From apartments and workspaces to schools and hospitals, PAE Consulting Engineers approaches all projects with the same goal in mind: To help people live and work better, and learn and heal faster. All while restoring the planet.

Established nearly six decades ago, PAE Consulting Engineers has been a carbon neutral firm since 2008 and carbon negative since 2019.

With six offices across the country in addition to its Portland office, PAE Consulting Engineers has helped build six Living Buildings and is planning for 14 more. It has worked on 15 Net Zero Energy buildings and is pursuing another 34 such projects. Its all-electric projects number 45 and it has another 51 on the horizon. And PAE Consulting Engineers has helped build 60 projects that are LEED Platinum certified, with another 47 in development.

Through pro bono activities, employee volunteer time and financial donations, PAE Consulting Engineers contributes to the communities in which it works. In partnership with the Architecture Foundation of Oregon, the firm recently established a diversity scholarship that supports climate-focused engineering students across the United States. The $5,000 PAE Diversity in Engineering Scholarship is intended to increase racial and gender diversity within the engineering profession.

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On the north side of the Columbia River, more than two years after voters approved a $458 million bond measure for Vancouver Public Schools, construction is taking place at 28 school sites. Workers are remodeling, expanding, replacing or upgrading existing facilities, and building new ones.

At one site, two replacement schools are being built under one new roof, on property between their existing buildings on MacArthur Boulevard. McLoughlin Middle School and Marshall Elementary School will operate on a single 203,000-square-foot campus.

LSW Architects designed the project, and Skanska USA Building is serving as the construction manager/general contractor. Kramer Gehlen & Associates is performing structural engineering, and PAE Consulting Engineers is handling mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineering.

Ground was broken in June 2018, and work is scheduled to finish in March 2020. It’s one of the first public school projects to feature mass-timber structural components.

“We’ve got two main types of construction,” Skanska superintendent Krys Lukesh said. “One of them is wood framing in the classroom wings, while the main core buildings will have tilt panels. They all utilize glulam columns to support the (cross-laminated timber) and then they will all have CLT decks and roofs on them, so it’s a couple of different methods.”

The new building will replace a pair of aging schools previously improved in 1992. Designers engaged staff, students, parents and community members in a process that produced plans for a two-story structure with a great deal of daylighting as well as modern, secure access both from the outside and between the two schools.

The massing is dominated by five large structures connected by second-story sky-bridges. On the west end of the 1,000-foot-long site a pair of two-story classroom wings will serve the middle school. Two more classroom wings on the east end will serve the elementary school.

Some of the space, including a kitchen and “family-community resource center,” will be shared. Another such space will be a huge media center able to become two smaller ones via a partition.

A new gymnasium is included in the project, but it will be built on the site of the existing middle school after it’s eventually demolished. The old elementary school will be remodeled to accommodate programs now located at other schools.

“It’s all one building,” Skanska project manager Brian Hover said. “Right now, with phase one, the schools minus the gym will be done. And once they’re moved in we’ll take this school (McLoughlin) down.”

The new building is dominated by wood, both structurally and aesthetically. Many of the CLT panels manufactured by British Columbia firm Structurlam will be left exposed, particularly in the shared spaces and the sky-bridges.

“It gives a Northwest look with the wood,” Hover said. “And the CLT decks are structural, so instead of doing steel we’re doing CLT, and that becomes the structural surface between floors and the roof as well. You get bigger spans with it, and it installs fast.”

The project’s CLT panels range in size from five-ply to nine-ply – from 6.5 inches to 12 inches thick.

Skanska project manager Scott Mettler and Lukesh both noted that mass-timber projects of this type require substantial collaboration with designers because the prefabrication makes on-site adjustments more challenging.

“I just think that in general with wood construction you have to do that in order to make the MEP penetrations,” Mettler said. “That’s one thing we had to do ahead of time, and it’s a different sequence than usual. With the MEP routing in a steel building, sometimes you would come up with your MEP design and you have all these penetrations and then you have supplemental steel design package.”

It just means a more complete design is needed earlier in the process, Lukesh added.

“That’s probably the biggest challenge of using it, because there are a lot of benefits to using it,” he said.

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One of Portland’s most storied high schools is due to soon receive a major face-lift, and the Historic Landmarks Commission on Monday provided the project team with design advice. The modernization proposal for Benson Polytechnic High School calls for demolition of old buildings and contemporary upgrades, and commissioners said greater explanation of those decisions must be given before they could give approval.

