Even as the COVID-19 pandemic persists, construction work is continuing in the Portland-metro area.

The Wingspan Event & Conference Center, for instance, is being tackled by general contractor/construction manager Swinerton Builders within a stone’s throw of the Hillsboro Airport, at the corner of Northeast 34th Avenue and Veterans Drive. LRS Architects designed the 89,000-square-foot facility, which will feature mass timber and much more.

“It’s really an interesting project in that you have a lot of different buildings thrown together to make up the architecture,” Swinerton Builders senior project manager John Ciepiela said. “You have structural steel over joists on the lower roof sections. The main gallery and conference and meeting rooms are mass timber over structural steel. And the main expo hall space is made of mega-trusses over structural steel brace framing.”

The $52 million project is being developed by the partnership of Washington County, the city of Hillsboro and the Washington County Visitors Association. The Wingspan Event & Conference Center is expected to become the heart of Westside Commons – a multiuse campus being created to revitalize the aging Washington County Fairgrounds.

The new facility will host fair-related functions and large community events, including regional and national conferences. The main exposition hall will have roughly 39,000 square feet of floor space; partitions will allow the space to be split into smaller sections. A 13,000-square-foot conference hall will be able to host smaller events on its own or in combination with the main expo hall. An additional 3,000 square feet of meeting space will be provided for smaller meetings and lectures.

A spacious entry plaza will be next to the lobby, and a full commercial kitchen, concessions area and office will serve the entire building. An outdoor exhibit area on the west side of the building will provide an opening into the campus.

The building’s name comes from its most noticeable feature: a gracefully sloping roof section covering the east end.

“Aesthetically, that project is pretty fantastic,” said Swinerton Mass Timber superintendent Tym, who goes by only one name. “When you see the wingspan, as you approach it, there is something very retro about it that gives you a 1950s airport look. The thing that’s most exciting about mass timber, coming from a concrete background, where everything is gray with architectural features, is the vibrancy and the lines and shape and the efficiency of the erection process; as a builder it’s exciting to see.”

Inside, there are corridors taller than 30 feet and sloping ceilings with exposed cross-laminated timber panels. That said, the construction process pairing those panels with structural steel, Tym added, proved painstaking.

“The really high ceilings in the corridors have beam profiles that taper and slope,” he said. “Every time you’re dealing with an application of mass timber and sloped lines, it’s an incredible challenge to interface with all those steel elements.”

Ciepiela explained the assembly.

“You basically have brace frames and structural steel coming into an aesthetic architectural piece,” he said. “You’re dealing with 3-D angle assessment and mass-timber connections that are (intersecting) knife plates. Then you have buckle connections and there’s also long-span, 75-foot glulam beams; the sistering of those beams took some structural ingenuity from Nishkian Dean, the structural engineer.”

The project team broke ground in September 2018, and construction of the building began in February 2019. Substantial completion is expected sometime this spring.

Exterior work has been largely completed. Dozens of electricians and other tradespeople are installing the miles of wiring needed to power the facility and enable communications and audio/visual equipment.

Swinerton’s own carpenters are on the site self-performing drywall, carpentry and related scopes of work.

The unique design presented particular challenges for builders in regard to mechanical systems and a large curtainwall system, Ciepiela said. A delicate lifting operation was required to place large air-handling units inside the rooftop penthouse – with the cross-laminated timber roof already in place. Envelope considerations complicated other work.

“We have glazing curtainwall interfacing with mass timber at interesting negative angles going out,” he said. “Structurally it’s not as simple as just setting glass frames up and down.”

Projects like this are helping broaden the mass-timber market as a whole, Tym said.

“We’re able to share the lessons we’ve learned from a high-level CM-GC perspective, and we’re making it possible for these public jobs to envision what a mass-timber solution looks like,” he said.

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A wetlands system project that saved the city of Prineville tens of millions of dollars took top honors Wednesday night at the 2018 Engineering Excellence Awards event hosted by the American Council of Engineering Companies of Oregon.

In winning the Project of the Year title, the Crooked River Wetlands project, submitted by Anderson Perry & Associates and the city of Prineville, also claimed the right to advance to the ACEC Engineering Excellence national awards competition.

Judges for the local competition gave the wetlands project high marks for providing both an affordable solution that protects the environment and the community with valuable lessons in conservation and stewardship.

The project was the result of a population boom in Prineville that severely taxed the city’s existing wastewater treatment system. Rather than invest $62 million in construction of a traditional mechanical facility, the city approached Anderson Perry & Associates to identify alternatives. The firm’s team designed a series of wetland cells that treat wastewater before releasing it back into the environment. The wetlands area, which ended up costing approximately $8 million, includes walking paths and pavilions as well as informational kiosks created by local schoolchildren.

