A weekly compilation of the largest winning bids in the Pacific Northwest, according to the Daily Journal of Commerce Project Center.

1.

Winner (contract awarded): Lincoln Construction of Puyallup, Washington

Amount: $4,707,171

Project: Leg – Restore Chamber Skylights (Olympia, Washington)

Owner: Washington Department of Enterprise Services

Cost estimate: $5,400,000 to $6,000,000

Project team: Architectural Resources Group, Catena Consulting Engineers, PAE Engineers

2.

Winner (intent to award): 2KG Contractors of Portland

Amount: $2,898,500

Project: GC for Park Services Complex Tenant Improvement Project (Bend)

Owner: Bend Park & Recreation District

Cost estimate: $3,150,000

Project team: Stemach Architecture, Solera MEP Design Services, Froelich Engineers, David Evans and Associates

3.

Winner (contract awarded): Andersen Construction of Seattle

Amount: $2,857,380

Project: RS Multiple Building Reroof (Buckley, Washington)

Owner: Washington Department of Enterprise Services

Cost estimate: $3,600,000 to $4,200,000

Project team: S.M. Stemper Architects, PBS Engineering and Environmental

4.

Winner (contract awarded): Gallant Construction of Banks

Amount: $1,895,564

Project: New T-Hangar, Turf Taxilane and Site Improvements (Hood River)

Owner: Port of Hood River

Cost estimate: $1,600,000 to $2,000,000

Project team: Precision Approach Engineering

5.

Winner (intent to award): Queen City Sheet Metal & Roofing of Tukwila, Washington

Amount: $1,538,966

Project: Magnuson Bldg 2 and 138 Roof and Structural Repair (Seattle)

Owner: City of Seattle

Cost estimate: not available

Project team: Osborn Architects Inc. (OAI), PSM Engineers

Do you want to be the winner of an upcoming Top Bidders project? Then join the 91视频 Project Center to find, track and bid on your next project. For a free tour, or more information on monthly and annual rates, contact Sharlene Richard at 503-802-7252 or srichard@djcOregon.com.

The post Pacific Northwest projects totaling $13.8 million in top bidders | Dec. 23, 2025 appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

Each year, the 91视频 editorial staff compiles a list of the contractors, engineers and architects that are shaping skylines and redefining the industry through their outstanding work. This year’s Power Lists features 20 companies that are leading the AEC industry into 2023 (in no particular order).

GBD Architects

GBD Architects is behind some of Portland’s most recent mega-projects. Highlights include Block 216, a 35-story giant rising out of the city’s downtown; the eight-acre RiverPlace master plan development near the South Waterfront District; and the 30-story RiverPlace tower. The firm’s most recent large-scale work is a proposed 22-story tower in the Pearl District.

Andersen Construction

Andersen Construction has served as the contractor for several of Portland’s recent tall multifamily developments. Projects include Alta Art Tower, a 21-story, 314-unit mixed-use tower; the Sutton (previously 鈥淔remont Place鈥�), a 17-story apartment building; and the Alamo Manhattan Blocks that include a 23-story mixed-use tower and a six-story mixed-use building.

LEVER Architecture

LEVER Architecture is one of Portland’s leading architecture firms in mass timber with projects such as Albina Yard and Redfox Commons. Now it is turning this early innovation into a maturing excellence. The firm hit a significant milestone in 2022 when Portland’s Design Commission approved Sandy Pine, a planned 12-story mass-timber tower. If built, Sandy Pine will be the city’s tallest timber development.

ZGF Architects

As the largest architecture firm in Portland, ZGF Architects has taken on some of the city’s most high-profile projects. Recent highlights include the ongoing $1.95 billion Portland International Airport Main Terminal Core project that features a nine-acre timber roof as well as the PAE Living Building 鈥� poised to be the world’s largest commercial living building.

Carleton Hart Architecture

Carleton Hart Architecture is one of Portland’s most prominent firms for designing affordable housing developments. It is a cornerstone of the firm’s mission-driven focus. Projects in recent years have included Nesika Illahee, Mamook Tokatee and Red Rock Creek Commons. One of the firm’s most recent endeavors consists of the complete renovation of the Joyce Hotel in downtown Portland into permanent supportive housing.

PAE Engineers

PAE Engineers is the 鈥渂rain鈥� behind the recently completed PAE Living Building, which is slated to be the world’s largest living commercial building. Sustainable systems designed by PAE allow the four-story building in Portland to be primarily independent of any city systems. PAE also provided mechanical, electrical, fire protection and technology system design and engineering for the University of Oregon’s modernized Hayward Field, which recently hosted the World Track and Field Championships.

KPFF

KPFF is the engineering firm behind some of Oregon’s largest commercial projects 鈥� and more. Work includes Block 216, Oregon State University’s Gladys Valley Marine Studies Building (91视频 Project of the Year 2021), Portland International Airport‘s (PDX) Concourse E extension, and the PAE Living Building.

Howard S. Wright

Howard S. Wright is the general contractor behind the largest building in Portland since the U.S. Bancorp Tower 鈥� Block 216. At 844,117 square feet, the project will likely become the largest Portland building of its era. It will house 158,000 square feet of office space, a five-star Ritz-Carlton hotel with 215 rooms, and 138 residences.