Bassetti Architects has designed the project for Portland Public Schools. Three firms – KPFF (structural), PAE (mechanical) and BHE Group (civil) are handling the engineering, while Mayer/Reed is taking care of landscape architecture.

The school, at 546 N.E. 12th Ave., opened in 1917 after the district received donations from local logging magnate Simon Benson, who wanted to support a trade school in the city. Benson High was one of many schools that opened in Portland in the early 20th century, when the population was growing massively; its classical revival style was popular at the time.

Plans call for removal of the south wing and most of the north wing (apart from the iconic façade facing Northeast Irving Street). The team also plans to remove existing library and automotive buildings, which were added to the school decades after it opened.

Upgrades will be made to the front entry terrace, which sits on the west side of the 7-acre site, and the rear courtyard. The new north and south wings are to have a second story, which will be set back 20 feet from the outer walls of the first story.

The buildings at the front of the campus – including the main entrance, gymnasium and auditorium – will be preserved and retained for their current purposes. Vestibules will be added to the entrances of the auditorium and gym for safety, while the main entrance will be set back upon a terrace.

Glass and terra-cotta will be used throughout to create an aesthetic combining historic and contemporary elements. Floor, shop, studio, science lab and classroom areas will each be significantly larger than they are now.

Commissioners were mixed in their assessments of the design. They recognized that the project is still in the early planning stage, and will probably change before it is presented for final review.

“Generally, the site organization is probably how I’d have it,” Commissioner Matthew Roman said. “I think it’s a good plan overall.”

While commissioners had no issues with the materials used or the proposed aesthetics, they did raise questions concerning plans for the campus – in particular, why certain buildings would be removed. The entire school is considered a historic landmark, and several commissioners said that while they appreciated the iconic façade being preserved, the design team’s presentation did not sufficiently justify removing the wings.

“You need to let us know more of what you looked at,” Commission Chairwoman Kristen Minor said. “We need to be convinced.”

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Sub-bids were published this week for work on a $46 million arts center in downtown Beaverton, the latest sign the showcase civic project is moving forward.

Construction manager/general contractor Skanska USA Building will build the 43,235-square-foot Patricia Reser Center for the Arts. The regional arts venue will include a 550-seat theater, art gallery, and space for rehearsals, workshops and meetings. The project will be the first new performing arts center built in the Portland metro region in three decades, supporters say.

Project backers expect to break ground before the end of the year. If all goes well, the arts center would open in mid-2021.

The project would be built on a city-owned parcel adjacent to The Round, increasingly a hub of public life in Beaverton. The area is on the MAX Blue Line and near a bustling food-cart pod.

“This project is part of a larger project for downtown Beaverton to create a more vibrant downtown,” said Chris Ayzoukian, general manager of the Patricia Reser Center for the Arts.

Renderings show an expansive two-story building on Beaverton Creek with transparent glass facades framed by narrow white columns backing into a box-shaped performing arts venue and the taller parking garage.

A light-filled, transparent design was repeatedly mentioned by local residents in surveys as desirable, Ayzoukian said.

“The site is unique in that it’s right along Beaverton Creek, so there’s real opportunity to play with the natural landscape, and the urban, with The Round next door,” Ayzoukian said.

The project is funded by $21.9 million from the city of Beaverton via a lodging tax. The venue received a boost from the Oregon Legislature, which awarded $1.5 million in lottery funding during the 2019 session. Reser, who serves as chair of the Beaverton Arts Foundation board, donated $13 million.

Other private fundraising will provide the balance of the funding. The Arts Foundation is still looking to raise $3.5 million, said Executive Director Lani E. Faith.

The Beaverton City Council must give final approval to break ground. A Skanska executive declined to comment, referring questions to the city of Beaverton.

“There are a few more steps and hurdles to go before the project is green lighted,” said Cadence Petros, development division manager for the city of Beaverton. “City Council needs to make a determination that they’re far enough along in the fundraising to pull the trigger.”

The city would continue to own the building after completion. Beaverton Mayor Denny Doyle also serves on the Arts Foundation’s board.

The Arts Center will include 2,400 square feet of office space for administrative purposes. The facility will not have enough space to lease out to other users, Ayzoukian said.

A neighboring parking garage will be built at the same time. The parking structure will have approximately 350 vehicle spaces and 7,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial space. “We’re looking to attract activation of the street along the lines of restaurants or retail,” Ayzoukian said.