Parametrix scored two wins during the Wednesday evening event. The company earned the award for Best Small Project for its work on the Deschutes River Trail Boardwalk, a collaborative project with Oregon Parks and Recreation Department staff. The company also stepped forward with Kittelson & Associates to claim a Best in Category award for their respective work on the U.S. 20 Barclay Roundabout for the Oregon Department of Transportation.

KPFF and GRI scored a Best in Category award for their combined work on the Cultural Crossing, an expansion project at the Portland Japanese Garden.

Five firms received Grand awards for work on four projects. Nishkian Dean received one for its work on the commercial crew tower capability project at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. PAE‘s Grand award resulted from its work on the Oregon Zoo Education Center. Shannon & Wilson and HBH Consulting Engineers teamed up for their award-winning Southern Flow Corridor project for the Port of Tillamook Bay and Tillamook County. OBEC Consulting Engineers received its Grand award for work on the Peter Courtney Minto Island Bridge for the city of Salem.

Sixteen other projects received Honor awards.

The awards were selected by a jury of building industry professionals that included Mark Kennedy, associate dean and professor of civil engineering in the Donald P. Shiley School of Engineering at the University of Portland; Tova Peltz, region 1 geo-environmental unit manager for the Oregon Department of Transportation; Nick Bjork, publisher of the Daily Journal of Commerce; Mark Hanson, chief of the structural and architectural design section of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Portland District; and Ermel Quevedo, a past president of ACEC Oregon.

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The Structural Engineers Association of Oregon has released the names of the winning projects in the 2017 SEAO Excellence in Structural Engineering awards competition.

The annual awards recognize outstanding structural engineering efforts that feature at least one team member associated with SEAO. This year’s nominated projects were selected by a panel of judges based on criteria that included creativity and complexity of structural design, efficient use of materials, successful fulfillment of owner/client needs, and suitability of the structure for its environment.

The Titus Will adaptive reuse project, submitted by WDY Inc., was selected as the winner in the renovation and retrofit category. The 50,000-square-foot, two-story structure underwent a full seismic upgrade because of occupancy changes. The addition of moment frames to the seismic system allowed an existing large storefront to remain open. The project owner/developer was Tourmaline Capital and Irwin Development Group. The project architect was Lundin Cole Architects, and the general contractor was Korsmo Construction.

The award for buildings over $10 million went to the Q21 mixed-use project, which was submitted by Nishkian Dean. The seven-story, 202,000-square-foot mixed-use structure featured unique columns made from two 12-sided tapered steel sections. Welded together at the center, the sections created double tapered columns that formed the number XXI. The project owner/developer was Rosan Inc. The project architect was YBA Architects, and the general contractor was Andersen Construction.

The Athey Creek Christian Fellowship project, submitted by VLMK Engineering + Design, won the award for new buildings under $10 million. The judges gave the project and its engineering team top scores for overcoming a major hurdle to successfully locate concrete panels, ranging in height from 34 feet to 37 feet, on top of 12-inch-wide, cast-in-place concrete walls. The project owner was Athey Creek Christian Fellowship. The project team included David Bissett Architect and general contractor Perlo Construction.

In the special-use structures category, the winning project was the C-Tran Fourth Plain Bus Rapid Transit Corridor and Maintenance Facility expansion and renovation. The project holds the distinction as the first bus rapid transit system in Oregon or Southwest Washington. The project owner was C-Tran. The project team included Equilibrium Engineers, which submitted the project, PIVOT Architecture and Waterleaf Architecture, and general contractors Emerick Construction, Colf Construction and Tapani.

The Portland Japanese Garden’s Cultural Crossing was selected as the jurors’ favorite. The expansion project added four buildings, a site bridge and several site retaining walls. The owner/developer was the Portland Japanese Garden. Architects for the project were Kengo Kuma & Associates and Hacker. Hoffman Construction was general contractor.

The judging panel for the awards included Eric Thomas of the Portland Bureau of Development Services; Thomas Miller of the Oregon State University School of Civil and Construction Engineering; Judith Sheine of the University of Oregon School of Architecture and Environment; and Stephanie Basalyga, editor of the Daily Journal of Commerce.

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Chad Norvell, a project engineer at ��������쾱�������ٱ𲹲� in Portland, was one of 10 young engineers named a new face of civil engineering by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). Honorees were announced as part of Engineers Week, which took place Feb. 19-25.

The “new faces” program highlights the achievements of young engineers and their contributions to society. Norvell will receive official recognition during ASCE’s Outstanding Projects and Leaders (OPAL) gala on March 16 in Arlington, Va.

The Portland State University graduate specializes in seismic retrofits of buildings. He has worked on improving seismic safety at more than a dozen schools in the Portland-metro area.

“For me it’s a great opportunity to get connected with the big names in the industry,” Norvell said. “I will get to go to D.C. for the OPAL gala. We will be meeting some of the big players in the civil engineering field.”