Walsh Construction听

Walsh Construction is the general contractor for many sustainable and complex projects and myriad affordable housing developments. The contractor recently constructed the four-story PAE Living Building, which required that every item be thoroughly researched and approved against a list containing the 鈥渨orst in class鈥� materials, chemicals and elements concerning human health and the ecosystem. More than 2,700 materials were vetted for the project.

LMC Construction听

Affordable housing has become a cornerstone of the Portland-metro development market. Many general contractors tackle such projects, but LMC Construction is behind most. More than two-thirds of the contractors’ work is building affordable homes. Projects include Red Rock Creek Commons, Nesika Illahee and Cathedral Village Apartments.

Hoffman Skanska JV

Hoffman-Skanska is the joint venture contractor formed to partly undertake the $2 billion modernization of Portland International Airport. At the heart of this endeavor is the $1.95 billion main terminal project that involves a new nine-acre, mostly cross-laminated-timber roof structure. The entire roof will weigh about 18 million pounds. A self-propelled modular transporter capable of carrying a submarine is being used to move each section into position. Officials anticipate the roof being fully installed soon and the entire terminal updated in 2025.

Kiewit

Kiewit Corp. is known for tackling projects that would be described as large, massive, and complex. All three terms represent the general contractor’s current undertaking with the Abernethy Bridge project that spans the Willamette River. The venture involves drilling more than 200 feet into the earth below the water to place new bridge foundations capable of withstanding a significant seismic event. It is the first major interstate freeway construction project in Oregon in nearly 45 years.

TVA Architects

TVA Architects is one of Oregon’s most high-profile firms, and few others have placed as large a stamp on the state. Projects include Park Avenue West, Fox Tower, and the University of Oregon’s basketball palace 鈥� Matthew Knight Arena. Most recently, the firm designed the Sutton (previously called 鈥淔remont Tower鈥�) 鈥� a 17-story residential tower under construction on the banks of the Willamette River.

R&H Construction

R&H Construction is building some of Portland’s largest multifamily developments. Projects include Freewell, Saltwood South and Tiller Terrace 鈥� a six-story, a 214-unit development in the Goose Hollow neighborhood. Recently, R&H broke ground on Splash Apartments 鈥� the first phase of the five-acre Pop Blocks development.

David Evans Enterprises

Oregon’s largest engineering firm, David Evans and Associates, has worked on a wide range of notable projects in the state. Recent highlights include the Newberg-Dundee Bypass, in which the firm designed two new bridges and seven support structures. DEA’s work on the Oneonta Tunnel rehabilitation project also earned . The 2017 Eagle Creek Fire severely damaged the tunnel and rendered it unusable until DEA’s work allowed it to reopen in spring 2021.

Harper Houf Peterson Righellis

Regarding transportation infrastructure improvements in Oregon, Harper Houf Peterson Righellis is one of the key players. The firm is behind the Clackamas Regional Center improvements, which involved widening a bridge that spans Interstate 205 at Sunnyside Road, as well as the Willamette Falls Drive streetscape improvements project that topped the transportation category for the 2022 ACEC Oregon Engineering Excellence Awards.

听Mortenson听

Mortenson is a general contractor with a long reputation in Oregon for building challenging and unique projects. Recently, the contractor has undertaken a significant renovation of the Multnomah County Behavioral Health Resource Center 鈥� a 116-year-old building in downtown Portland.

SERA Architects

SERA Architects has worked on some of Portland’s largest multifamily developments in recent years. Projects include Freewell, the Saltwoods, Tiller Terrace and more. Most recently, SERA drew up Slabtown Savier, a two-building multifamily project under construction in Northwest Portland.

BORA Architects

BORA Architects is behind several notable projects in Oregon, including the Cosmopolitan 鈥� a 28-story residential tower in Portland’s Pearl District and the Phil and Penny Knight Campus for Accelerating Scientific Impact on the University of Oregon’s Eugene campus. One of the firm’s most recent undertakings is the modernization of Lincoln High School in Portland; It is one of the first high-rise schools west of the Mississippi River.

Swinerton听

Swinerton is a leading general contractor for mass-timber innovation in Oregon. Recent projects include the Wingspan Event and Conference Center in Hillsboro, Steeplejack Brewing in Portland, and Oregon State University-Cascades’ Edward J. Ray Hall in Bend.

Clarification: An earlier version of this story implied an incorrect association for Swinerton to the Beaverton Public Safety Center project. Swinerton was the mass-timber subcontractor for the project.

The post 91视频 Power List 2023 appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

A wrap date is just around the corner for the PAE Living Building, which is expected to eventually be certified as the world’s largest commercial living building.

Lead team members from PAE Engineers, Edlen & Co., ZGF Architects and Walsh Construction gathered Thursday during the 91视频’s latest Builder Breakfast event to discuss lessons learned during the project in downtown Portland.

That team sought to construct a building that would meet perhaps the world’s most stringent sustainability metrics. The project spent 28 months in preconstruction to ensure that all systems would pencil out, Walsh Construction chief estimator Ed Sloop said. Now the structure is anticipated to be self-sufficient in terms of energy use, water use, waste treatment and more.

But to achieve the International Living Future Institute‘s Living Building Challenge, the building will need to demonstrate that all sustainability goals were met. Certification is given only after a full year of occupancy and systems testing.

The project team has received the green light to turn on all of the building’s systems, PAE Engineers principal Marc Brune said. The one-year audit is predicted to begin in May or June 2022, once the building is at 80 percent occupancy.