During the design phase, the Arts Center theater was enlarged from 450 to 550 seats. The facility is meant to host both regional performing arts groups as well as touring acts. “The center has evolved quite a bit, as often these projects do,” Ayzoukian said.

Opsis Architecture is designing the project, and Gerding Edlen is serving as owner’s representative. The project team also includes landscape architect PLACE Studio, KPFF Consulting Engineers, Otak, and PAE Consulting Engineers.

A smaller, 1,800-square-foot room called The Lab will host more intimate performances and workshops.

“For a long time there’s been a shortage of performing arts in the region, especially on the West side,” Ayzoukian said. “This center fills a real need in terms of performance space.”

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When it came to reimagining and expanding The Nature Conservancy‘s Oregon headquarters in Southeast Portland, it was important for the project to reflect the environmental organization’s values.

So a pavilion expansion was built with Northern California cross-laminated timber and glulam beams certified by the Forest Stewardship Council and manufactured by D.R. Johnson of Riddle.

Juniper wood cladding and cedar decks came from conservation areas. “We worked closely with the folks that were harvesting it,” said Thomas Robinson, LEVER Architecture‘s founding principal.

The Nature Conservancy considered ground-up construction before opting to expand the existing three-story, 12,462-square-foot building with a 2,000-square-foot pavilion. The original building at 821 S.E. 14th Ave. was constructed in 1979.

“At a really basic level, one of the most sustainable things you can do is re-use something,” Robinson said.

Now called the Oregon Conservation Center, the project was recently completed. The project team expects the building will achieve a LEED gold rating from the U.S. Green Building Council.

The pavilion will provide space for board meetings, as well as conferences and events with allied organizations.

“They’re looking to solve major, long-term issues that impact Oregon, and this space is designed around allowing those types of conversations to happen,” Robinson said.

A second-floor terrace provides visual connection to the Buckman neighborhood. A rooftop photovoltaic system was installed, which will supply about a quarter of the building’s energy needs.

Project^ was the development manager, and Lease Crutcher Lewis served as general contractor. The project team also included KPFF Consulting Engineers,��PAE Consulting Engineers, and Lando and Associates Landscape Architecture.

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The Portland Historic Landmarks Commission voted Monday to approve plans for a five-story office building intended to be the city’s first certified living building.

Commissioners voted 4-0 in favor of the PAE Living Building, a 54,000-square-foot mixed-use office building planned for a quarter-block parcel at the corner of Southwest First Avenue and Pine Street in the Skidmore/Old Town Historic District.

The project received design advice in January, at which time commissioners praised the concept and asked for a few small changes in the fifth-floor window layout to better match the classic 19^th century Italianate style found throughout the district.

Designers with ZGF Architects responded with changes including establishing a more clear delineation between floors and extending golden ratio proportions to the top of the building.

The response from commissioners was ultimately what the project team was looking for.

“I really love the building,” Commissioner Ernestina Fuenmayor said. “I think it’s a great addition; if you push yourself you can get great results and I think this is a very good example of that.”

Other small changes included the addition of larger ground-floor canopies and additional details added to the tops of ground-floor windows.

The project team includes PAE Consulting Engineers, which will occupy three floors of the building, as well as developer Gerding Edlen and general contractor Walsh Construction. The structure will feature cross-laminated timber framing and will contain ground-floor retail space along the frontages of Southwest First Avenue and Pine Street. The second through fifth floors will contain office space.

The building will be clad primarily in textured brick veneer, with custom finished aluminum panels, aluminum storefronts at ground level and fiberglass windows above.

Designers aim to achieve the net-zero water and energy efficiency required by the Living Building Challenge through a host of different means.

To earn the certification, the building will in part need to show over the course of at least a year that it produces more energy and water than it consumes. The project team is projecting that 105 percent of the building’s annual energy needs will be produced on-site from solar sources, while energy will be saved through daylighting, triple-paned glazing and other features. Meanwhile, to achieve net zero water, stormwater, and wastewater use, the building will utilize a 50,000-gallon cistern, composting toilets, and urine diversion for fertilizer generation.

“This is a unique building in that we’re seeking the Living Building Challenge,” said Kathy Berg, a partner at ZGF Architects. “But we’re looking to do so in a way that preserves the characteristics of the district. It’s a pretty exciting opportunity for Portland, it would be the first living building in Portland and one of less than 100 in the world, with full net-zero on energy and water and red-list free materials.”