Norvell has worked with Engineers Without Borders as a lead for several projects in Nicaragua. He also served as president of the Engineers Without Borders’ West Coast region from 2011 to 2013.

Norvell has contributed extensively to earthquake research by the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute, with a focus on helping relief efforts in Haiti and Nepal. Currently, he is participating in the Learning from Earthquakes field study program. It will bring engineers to Chile to study the effects of the 2010 Maule earthquake and community resilience.

The ASCE honor helps promote the role that civil engineers play in society, Norvell said.

“It’s fun to be part of something where you are showing young people what civil engineers are doing,” he said.

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A 93-year-old single-story retail building in downtown Portland is being demolished to make way for a new six-story office building developed by Menashe Properties. Konell Construction and Demolition began demolishing the building this week for general contractor Turner Construction. The demolition is expected to last approximately one more week, at which point crews will begin digging for the quarter-block building’s foundations.

A tower crane will be erected at the site in November, and topping out of the post-tensioned concrete building is expected for May 2017, with core and shell completion slated for mid-August of that year. The LRS Architects and Design Department-designed building will have five stories of office over ground-floor retail, and a basement with M.E.P. systems and bike facilities.

Interface Engineering is the project’s mechanical engineer, Nishkian Dean is the structural engineer, and Shapiro Didway is the landscape architect.

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The Wood Products Council has named several Portland-area firms 2016 Wood Design Award winners for their “innovative use of wood both as a structural and finish material.”

The Radiator Building won for best multistory wood design. The 36,000-square-foot office building was designed by PATH Architecture with assistance from Munzing Structural Engineering. The general contractor was Kaiser Group Inc. The building is one of three going up at the One North development on North Fremont Street between Williams and Vancouver avenues. The Kartini Clinic, a medical and mental health treatment facility, has already agreed to lease 16,000 square feet in the Radiator Building.

The Framework Building at 160 N.E. Sixth Ave. won for best commercial design. The five-story Central Eastside creative office building was designed by Works Partnership Architecture, with assistance from TM Rippey Consulting Engineers. Yorke & Curtis served as the general contractor.

Hennebery Eddy Architects‘ plans for the Gresham Fire Station won for best institutional wood design. Nishkian Dean Structural Engineers and general contractor Bremik Construction also served on the project team. The 10,000-square-foot “Fire Station 76” features blackened wood paneling across two connected buildings – one a crew living space and the other a storage space for vehicles and apparatus.

Additionally, Hennebery Eddy won in the “wood in educational buildings” category for its design of the Our Lady of Montserrat Chapel in Seattle. Also recognized for that project were two Seattle firms – structural engineer Coughlin Porter Lundeen and general contractor Sellen Construction.

Portland architecture firm Hacker won in the “green building by design” category for its work on the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship building in Bend. The project’s structural engineer was Walker Structural Engineering and the general contractor was Kirby Nagelhout Construction Co.

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A chance meeting at a convention for professional engineers changed the course of Edwin T. Dean’s career.

At that event, in the late 1990s, Dean met Levon Nishkian. That encounter led to creation of a new engineering office – Nishkian Dean – in Portland.

The office, which celebrated its 15th anniversary last year, traces its roots back to San Francisco, where an engineer named Leon Nishkian opened an engineering company in 1919. Under his leadership, the firm worked on nearly 1,600 projects, including the San Francisco Bay Bridge, the Golden Gate Bridge, and a host of familiar landmarks and buildings throughout the area.

When Leon Nishkian died in 1947, his son, Byron, assumed the helm and continued the firm’s expansion. Leon’s grandson, Levon, became president of the firm in 1981. Eight years later he showed his mettle by reopening his family’s firm merely days after the Loma Prieta earthquake.

By the time Levon Nishkian and Dean decided to open a Portland location, the firm had become well-known; it had worked on projects across the country.

Under the leadership of Dean, the Portland office has continued its parent company’s standard of excellence on projects that range from seismic rehabilitations to some for NASA’s aerospace program. Projects handled by the Portland firm have received Hammurabi Awards for the East Multnomah County Courthouse and the McDonald West Building, a 2007 Oregon Engineering Excellence Grand Award, and a 2007 National Recognition Award for the massive LC41 door replacement at Cape Canaveral to accommodate the world’s largest rocket.

The Nishkian group includes partnerships in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Portland and Bozeman, Mont. Collectively, they have worked on more than 8,000 projects since the firm was established.

“Like any firm in our industry, it starts with developing effective relationships with our clients,” Dean said. “We have an understanding of the needs of our clients in the Portland (area), but while each office operates independently, we consult with each other as we need to. Most of what we do is in the Portland area, but we have projects all over the country.

“Collaboration is a valuable resource. It expands the range of projects that we can work on.”