All metrics associated with building occupancy, such as energy use and water use, will be measured during that year. Then other systems will be audited separately.

Design/mechanical engineering + plumbing

The first challenge for the project team was solar energy, Brune said. Downtown Portland has a protected grid network, and if the five-story, 58,000-square-foot building were to send excess energy to the grid, a 12-block radius blackout could result.

The team engaged with Portland General Electric, Brune said, to find an appropriate amount of energy the building could feed back to the grid. That ended up being 50 kilowatts, so a battery in the building will store any surplus.

The next challenge was the building’s size 鈥� specifically its roof. The urban site meant the building’s space was up rather than out, ZGF Architects principal Justin Brooks said, so there was less space on the roof for solar panels. Also, the Skidmore/Old Town Historic District cannot accommodate reflective surfaces (i.e., solar panels can’t be visible from the street).

As a result, the project team donated 215 kilowatts of solar panels to Renaissance Commons, an affordable housing building within the same utility district, to benefit both buildings. Carly Harrison, development manager at Edlen & Co., said it’s about $20,000 worth of power every year.

Financial

Project financing came via a developer-driven model with investors. That means the building needs to not only perform in terms of sustainability but also economics, Brooks said. To the project’s team knowledge, this type of financial model hasn’t been done yet for a potential living building 鈥� or at least at such a scale.

The financial model was intentionally designed to make this type of project more replicable, Harrison said. Typically, living building projects are subsidized by grants 鈥� a model much more difficult to repeat.

鈥淭he biggest challenge was really how to thread the needle of the cost and the rent needed to make it pencil,鈥� Harrison said.

Team members did not mention the project’s cost on Thursday; however, Portland Bureau of Development Services permit information in April 2020 placed a $20.5 million value on the building’s structure.

Much of the project cost is associated with the special systems, especially for plumbing, electrical and solar. Also, the water treatment and waste treatment composters require a large mechanical room, reducing the amount of usable/leasable space. From that standpoint, the building is inefficient, Harrison said. But with approximately half of the building serving as PAE Engineers’ new headquarters, team members were able to discuss appropriate lease rates, Harrison added.

Construction

The structure is primarily made of cross-laminated timber panels, heavy glulam structural columns and beams, and a concrete core. About 60-70 percent of the finished product, Sloop said, is the structure itself. Protecting that was challenging, he said, after the construction start date was moved from January to April. Some of the work planned for drier weather, like roofing, was pushed to wet-weather months, he said.

Additional complexity for construction came from the project team needing to ensure that items on the ILFI 鈥渞ed list鈥� 鈥� materials and chemicals considered 鈥渨orst in class鈥� to people and the environment 鈥� were not used. More than 3,000 products were vetted, Sloop said, to see whether they met Living Building Challenge requirements. The construction team had to develop a roofing system never used before, Sloop added.

The post The PAE Living Building: lessons learned appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

The challenge: construct a building to meet perhaps today’s most advanced sustainability metrics. The anticipated outcome: a self-sufficient building in terms of energy use, water use, waste, and more.

PAE Engineers, ZGF Architects and Walsh Construction embarked on this expedition nearly three years ago. Now the project team is just a few months from completion 鈥� the PAE Living Building is on track to open in September.

Following one full year of operation and data collection, the structure is expected to become the world’s largest commercial living building. A lot of technology helped the team reach this point.

Energy

Roughly 400 kilowatts of power are needed to fuel the five-story, 58,000-square-foot building. The International Living Future Institute’s Living Building Challenge requires that most of that energy be harvested through renewables (zero combustion energy).

The PAE Living Building’s roof holds a 132.6-kilowatt solar array. The rest of the energy is being harvested via rooftop solar panels on Renaissance Commons six miles away. All of that energy is fed to a 250-kilowatt battery, which stores it.

Living building certification requires buildings be able to feed excess energy to the grid. However, the PAE Living Building is in downtown Portland 鈥� a protected micro-grid designed specifically so buildings don’t feed the network and potentially cause a blackout. Hence, a micro-grid controller was needed, as was special permission from Portland General Electric to feed back to the grid. That controller is 鈥渢he brain of the building’s electrical systems,鈥� PAE principal and project lead engineer Marc Brune said

The controller will monitor energy coming from the solar panels, usage in the building, and the battery. If there is a really sunny Saturday and no use in the building, the controller will be able to send energy to the grid 鈥� no more than 50 kilowatts, per the agreement with PGE. The controller will also decide when to pull the needed power and from where: the battery, the grid or the solar panels.

In a theoretical extended power outage, the building should be able to run off of its battery (if it’s full) for almost 100 days, Brune said.

Seismic

The PAE Living Building is engineered to stand for 500 years, with all its systems expected to carry on following a Cascadia subduction zone-level seismic event. The category four standard is the same one that fire stations and hospitals must adhere to, and helps keep all embodied carbon intact.

KPFF was in charge of the seismic design. The structure is made up of cross-laminated timber panels and heavy glulam structural columns and beams, but it became sufficiently sturdy via thick, concrete shear walls and additional reinforcement, KPFF’s Lee Glassford said.

Ordinarily, office buildings are required to have an 8-inch gap 鈥� a 鈥渟eismic joint鈥� 鈥� between the exterior wall and property line to allow them to wiggle without colliding with a neighboring building. With extra sturdiness, the PAE Living Building won’t sway as much at the roof level. That, in turn, allowed the building’s two affected sides to be built four inches closer, increasing the floor plate 鈥� and the leasable space.

