projects.

Glass will be a prominent material throughout and allow students to see from the hallway activity in spaces like the “maker’s lab” – a combined shop, home economics and art classroom, Mahlum associate Rene Berndt said.

“There are not a lot of boring, empty corridors, but there are engaging spaces,” he said. “The idea is to pique (students’) interest and discover what they like.”

The new school on East 24th Avenue will be built west of the existing 105,000-square-foot school on a site with soccer fields and tennis courts close to Amazon Creek and an adjacent wetland. Eugene School District officials are anticipating the possibility of donating a six-acre parcel that holds the current Roosevelt Middle School for a new YMCA, district facilities director Jon Lauch said.

“We look forward to the day when we have a brand new middle school and a brand new YMCA right next to each other,” he said.

The replacement of Roosevelt Middle School will be paid for via a $170 million bond that voters passed in May 2013. Other projects include replacements of Howard and River Road/El Camino del Río elementary schools and a renovation/expansion of the Arts & Technology Academy middle school.

A 2002 long-range district facilities plan first identified Roosevelt Middle School, built in 1950, in need of replacement, Lauch said. According to a master plan for the school completed by Eugene-based PIVOT Architecture in 2004, it would be cheaper to tear down the school and rebuild it than renovate it.

“It doesn’t meet any of our educational specifications for what we want in a school,” Lauch said.

The new school will be vastly more efficient and meet the district’s increased security requirements, he said.

“Roosevelt is built in a way that has numerous exterior entrances,” he said. “Trying to supervise who is coming and going from the school is very difficult … The way we design schools now is we try to limit the front entries.”

Security has been a major consideration in the design process, Berndt said. It’s one reason for the theme of transparency throughout the building.

“There is no hidden space,” Berndt said. “If there is someone that shouldn’t be in the space, he will be seen.”

The design team was also tasked by the district to achieve at least a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design silver rating for the project, Leeviraphan said. Sustainable features could include rainwater harvesting and visible solar panels tied into educational programs.

Feedback from teachers and parents was crucial in the design process, Berndt said. Input from community meetings helped Mahlum designers develop plans to place a classroom for choir and one for drama next to the cafeteria with a movable partition in between. The partition can remain in place for more intimate performances in the drama classroom or removed to allow people sitting in the cafeteria to become the audience.

“We are becoming aware that you can’t design a school from the top down,” Berndt said. “You have to talk to the people.”

Eugene School District bond-funded projects:

Roosevelt Middle School replacement

Location: 680 E. 24th Ave., Eugene

Approximate cost: $41.5 million

Construction start date: spring 2015

Anticipated completion date: fall 2016

Architects: Mahlum Architects, Robertson | Sherwood | Architects

Howard Elementary School replacement

Location: 700 Howard Ave., Eugene

Approximate cost: $32 million

Construction start date: fall 2014

Anticipated completion date: fall 2015

Architects: PIVOT Architecture, DOWA-IBI Group

River Road/El Camino del Río Elementary School replacement

Location: 120 W. Hilliard Lane, Eugene

Approximate cost: $24 million

Construction start date: spring 2015

Anticipated completion date: fall 2016

Architects: PIVOT Architecture, DOWA-IBI Group

Arts & Technology Academy renovation and expansion

Location: 1650 W. 22nd Ave., Eugene

Approximate cost: $35 million

Construction start date: 2015

Anticipated completion date: 2017

Architects: Rowell Brokaw Architects, Opsis Architecture

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One material will stand out in the new Western Oregon University College of Education building: wood.

Its designer, Mahlum Architects, has been tasked by Gov. John Kitzhaber to highlight innovative uses of wood. The project is designated as a demonstration project under the governor’s ; it calls for state agencies to identify nonresidential capital construction projects that can showcase wood products in high-performance buildings.

The tricky part is figuring out the best way to do so, said Kurt Haapala, principal in charge of Mahlum Architects’ Portland office.