City requirements for eco-roof standards were waived for the project in order to accommodate an extensive photovoltaic array and drinking water collection equipment that will occupy much of the roof space.

“If we were to put a green roof up there,” Berg said, “it would preclude both possibilities.”

A requirement for at least two Type A loading docks was also waived to preserve ground-floor uses and avoid pedestrian interference.

PAE Consulting Engineers will move roughly 225 employees into the top three floors of the building, while tenants are still being sought for the second floor and retail spaces.

“It shows our [design advice review] process really does work,” Commissioner Andrew Smith said. “They came in with a project with a really sound concept, and what we got coming back was something that not only simplified, but also clarified. I think it’s going to be a really good addition to the historic district.”

Commissioners Kristen Minor, Annie Mahoney and Wendy Chung were absent Monday.

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Construction manager/general contractor Perlo Construction is seeking metal and concrete subcontractors to work on the renovation of Barlow Hall at Clackamas Community College‘s main campus in Oregon City.

The building was constructed in 1969 and has long served as the home of the college’s automotive department. However, spaces in that building are “crowded, inefficient and outdated,” according to the college. Manufacturing programs moved into the new Industrial Technical Center, completed this past summer, to allow expansion and modernization of Barlow Hall and better serve the automotive department.

This year, the college plans to renovate the hall at a cost of roughly $3.5 million. The project is being paid for with money from a $90 million bond approved by voters in 2014.

Currently, Perlo Construction is seeking bids from firms to perform all concrete work as well as installation of metal doors and frames.

Axis Design Group is the architect for the project, VLMK Engineering + Design is the structural engineering firm and PAE Consulting Engineers is handling MEP work.

Prospective bidders can learn more by emailing Carrie Willis at bids@perlo.biz.

Bids are due by 2 p.m. on March 12, and should be sent via email to Elizabeth Cole at elizabethc@clackamas.edu.

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PAE Living Building, a planned five-story structure in the Skidmore/Old Town Historic District, could become the first in Portland to be certified as a living building.

The Historic Landmarks Commission on Monday provided design advice for the project team, which is being led by PAE Consulting Engineers and ZGF Architects. Commissioners in attendance, a bare quorum of four, questioned some of the design details, but ultimately supported the concept and urged the applicants to submit a formal proposal for design review.

“If you’re able to do this, I think it will do wonders from a historic preservation perspective on what can be done,” Commission Chair Kristen Minor told the applicants at the conclusion of the hearing. “We need some positive examples of progressive architecture in historic districts.”

The project team also includes developer Gerding Edlen and general contractor Walsh Construction. Plans call for constructing a 58,700-square-foot cross-laminated timber building on a roughly quarter-block property, owned by Downtown Development Group, at the northwest corner of the intersection of Southwest First Avenue and Pine Street. Currently, it’s a surface parking – adjacent to the historic Carriage & Baggage Building holding the Pine Street Market.

The building would hold ground-floor retail space along the frontages of Southwest First Avenue and Pine Street, along with an entrance to office space. The latter would include a bike hub with storage, showers, restrooms and lockers, along with mechanical and electrical systems.

The second through fifth floors would contain office space; two of those floors would host new headquarters for PAE Consulting Engineers. Overall, the structure would be 75 feet tall – the maximum height allowed in the historic district. A glass fiber reinforced concrete facade would be used on the ground floor and different shades of brick on the top four floors.

To earn Living Building Challenge certification, the building would need to show over at least a year that it produces more energy and water than it consumes, and much more. The project team’s target is for 105 percent of the building’s annual energy needs to be produced on-site from solar sources. Meanwhile, to achieve net zero water, stormwater, and wastewater use, the team plans to employ a 50,000-gallon cistern, composting toilets, and urine diversion for fertilizer generation.

PAE President Paul Schwer likened Living Building Challenge certification to “LEED platinum on steroids.”

“We have 200 staff that can’t wait to move into this building,” he said. “We think it’s an important project for the city; it will be the largest living building in the world, and also the first that’s a replicable project. We will live just off the water that lands on the roof of the building, as we’re trying to close the ecological loop with this building in a really significant way.”

On top of meeting the seven Living Building Challenge “petals,” the team was tasked with the challenge of designing a building complementary with others in Portland’s most well-known historic district.