鈥淚t was a big aha! moment,鈥� Brune said, noting that the gain in space covered the $135,000 cost of category four classification.

鈥淚 think the thing it highlighted was looking a little bit deeper,鈥� he added.

Water

The building is designed to collect and treat 100 percent of its water on-site. The self-contained system starts by collecting rainwater from the roof. An NSF-certified membrane is used, and a parapet (between 4 and 5 feet) acts as a basin. Rainwater runs down three sets of pipes rated for potable water to the first floor.

The rainwater is then filtered to remove any debris and then enters an underground cistern. From the cistern, water is pumped into a treatment system. Treated water goes into a couple of day tanks that hold 500 gallons apiece. From there, water runs to potable water elements such as sinks, showers and drinking fountains.

A hybrid-heat pump system, by the way, transfers waste heat from the mechanical room to water for use in showers and sinks.

After potable water is used, it drains to the gray water system, which treats it and cleans it a bit before sending it to supply for toilets and hybrid urinals. The latter are waterless because there are no flush controls. Every 72 hours, one gallon of water will flush through the system to help keep pipes clean, because crystals can build up inside drains and require regular maintenance.

鈥淲e’re hoping with the hybrid, waterless urinals (there will be) less maintenance,鈥� PAE Associate Luke Hendricks said.

Waste

At this point, the water then splits in two directions: The waste from the toilets is removed by a vacuum flush system, and then dropped into a gravity tank below the mechanical room. After movement by a series of pumps, control valves and a manifold system, the waste evenly goes into one of 20 composting bins, where it will sit for about a year before removal. The now composted waste is then shoveled out into buckets and taken off-site to be used as fertilizer. The residual liquid 鈥渓eachate鈥� is drained underground into a 3,000-gallon recovery tank, where two-thirds of it will be pumped out by a truck regularly for fertilizer elsewhere.

The urinals are routed separately from all the other pipes and drain to the 1,000-gallon nutrient recovery tank, which has a baffle separating the urine from leachate. A decentralizing treatment system 鈥� the first in the U.S. for a commercial building 鈥� is then used.

鈥淭his is probably one of the most unique systems going into our building,鈥� Hendricks said.

About once a month, urine is pumped into the decentralizing tank, which produces a liquid-based nitro fertilizer and a powder phosphorus fertilizer.

PAE President Paul Schwer likes to say the firm is 鈥渢aking the P out of PAE,鈥� Hendricks said.

The size of the 71,000-gallon underground cistern was chosen based on data from the past 30 years of rainfall in Portland. The cistern can hold 62,000 gallons of rainwater and 8,500 gallons of stormwater detention. If there’s heavy rainfall and the cistern reaches max capacity, a small hole will allow water to flow out at a low rate so as not to burden the city’s sewer system.

The toilet system, which uses only one-tenth of a gallon per flush, Hendricks said, played a significant role in meeting Living Building Challenge water-saving goals. A normal low-flow toilet uses more than 12 times the amount of water as a vacuum flush one.

鈥淥ne of the key things we had in the back of our mind is to create something that’d be replicable,鈥� Hendricks said of the plumbing system.

The project team didn’t seek many city code exceptions and tried to accomplish goals by the book so that others could follow suit without needing to jump through a bunch of hoops.

Looking forward

The hardest part of the project was making it pencil out, ZGF Architects principal Chris Chatto said.

The $40.2 million building contains many innovations and exotic systems, which Ed Sloop, Walsh Construction’s chief estimator, told Engineering News-Record increased the cost by 20 to 25 percent.

The rainwater-to-potable water, composting, gray water, and nutrient recovery systems accounted for $1.25 million of the hard cost.

The Living Building Challenge has reframed the concept of sustainability, Chatto said. The goal is to try to do less harm and make a positive impact.

鈥淟iving buildings are the future,鈥� he added. 鈥淚t’s where the industry needs to go.鈥�

The post Systems within a highly efficient structure appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

Pursuit of the Living Building Challenge can require creativity, flexible thinking and a willingness to embrace alternatives to ideals. That is certainly the case for PAE Engineers‘ new headquarters building in downtown Portland. When limitations precluded creation of a net-positive-energy structure, the project team formed a unique partnership with a local nonprofit developer in order to meet requirements.

鈥淗onestly, I think it’s one of the better stories of the project,鈥� said Ed Sloop, a project manager and chief estimator for general contractor Walsh Construction Co.

The PAE Living Building is expected to become one of the largest commercial buildings in the world to gain certification from the International Living Future Institute. For that to happen, the building must demonstrate over one year that it is producing more energy than it consumes, producing more clean water than it consumes, recycling all wastewater produced on-site, and more.

The ILFI uses seven 鈥減etals鈥� 鈥� place, water, energy, materials, equity, beauty, and health and happiness 鈥� to measure building performance. Energy petal requirements at first stumped designers from ZGF Architects, MEP engineers from PAE and project managers from Walsh Construction. Two years ago, the problem boiled down to simple math: A five-story, 58,000-square-foot building on only a quarter-block would have nowhere near sufficient roof space for enough solar panels to produce needed electricity.