“(Kitzhaber) wants wood,” he said. “He’s smart to be thinking about a traditional market that has sustained and grown the state of Oregon (and) that needs to evolve. We have to demonstrate the power and beauty of wood in all its forms.”

The firm is in the early stages of design for the $18.6 million project at the WOU campus in Monmouth. The team is investigating innovative ways that wood can be incorporated into the proposed 50,000- to 57,000-square-foot building – within budget restrictions. Other challenges include navigation of the city permitting process and the lack of familiarity among builders of work with products like (CLT).

Mahlum staffers hope to include CLT in the design, Haapala said. Panels are manufactured with lumber glued in opposing directions to form a solid slab that can be used for walls, floors or ceilings. The product has gained popularity in Europe and Canada over the past 20 years, but it’s still relatively unused in the U.S.

“The city of Monmouth has not seen this before,” Haapala said. “The good news is the city of Portland has dealt with it. There are some code implications we have to work through … We would need to prove it works.”

That is one reason why Mahlum has teamed up with Lake Oswego-based Equilibrium Engineers for the project. The structural engineering firm worked on the only CLT project approved in Portland – a small, single-story structure that was designed by SRG Partnership and now is under construction at the Oregon Zoo.

For that 2,000-square-foot zoo building, extra calculations for load capacity were required to gain city approval for use of CLT on the roof, Equilibrium Engineers associate JoMarie Farrell said. She expects a similar process for the WOU project because Monmouth, like Portland, has no code language that addresses cross-laminated timber.

The project is a great opportunity to demonstrate the advantages of CLT and convince Oregon manufacturers to produce it, Farrell said. Because it comes in prefabricated panels, the product can be installed quickly, she noted.

“I would like to use this product a lot more often; it’s really a matter of finding the right fit,” she said. “I think it pays for itself in so many ways.”

That is the precise reason for projects like the WOU College of Education building, said Rachel Wray, the governor’s press secretary.

“A project like this can demonstrate these products exist – they’re available and they work,” she said. “This project, it really met the criteria for being a great demonstration for the range and uses of Oregon’s wood products.”

WOU officials recognized that innovative wood use in the College of Education building project would be a way to gain state funding, said Brad Huggins, WOU’s construction manager.

“We felt that it was a reasonable project for it,” he said. “We recognized that the governor had an interest in sustainable products, and we were happy to work with them.”

Earlier this year, federal officials joined Kitzhaber in pushing for more wood construction and use of products like cross-laminated timber. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, in an effort to support the nation’s timber industry, announced a partnership with the Wood Products Council‘s initiative WoodWorks to inform architects, engineers and contractors of the benefits of CLT.

Mahlum staffers are working with WoodWorks to learn more about the possibilities for CLT in the WOU College of Education, Haapala said. One idea is to include CLT treads on the building’s main staircase. Also, CLT in the floor and the roof could be left exposed.

“It’s using a pretty high-grade wood, so it’s beautiful,” Haapala said. “Why put a ceiling on?”

The project appealed to Mahlum Architects because the firm has a long history of working with wood, particularly for tribal projects, Haapala said. The firm recently won a WoodWorks National Wood Design Award for the Muckleshoot Smokehouse in Auburn, Wash. The structure was designed in traditional longhouse style for the Muckleshoot tribe.

“There is a craft to working with wood that’s still very much alive in the industry, and I think we should celebrate that,” Haapala said. “How do we get that emotional connection to wood? That’s what we’re after.”

Western Oregon University has not yet selected a contractor for the project. Construction is scheduled to start next spring and wrap up in time for the building to open in fall 2016.

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At Washington State University, a new, 68,000-square-foot residence hall will provide modern amenities students expect as well as history: the Duncan Dunn-Community building will be made of two 90-year-old residence halls.