ZGF Architects principal Justin Brooks told commissioners the building is modeled after the 19th century Italianate style found throughout Old Town, particularly in its cast iron buildings built more than a century ago.

“We really think it’s important that the building responds to that context, with the street wall along First (Avenue),” Brooks said. “It’s a key defining characteristic of the district.”

There are at least two sticking points, however, that will need to be resolved before design approval is given. The first is a city requirement in the Central City to include at least two Type A loading docks for new commercial buildings; the second is another city requirement to provide at least three feet of dedication from the building frontage on Southwest First Avenue. The applicants have requested modifications to those requirements, which they say are incongruent with historic district standards and could threaten the project’s viability.

“We think it’s problematic,” said Kathy Berg, a ZGF partner. “It reduces active ground-floor use, and second, they are not historically done in this district.”

Editor’s Note: The story was edited to properly attribute a quote to commission chair Kristen Minor.

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The Nature Conservancy in Oregon could have redeveloped its office property in Portland’s Buckman neighborhood. Going that route likely would have yielded a five-story, 75,000-square-foot office building. Or the conservation nonprofit could have sold the valuable real estate and moved elsewhere.

Instead, the organization opted to gut its existing 1970s office building and let developer Project^ and LEVER Architecture reimagine the space. The result is a thoroughgoing reinvention of the existing three-story, 12,462-square-foot building, and the addition of a single-story, 2,000-square-foot pavilion featuring cross-laminated timber.

Lease Crutcher Lewis is constructing the expansion and renovation at 821 S.E. 14th Ave. The building will be known as the Oregon Conservation Center.

“The building had become very outdated, and it was highly inefficient,” said Jim Desmond, state director of The Nature Conservancy in Oregon. “It was a 15,000-square-foot building that had five HVAC systems. We weren’t really walking our talk there.”

When Tom Cody, managing partner at Project^, first evaluated the property, he quickly came to the conclusion that it would not be a teardown.

“At first glance you wouldn’t think it had any merit … but it had some integrity,” he said. “It was a very simple timber-frame building that we saw a future for.”

Cody recommended The Nature Conservancy sell 10,000 square feet of the lot to finance the project rather than build a five-story project to the property lines.

“The most sustainable thing you can do is to reuse what you have versus demolish it,” Cody said.

Reusing the existing building also will maintain its scale with the surrounding neighborhood, Desmond said.

“We’re the last building before it becomes entirely residential,” he said. “I was uncomfortable saddling a neighborhood that’s been good to us with a 75,000-square-foot building.

The project team is targeting a LEED gold rating from the U.S. Green Building Council. The existing building will gain a rain-screen facade made from weathering steel and larger windows with high-performance glazing. The pavilion will be topped by a rooftop deck planted with native flora.

The project is using regionally harvested Oregon juniper and cedar along with locally sourced boulders and river rock, and weathering steel manufactured locally. Some of the timber comes from land managed by The Nature Conservancy. The mass timber was certified for sustainability by the Forest Stewardship Council. Also, a new rooftop photovoltaic system will provide 25 percent of the building’s energy needs.

In addition to housing The Nature Conservancy, the Oregon Conservation Center will serve as an event space, conference center and venue for partner organizations. The space is designed to be flexibly used for board meetings or reconfigured into theater-style seating for events.

“Nobody’s doing anything alone anymore, and we wanted a space that was conducive to that,” Desmond said.

The project team had no hesitation in using CLT from D.R. Johnson in Riddle, Desmond said. The southern Oregon manufacturer was linked to CLT panels that delaminated in March at Oregon State University‘s Peavy Hall project.

The team is confident the OSU incident was caused by a one-time error with a particular run of the material, Desmond said.

“I didn’t want to have this milled in British Columbia,” he said.

CLT uses about 60 percent less carbon than concrete and steel construction, Desmond said. The frame has already been constructed.

“It’s in now, and it’s just fantastic,” he said. “It really looks great. It functions great.”

Besides the Oregon Conservation Center, projects including Block 76 West at the Burnside bridgehead, District Office and the Flatiron building are all using CLT materials from D.R. Johnson.

The Oregon Conservation Center project team also includes KPFF Consulting Engineers, PAE Consulting Engineers, and Lando and Associates Landscape Architecture.

Construction is on track to finish around Feb. 1, Desmond said. The Nature Conservancy expects to spend several weeks getting systems up and running. For now, the nonprofit organization is using a temporary office at 1634 S.W. Alder St. The conservation group will move back in April, Desmond said.