鈥淎s a team we were all kind of disappointed we couldn’t do it all on site,鈥� said Marc Brune, a PAE principal and a project team member. 鈥淭here’s something that’s just elegant about the concept of really modeling it after a plant or tree that’s in the forest that’s doing all of its own energy production and water harvest.鈥�

The building’s innovative solar array, with panels facing east to west and assembled in an undulating, articulated manner to maximize surface area, is projected to have maximum output of 133 kilowatts 鈥� only around one-third of energy needed.

鈥淚f it were a smaller building for the floor area you might be able to get away with it here,鈥� said Walsh project manager Kent Usher, who recently oversaw subcontractor EC Electric‘s installation of the rooftop array.

The project site, in the Skidmore/Old Town Historic District, limited potential solutions. Unlike the well-known Bullitt Center in Seattle, a certified living building also engineered by PAE that has solar arrays overhanging its roof edges, the PAE Living Building could not follow suit.

鈥淏eing a downtown historic district,鈥� Usher said, 鈥渨e had to keep it hidden and under the parapet height so you can’t see it from anywhere.鈥�

Fortunately for the project team, version 4.0 of the ever-evolving Living Building Challenge allows off-site energy production solutions if they are within the same utility district as the project. And after looking around the district, the team targeted the Renaissance Commons affordable housing development on North Argyle Street in the Kenton neighborhood.

Developed by REACH Community Development Corporation and also built by Walsh Construction, the four-story, two-building complex was solar-ready; it already had the structural and electrical components needed to accept a solar array. And Renaissance Commons had three times as much roof space as the PAE Living Building would have.

鈥淚 happened to be working with Kent (Usher), who was in the same role on this other project,鈥� Sloop said. 鈥淪o, having knowledge of both projects 鈥� and the other project had a very large roof and a big footprint; I knew it had good solar orientation 鈥� so I just threw it out there.鈥�

However, installation of the solar array at Renaissance Commons required financial support from PAE Living Building developer Edlen & Co. The firm, which has backed sustainable elements in many of its projects, agreed to cover the $670,000 cost of placing a 207-kilowatt array at Renaissance Commons.

In addition, the arrangement fulfilled a key requirement of the equity petal, which calls for donation of half a cent or more of every dollar spent on the project to a charity or ILFI’s Living Equity Exchange Program. In this case, REACH CDC qualified because of its affordable housing work.

鈥淔rom my perspective, it’s really like a best-case scenario when you have a problem and you come up with a best-case solution,鈥� Edlen & Co. partner Jill Sherman said.

REACH CDC’s CEO, Dan Valliere, said the nonprofit was simply taking advantage of an opportunity presented to it. REACH CDC agreed to pay for operations and maintenance of the Renaissance Commons array in exchange for being able to use the power generated on-site.

鈥淲e didn’t have to do a lot at the outset,鈥� Valliere said. 鈥淚t was a great opportunity to add a feature to the building with our partners doing most of the heavy lifting and still learn through the process.鈥�

Meanwhile, the PAE Living Building will serve as an example of how project teams can creatively pursue living building certification.

鈥淚 personally think it’s a way of thinking of net-zero-energy production that has the potential to increase the benefit of it beyond the one-building footprint and into the broader community,鈥� Brune said. 鈥淚t can achieve the same goal as if you’re putting it on your roof, but with benefits for more people.鈥�

The post Problem elicits a ‘best-case solution’ appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

A team of engineers from PAE Engineers took the top spot in the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) 2017 Lowdown Showdown, a net zero competition.

Four teams from around the country were directed to retrofit a building in the Washington, D.C. area into a net zero energy building. To boost the challenge, teams had to deal with unreliable design and measurement information.

None of the teams reached the net zero goal, but all four reduced the building’s energy use by at least 69 percent. A team of PAE engineers, calling themselves Sustainability Savants, reduced the building’s energy use by 83 percent, according to team member James Cullin.

The team achieved its energy savings by adding insulation on vertical walls, installing fly roof shades to provide a solar PV platform and reducing infiltration by verifying building tightness and increasing operational awareness.

The engineers installed occupancy controls wherein lights are turned on by sensors that determine when someone is within a certain range. The team reduced the facilities’ lighting energy by about 75 percent.

The post Portland-based firm’s team wins competition appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

Travelers seeking to park their motor vehicles at Portland International Airport will eventually have more spaces to choose from. They just won’t be available until 2020.

That is when a $246 million, seven-story, long-term parking garage is scheduled to open at the airport. The project is in the early design phase, with Yost Grube Hall Architecture at work.

Insufficient airport parking has become plainly apparent, according to Port of Portland spokeswoman Kama Simonds.

鈥淚n the last two to three years our long-term parking garages have been full a lot, especially on Tuesday and Thursday with business travelers,鈥� she said.

When long-term parking spaces fill, there is a ripple effect: drivers tend to head to short-term spaces, which forces more cars into the economy parking lot.

鈥淭he short-term lot is intended for people picking up passengers or those who have business at the airport,鈥� Simonds said.

The new garage will include approximately 2,400 public parking spaces. The facility will also include a customer service lobby and 724,000 square feet for rental cars.

鈥淚t is our goal to have 100 percent of rental cars on site,鈥� Simonds said. 鈥淩ight now, some (companies) shuttle out to remote sites. Getting them close in is something that our customers have asked for.鈥�

Money from taxpayers won’t be used to pay for the new garage, according to Simonds. People who rent and park cars at PDX will pick up the tab.