“There’s a service yard that travels between the two buildings, and we’re rerouting that to be a shared courtyard,” said Diane Shiner, Mahlum principal-in-charge for the project. Duncan Dunn and Community halls, which were built in 1925 and 1921, respectively, have been used as residence halls for decades.

“But they need to be updated,” Shiner said. “They don’t have the amenities that students today want.”

The project will include renovations and an addition with space for multiple laundry facilities, new restrooms, elevators, study areas and kitchens.

The building is in a particularly historic part of Washington State’s campus in Pullman, Wash., where many red-brick residence halls are clustered.

“The addition is quiet, and draws from some of the proportion of the historic buildings,” Shiner said. “It’s very much like an Italian village.”

The ambience influenced the choices of building materials and landscaping.

The project also will include an array of energy-efficiency upgrades: a new mechanical-electrical system, insulation and insulated windows, natural ventilation and a heat recovery system for the building’s corridors and restrooms.

The Mahlum design team includes Anne Schopf, lead designer; Amy Copeland, project architect; Rob Lecher, project architect; Amy Noe, interior designer; and Gregg Stewart, project manager.

Other project team members include BNBuilders, general contracting/construction management; PAE Consulting Engineers, mechanical, engineering, plumbing and lighting; Coughlin Porter Lundeen, structural engineering; Taylor Engineering, civil engineering; Walker Macy, landscape design; Peter Meijer, historic consulting; and Creighton Engineering, sprinkler design.

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Mahlum recently named Erik Goodfriend principal of the firm, and Anjali Grant and Corrie Rosen as associates.

Goodfriend has spent the past 12 years focusing on health care architecture at Mahlum. He leads the health care practice group in both the Seattle and Portland offices.

Grant, an employee of the firm for the past three years, specializes in sustainable design strategies for educational facilities.

Rosen has nine years of architectural experience, including the past three with Mahlum. She is the leader of the firm’s community service group.

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A new 169-bed residence hall at Lewis & Clark College in Southwest Portland will serve two groups in one community. The building, designed by Mahlum and under construction in a design-build partnership with Walsh Construction, will house both undergraduates and graduate and law students.

“Graduate and law students have specific and different needs from typical underclassmen,” said Kurt Haapala, an associate principal and senior project manager with Mahlum.

The building will have two distinct sections, which will be separated vertically. Each of the building’s four floors will have one nine-apartment unit with shared kitchen and living space for graduate and law students. The remainder of the building will be dedicated to single, double and suite rooms for sophomores, juniors and seniors.

“(Housing the students together) is unusual and, dare I say, innovative. We’ll see how it works in practice, because they just do live very different lives,” Haapala said.

The building will include a number of green features; the goal is to receive Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design gold certification, Haapala said. Input from students influenced some decisions; for example, some materials are from local sources.

“One of the coolest things about (the design) is that it uses a lot of repurposed wood,” said Maisha Foster-O’Neal, a recent Lewis & Clark College graduate who was a student adviser on the project. “Almost all of the wood in the building, including things like the tables in the kitchens, will be from the trees that were cut down to make space for the new dorm.”

The building will have double-flush toilets and on-site storm-water management. With bicycle storage capacity and minimal parking for motor vehicles, the facility is designed to encourage greener means of transportation.

Another project challenge was to incorporate accessibility.

“We’re providing more than the (Americans with Disabilities Act) requires, with as much universal design on the hilly campus as possible,” Haapala said. “The building is fully accessible. We tried to create equity.”

The residence hall is scheduled to open in fall 2012.

Other project members at Mahlum include LeRoy Landers, principal-in-charge; Jeremy Rear, project manager; JoAnn Wilcox, project designer; Joren Bass, project architect; and Bonnie Chiu, intern.

The design team includes Miyamoto International, structural engineering; PAE Consulting Engineers, mechanical, electrical and plumbing; Harper Houf Peterson Righellis Inc., civil engineering; Atelier Dreiseitl Waterscapes, landscape architecture; and Altermatt Associates, acoustic engineering.

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