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Nearly two and a half years after fire damaged portions of Woodburn High School, the Woodburn School District has reached a settlement with its insurance company that will allow it to move forward with reconstruction plans.

The district will receive a total of $9.7 million from its insurance company, Property and Casualty Coverage for Education, for damage to the school that resulted from a four-alarm fire set by three students in May 2012. With an eye toward possibly starting construction next year, the district expects to issue a request for proposals for design services “within the next few months,” Chuck Ransom, district superintendent, said.

The district originally planned to have construction on some of the school’s damaged portions begin just a few months after the fire. The Portland office of the architectural firm now known as DOWA-IBI Group and Portland-based engineering firm Nishkian Dean were hired to work on preliminary plans for the project.

But the claims process became tangled – and all work being done on the project stopped – when the district’s $11.8 million estimate turned out to be more than PACE thought it was obligated to cover.

The insurance company agreed to pay $7.1 million in damages for reconstruction. But it balked at reimbursing the district for incidental costs, including rentals of trailers used as portable classrooms since the fire and $1.5 million to install a sprinkler system in the school.

“There was some controversy over (the sprinklers) soon after the designs started coming in for the rebuild back in 2012,” Ransom said. “Initially the city said rebuilding would require sprinklers. That was disputed by the insurer, and that took a long time to resolve.”

Eventually, the issue ended up at the state level. The state sided with PACE, determining that the damaged portion of the school could be rebuilt without sprinklers by keeping the design true to original plans.

Like many of the district schools, Woodburn High School was designed in the 1970s at a time when sprinklers weren’t required in schools. That law has changed, though, as has the way that schools use space to best serve students. Rebuilding the high school following a design that was roughly four decades old wasn’t feasible for the district, nor was creating a school without sprinklers.

The district could have pressed the sprinkler issue in court, Ransom said. But that would have required starting construction without any money in hand.

“In a lawsuit, you have to go after costs actually incurred, versus having money in hand (through a settlement),” he said.

In the end, the district and PACE spent two months in mediation, finally agreeing that the district should receive $2.6 million in addition to the money it already had received.

“One of the advantages … with the settlement is that it allows us to … proceed with construction of the building,” Ransom said. “We intend to sprinkle the building; it’s the right thing to do for the community and for kids. And, it allows us some flexibility with what we can do with the design.”

The district will begin holding community sessions to brainstorm what a rebuild of the damaged portion of the school might look like. In addition, there’s a good chance it will place a bond measure on the ballot next May to try to drum up money for school expansions and improvements that would include a sprinkler system.

District officials are hoping to receive enough RFP responses to allow them to select a design firm for the high school project as well as build a pool of qualified firms to handle future work for the district, Ransom said.

“It’s not that unusual for a district to have a pool of two or three architects,” he said. “I’m not saying we wouldn’t use DOWA (for the high school project), but we would like to expand the pool.”

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SUBMITTED?BY: MYHRE GROUP?ARCHITECTS AND SIERRA CONSTRUCTION CO.

The Prescott Apartments, a 155-unit complex in North Portland, is a model for integrating affordable housing into a transitioning neighborhood.

Livability was a key goal for the developer. Studios and one- and two- bedroom units wrap around a central courtyard that offers tenants access to bocce ball, a sports court and barbecue pits. Six commercial spaces on the ground floor have brought additional small businesses into the community. A convenient underground garage offers 100 parking spaces and 40 rentable storage units.

The complex also has access to multiple transportation options, which makes its location at Prescott Street and Interstate Avenue attractive to a range of tenants. Just one block from a light-rail platform, the complex is a 15-minute ride from downtown Portland. Two blocks away is an entrance to Interstate 5. There’s also a dedicated bike lane in the area.
The HUD-backed lending program that helped finance the project required that the architect and construction team develop strong communication with each other and with the agency. The resulting project has benefited from those efforts, and has developed into a source of affordable, modern housing in a desirable part of Portland.

PROJECT?TEAM + STATS:
Location: Portland, Oregon
Cost: $22 million
Start date: April 2012
Completion date: December 2013
Owner/developer: Sierra Construction Co. NW LLC
Architect: Myhre Group Architects
Landscape Architect: Vala-Christensen Landscape Architects
Engineers: KPFF Consulting Engineers, Nishkian Dean
General contractor: Sierra Construction Co. NW LLC
Other associates: ACS

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After five years at its current downtown Portland location, engineering firm Nishkian Dean has decided to move into a bigger space.

Its new office is in a nearby building at 1022 S.W. Salmon St. All of its work and fax numbers will remain the same, said Ed Dean, vice president of Nishkian Dean. The engineering firm has leased 5,000 square feet of space from Harsch Investment Properties.

“This space is better suited for us and will give us some room to grow.” Dean said. “Harsch is one of our clients.”

Nishkian Dean was previously located at 1121 S.W. Salmon St., Suite 400.

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