Flexibility is something that Yost Grube Hall Architecture was told to include in its design.

鈥淲e need flexibility with regards to technology,鈥� Simonds said. 鈥淢aybe in 20 years or even two years self-driving cars will be in use. Then there is car sharing. We want to accommodate all of the different ways that people use cars. We have to be able to produce flexibility in the facility.鈥�

Despite the frequent parking crunch, Portland International Airport ranked as one of the top airports in the country last year. PDX in 2016 saw a 9 percent surge in traffic to nearly 18 million fliers. Port officials are seeking to better serve those travelers via the new garage.

鈥淥ur goal is to have as many spaces as possible up front where people can walk to the terminal,鈥� Simonds said. 鈥淭hat is something that is important to our customers.鈥�

PAE Engineers, KPFF Consulting Engineers and DKS Associates are providing engineering services for the project. JE Dunn Construction will build the facility.

Design work is expected to continue through the third quarter of 2018. Construction is likely to begin in the fourth quarter of 2018 and last through the second quarter of 2020.

The post $246 million parking garage in the works at PDX appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

It’s a good time to receive an architecture degree. It’s an even better time to gain an engineering degree.

With the college academic year coming to an end, a new crop of architecture and engineering graduates are hunting for jobs. Amid Portland’s building boom, many graduates have a job before they ever don their caps and gowns.

鈥淚 applied for eight positions, got two calls, one rejection and a job,鈥� said Lucas Fuller, a recent Oregon Institute of Technology graduate in electrical engineering. 鈥淭here are a whole lot of opportunities; you just have to find them.鈥�

Kevin Chavez’s architecture job search was even shorter. SRG Partnership offered him a job on its design staff based on the strength of his internship with the company. He began his job in entry-level drafting and model building a week before his Portland State University graduation ceremony.

鈥淎s soon as they learned that I was graduating, they offered me a job,鈥� Chavez said.

Fuller’s opportunity came from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers‘ Hydroelectric Design Center.

鈥淭hey deal with anything having to do with hydroelectric energy,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t’s like working for a firm with only one client.鈥�

Quick job searches aren’t unusual these days, according to Frank Goovaerts, director of student career success at Portland State University’s Maseeh College of Engineering and Computer Science. Demand for graduates is very strong, he said.

鈥淚t is a pretty good time for engineers,鈥� he said. 鈥淟ast year, within six months after graduation, 90 percent of our students were employed or decided to go grad school.鈥�

New graduates are finding plenty of job opportunities to choose from. The unemployment rate for engineers on the West Coast is less than 1 percent.

鈥淓veryone that wants work as an engineer is working,鈥� said Shiloh Butterworth, director of employee experience at PAE Engineers. 鈥淚t’s a good time to be coming out of college with an engineering degree.鈥�

The story is similar for architects.

鈥淎 good quarter to half of our students are currently working in offices (before graduation),鈥� said Barbara Sestak, an architecture professor at Portland State University. 鈥淪ome take a year off before they apply to our grad programs.鈥�

The dynamics driving the markets are similar: not many experienced engineers and architects are seeking employment.

鈥淭here are so few engineers with five to 10 years of experience looking for jobs, that now they come to the college and are willing to train from the ground up,鈥� Goovaerts said.

That requires a big investment of time, which firms apparently are willing to make.

鈥淲hen you hire someone out of school they know about 20 percent of what they need,鈥� said Blake Patsy, a principal at KPFF. 鈥淚t’s about four to seven years before they are totally able to do the job.鈥�

Licensing requirements further complicate the hunt for new employees. A licensed architect must obtain National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB) accreditation, fulfill 3,740 hours of architectural experience and pass a series of tests. It’s not unusual for an architecture student to get a bachelor’s degree, work at a firm to gain architectural experience hours, and then pursue a graduate degree before taking licensing tests.

鈥淲hat we are finding is that people who graduated with a (bachelor’s) degree are holding off applying to graduate school because the job market is so much better,鈥� Sestak said. 鈥淲e saw fewer of our students applying to other programs and fewer students applying to our program.鈥�

During the Great Recession, the architecture industry was one of the hardest hit 鈥� its unemployment rate reached 13.9 percent in 2010. Between 2006 and 2012, the number of architecture jobs shrunk by more than 12 percent.

Now, the Bureau of Labor Statistics expects the architecture industry to grow by 7 percent through 2024 and unemployment rates to hover near 2 percent. The median salary for starting architects is $70,486.

鈥淚 think it might cool down (locally), or at least flatten a little bit,鈥� said Alan Osborne, vice president and principal of Hennebery Eddy Architects. 鈥淭he apartment boom will be slowing down. That will slow the job market some.鈥�

Like many firms, Hennebery Eddy relies on its internship programs to help attract potential future employees. The company’s social media presence helps widen appeal to new applicants, Osborne added.

For engineers, job prospects vary a bit. Civil engineering graduates are in demand in Portland at the moment, according to Goovaerts.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics expects the numbers of jobs in civil engineering to grow by 8.4 percent in the next decade, and in biomedical and environmental engineering to grow by double digits in that time span.

Overall, the bureau expects yearly engineering job growth of about 4 percent in the next decade. The median wage for people entering the profession is $77,900, well above the $37,040 median wage for all other occupations.