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The Portland Japanese Garden is one of the most highly regarded of its kind in the U.S., and an to help it achieve even more.

The desired effect of a visit to the garden, according to its website, is for the person “to realize a sense of peace, harmony and tranquility and to experience the feeling of being a part of nature.” The expansion will enhance that effect, thanks in large part to an intense engineering effort – a lot of gritty work that will make that sense of tranquility possible.

The $33.5 million project will create the Cultural Crossing: three new buildings – a cultural education center, a gardening building and a small tea café – around a large public plaza. In addition, the garden’s entrance will be moved downhill, closer to the parking lot. The structural footprint will increase by 11,328 square feet to 20,191 total square feet of developed area.

At the construction site, trucks and heavy equipment lumber through the muddy terrain. Slabs have been poured for the buildings. Also, 30-foot-high walls to shore up hillsides on either side of the site are being formed via dozens of vertical steel pilings with horizontal layers of wood lagging holding back the hillside.

But it’s more complicated than that, said Josh Faulkner, construction superintendent for the general contractor, Hoffman Construction. First, two hillsides had to be moved.

“There were two hills that almost touched each other and we had to cut them back to create a giant rectangular space,” he said.

That meant moving thousands of cubic yards of earth off the hillside before structural work could begin.

Next, Faulkner’s crew created a soldier pile wall by inserting 40- to 50-foot steel piles into the ground and securing them with steel tiebacks, said Christopher Pitt of KPFF Consulting Engineers, the engineer of record for the project.

But first, transporting equipment up a narrow roadway to the site was a challenge, Pitt said.

“They had to do some selective excavation so they could get the drill rigs up there,” he said. “Also, working with the tree canopy above was a challenge since you have to take the auger up high and, once you do dig a hole, you have to drop in a soldier pile up to 70 or 75 feet.”

But the hillsides still put pressure on the walls, and to counteract that force, steel tiebacks were attached to the soldier piles, extending into the earth 30 feet at a 30-degree angle and attached to bedrock, and then filled with grout.

Pitt said the soldier pile wall method is fairly common and most often used in constructing basements, and it was deemed the best solution in this case.

“Initially there were design options that were less common or more novel that wouldn’t require soldier piles, but those were deemed more challenging and with less comfort level because they’re not common techniques,” he said.

The hillsides, Pitt explained, are in a historic landslide area but the soldier pile wall ensures stability.

“The whole point is the tieback extends through the part of the hillside that’s wanting to slide and push on the wall and gets anchored solidly in the bedrock,” he said.

All new Cultural Crossing buildings will be rated Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design gold, said Claire Foster, spokeswoman for the Portland Japanese Garden.

“Now we have two very strong retaining walls and three green-certified buildings that are bolted to each other and bolted to the hilltop,” she said.

Another unseen portion of the project will be construction of 24 geothermal wells — designed by PAE Consulting Engineers — at 300 feet deep. They will provide sustainable heating and cooling for all three Cultural Crossing buildings.

Geothermal energy is not used widely in the Northwest, Faulkner said, but that could change.

“Geothermal is used a lot in Colorado and becoming more so nowadays,” he said. “Like any trend, once someone starts designing that, then everyone else wants to do it too.”

Pitt agreed that geothermal is used less in the Northwest than in parts of the country with more extreme temperatures. The system is more expensive to install, he said, but ensures energy savings in the long term.

“Geothermal wells basically run water through and go very deep down to where the temperature of the earth is static,” he said. “It is a way to get some passive energy efficiency (by) taking advantage of the temperature of the earth … it’s very energy-efficient because the earth does the heating and cooling for you.”

The garden expansion was designed by world-renowned Japanese architect Kengo Kuma. He will be in Portland next month for the opening of an exhibition of his work at the Center for Architecture at 403 N.W. 11th Ave. set to run Feb. 4-29.

Pitt said working on the project has been a memorable experience.

“What’s exciting for us as structural engineers is working with great local architects like Hacker and Kengo Kuma,” he said. “The sky’s the limit for projects they go after.”

Kuma’s design drove the engineering and is “a very precise and demanding design,” Pitt said.

“His structures were very refined and in some cases minimized, with a lot of long roof cantilevers that come down to a very sharp point with very thin edges and straight lines and a very light, fine feel,” he said.

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