鈥淚 can say with great confidence, the chance you will find a job in your major is really high,鈥� Goovaerts said. 鈥淥ne thing I pound into students (is) they will have to be willing to change.鈥�

For many years, Portland State University catered largely to Intel. Until recently, it was not uncommon for a student to begin working for Intel as an entry-level engineer and work his or her way up into management. However, now that the tech giant is downsizing, that career path is less likely.

鈥淭hey might have to begin at a startup and then go to a competitor,鈥� Goovaerts said.

Even in a good job market like Portland, landing that first position can require leg work by students.

鈥淭he biggest thing I tell them is not to solely rely on job boards,鈥� Goovaerts said. 鈥淵ou will be looking for a long time and you might not find anything. It’s easy to do. Students can become hermits hunkered down at their computer searching for positions.鈥�

Instead, students must get out and network and work in an internship prior to graduation, Goovaerts said. Taking a close look at one’s social media account can also be important.

鈥淪ome employers may look at social media (and) some may not; you never know,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 am sure that some are out there that will. Someone may look at your profile and say that this guy is partying a lot. I’ll avoid that.鈥�

At the very least, Goovaerts recommended limiting social media accounts to include closely known friends. Students may even want to consider removing posts or accounts, depending on content, he added.

Fuller found that one of the biggest keys for him in the interview process was remembering that employers are seeking people skills in addition to technical knowledge.

鈥淔or the majority of people it’s their first career job,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey get so focused on the tech that they forget about the people aspect of it. You have to convince them that yes, I am a good person that you can work with and be a team player.鈥�

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To create a 鈥渓iving building鈥� at the Georgia Institute of Technology, PAE Engineers faced a tall order. Living Building Challenge standards require that such structures be net-positive in terms of energy and water use, and that is a severe challenge in the hot, humid climate of Atlanta.

鈥淔rom an engineering standpoint, humidity is the hardest part to deal with there,鈥� said Marc Brune, an associate principal with PAE Engineers, which is serving as the project’s mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineer. 鈥淚t’s a lot different than the Pacific Northwest.鈥�

The standards for a living building require it to produce 105 percent of the electricity and water it uses annually. Achieving that can be difficult in an environment where summer nighttime temperatures often don’t drop below 70.

The first priority is keeping hot, humid air out and cool, dry air in.

鈥淭here is a lot of energy that goes into wringing the water out of the air,鈥� Brune said.

The project team also needed to limit infiltration. The $15 million building will include a 200-seat auditorium; at each class change, students and teachers will enter and leave, cool air will escape and hot air will enter.

The solution to keep hot, humid air out includes an air curtain within a vestibule. Students will be showered with air as they enter and leave the building. Designers are combining that feature with cooling floors, dehumidification air handlers and a closed-loop geothermal heat pump system to keep the building comfortable.

Energy use is another problem. Figuring out how many laptops and phones might be plugged into charging stations in a given day is a huge challenge.

鈥淭he intent is to prove this can be successful,鈥� said John DuConge, Georgia Tech senior project manager. 鈥淕eorgia Tech has a track record for sustainable projects.鈥�

The plan is to use approximately 17,000 square feet of photovoltaic panels to meet the building’s predicted energy demand.

鈥淧roducing more energy than we consume over the course of a year is an enormous challenge,鈥� DuConge said. 鈥淭hat is something you don’t typically see.鈥�

The project team also sought to recover as much water as possible from the structure. The one advantage Atlanta has in that respect is that rainfall there is fairly consistent.

鈥淭hey get rain all year long,鈥� Brune said. 鈥淗ere we get more rain, but we have several months of drought.鈥�

The team is designing a cistern that will be able to withstand a drought equal to the worst the region has experienced in the past 40 years, according to Brune.

鈥淭he way the cistern is being sized is to look at 30 to 40 years of rainfall data,鈥� he said. 鈥淲hat are the worst droughts that happened? We need to be able to deal with that.鈥�

Designers also have to be careful what they use. The Living Building Challenge includes a 鈥渞ed list鈥� of chemicals that may not be used. Many of the chemicals are found in everyday items.

鈥淭hey are things we commonly find in off-the-shelf products,鈥� DuConge said. 鈥淔or instance, we have to find things that are PVC free. PVCs are pretty ubiquitous.鈥�

If team members can’t find a product that doesn’t have PVCs, they have to argue for a change. The goal of the project is to make a building that is both comfortable and sustainable.

鈥淲e are trying to use things that are healthier,鈥� DuConge said.

Brune said that one of the goals for the engineers is to prove that sustainable, comfortable buildings can be built no matter the environment. Currently, such buildings are only in the Pacific Northwest and Northeast.

鈥淚t is pretty powerful,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t shows that we can be doing things differently.鈥�

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Historically, architecture and engineering have primarily attracted white males. But even though more women and minorities are studying to enter the fields, they aren’t necessarily choosing to start such careers or stick with them.

According to the American Institute of Architects, 45 percent of architecture schools’ graduates are women, and 39 percent of architecture firms’ interns are women. But only 25 percent of professional architects are women, and just 17 percent of firms’ principals are women, the AIA reported.

The numbers are even more striking for the engineering profession. Though in the 1980s, on average, women accounted for just 5.8 percent of the industry’s workforce, even now they account for only 14 percent, according to a report by the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee.

Yet the professional traits of architecture and engineering that draw men also, by and large, draw women. A love of design, math and/or science often is cited. Early exposure to related fields can be crucial.

鈥淢y dad was a carpenter,鈥� said Gabrielle Riley, an associate and architectural designer with ZGF Architects. 鈥淢y dad was passionate about his work. I used to go to work with my dad a lot.鈥�

Architecture gave the 27-year-old Tuskegee University graduate a way to combine her design skills with many of the activities she enjoyed sharing with her dad. But Riley knows now that she is a rarity in the field: Fewer than 2 percent of American architects are African-American.

鈥淚 was pretty naive about architecture and didn’t really know what I was getting into,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 just saw blueprints and I’m like, I want to draw these.鈥�

According to some engineers and architects who work in the Portland area, their fields are sorely lacking role models resembling the overall diverse workforce in the U.S.

Riley has noticed a distinct lack of black women architects able to serve as mentors to her or others. Sofia Chavez Cruz, a junior studying architecture at Portland State University, said it seems to her that few women are practicing the profession.

鈥淚t’s important for women to be visible in the field,鈥� she said, and added that the lack of women 鈥渕akes it harder to be a minority in a field that heavily relies on mentors.鈥�

The problem is that because the industry has few women and minorities, few are available to serve as advocates.

鈥淧eople tend to mentor for people that are like them,鈥� said Daniella Moreano Wahler, an associate at PAE Engineers. 鈥淚t’s not that (white men) don’t want women (or minorities) around; it’s that they tend to mentor people who are like themselves. It’s human nature.鈥�

That lack of mentorship can impact students’ decisions made even in high school.

鈥淲here I went to high school, in the engineering class where I got interested in architecture, there were only men,鈥� said Kyhetica Lattin, a PSU junior from Corvallis. 鈥淭here was only one other girl and she dropped out.鈥�

Students must rely largely on outreach efforts like the ACE mentor program, which aims to bring architecture and engineering professionals into public schools to promote careers in their fields. The American Institute of Architects also has several outreach programs.

Meanwhile, PSU’s Green Building Scholars program has a mentorship aspect intended to help students get a grasp of what to expect following graduation.

鈥淲e just started a mentorship program where we pair one student with a professional in the field here in Portland,鈥� said Kalina Vander Poel, who in 2016 received a master’s in architecture from PSU.

Vander Poel is overseeing the program while Green Building Scholars program director Corey Griffin is on sabbatical in Ireland. The mentors discuss a variety of issues tied to life after graduation, she said.

鈥淭hey just fire away with questions about good, healthy work-life balance,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hey discuss what it is like to work in the profession here in Portland, what their experiences are as a young professional versus being a student. They try to bridge that gap between academia and being a new professional.鈥�

Attracting and keeping women and minorities in Portland after graduation can be a challenge. The city may be known as a trendy place appealing to young people, but also as one predominantly white. Riley said she was eager to join ZGF here rather than another firm in a more ethnically diverse metro area such as Washington, D.C.

鈥淚t was the opportunity to work with the firm,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 knew Portland had a reputation as a white city, but I didn’t see it as a challenge. It was an opportunity to work with a good firm that opened their arms to me, so why let color get in the way of that?鈥�

The top reasons cited by women in a 2016 AIA survey for leaving the profession were: better opportunities (49 percent), lack of advancement (24 percent) and low pay (20 percent). But some women are sticking around. Kathy Shaloo Berg, a partner at ZGF, said the architecture industry has made strides in the 20 years that she has been in it.

As more women enter upper levels of management, the transition for women newcomers should become smoother, Berg said.

鈥淚t’s tough,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e can solve the gender problem by hiring more equally for people coming out of school. We can’t fix the racial challenge we have because we aren’t getting the different groups into college in first place.鈥�

Architecture and engineering firms are beginning to find ways to keep women, at least, in their respective fields. One big change that occurred in the past decade is improvement in family leave policies.

Federal law requires businesses to offer up to 12 weeks of unpaid family leave 鈥� to either women or men. Some companies have policies that offer even more time off.

Jennie Cambier, a senior associate at Opsis Architecture, took six months off when she had her first child and then four more months when she had her second child.

鈥淚 think one of the things Opsis is doing is recognizing that people need to have work-life balance and that there are demands outside of the office,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 feel pretty fortunate that the firm has responded to my needs.鈥�

PAE Engineers recently made available six weeks of paid leave for any employee who has had a child or needs to take care of a sick family member.

鈥淥ne of the key reasons was to help attract more women to stay within the industry,鈥� said Shiloh Butterworth, director of employee experience at PAE Engineers. 鈥淲e are trying to bring in a more diverse workforce. We can set up young women 10 to 15 years down the road to be successful in the industry.鈥�

鈥淭hat policy is very helpful,鈥� said Wahler, who is expecting her first child in two months. 鈥淚t helps retain engineers. It has to be gender-neutral. It helps send the message that family care isn’t just on women.鈥�

While efforts are being made to increase diversity in the architecture and engineering industries, new issues will need to be addressed, said Nicki Pozos, a client development leader at HDR.

鈥淚n our hope for diversity, we can’t just trade out four white guys for some women,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t’s not enough to put a woman in a position and expect them to act like a man.鈥�

True diversity means incorporating the different perspectives that people bring to a workplace, Pozos said. Awareness of the struggles experienced by minorities in the field also is important, she added.

鈥淲e had one black man here and he left,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t takes a certain kind of person to be that one guy. We have to get past our blindness to that fact.鈥�

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