A new mass timber building at the University of Oregon’s Portland campus aims to train a new workforce and advance a new model of childcare.

The two-story, 54,000-square-foot will replace four outdated buildings at the UO Portland campus, 2800 N.E. Liberty St.

The new building will house the Ballmer Institute and Prevention Science Institute.

“The mission of the building is one of the main inspirations for the project,” said Braulio Baptista, design partner at ZGF Architects. “It’s humbling to be part of the design of a project that will carry out such important work.”

The building, currently under construction, replaces four recently demolished buildings totaling 44,000 square feet.

According to the university, Elizabeth and Weber halls were used as student housing when Concordia operated the campus before UO purchased it in 2022. The adjoining building, Mary Neils, served as administrative office space. The fourth building was a vacant, single-family house.

The UO Portland project was designed by ZGF Architects. The project team also includes civil engineer CAPITAL Engineering & Consulting LLC, structural engineer KPFF, mechanical engineer PAE, landscape architect Walker Macy and general contractor Skanska.

Launched in 2022 through a lead gift from Connie and Steve Ballmer, the Ballmer Institute for Children’s Behavioral Health includes a training program that equips students with the skills to identify behavioral health challenges early and implement interventions that prevent issues from escalating.

The facility will allow the UO to enroll up to 300 students annually in their final two years of the program, according to a UO press release.

The three components of the programming are education, research and clinical training. With the new building, the Ballmer Institute and the Prevention Science Institute will have their first identifiable physical location, Baptista said. The Ballmer Institute has previously been operating in a variety of buildings throughout the Portland campus and nearby since its launch in 2022.

The inclusive design will include welcoming spaces for children and families to access free behavioral health services, modernized classrooms and instructional spaces, a behavioral health clinic and a telehealth center to deliver services to youth in underserved and rural communities across the state. The design will include elements of biophilia – design centered on natural element, including plants – and plenty of daylight.

Baptista said it was important to find a balance between institutional and familial elements in the design.

“It will be a mass timber building, which we’re very excited about,” Baptista said, adding that it will be the first new mass timber building on the campus. “The interior of the building will leverage as much of the mass timber as possible to add warmth.”

The exterior materials are primarily metal with custom corrugation. Baptista said the metal emulates the reddish stones of the brick building elsewhere on the campus.

The main organization of the building creates a central space, called the student hub.

“We have research, education and clinical spaces that sort of pinwheel around the central space, creating a very clearly demarcated heart to the building where everybody comes together,” Baptista said.

From that space, students can go into classrooms or research wings.

Baptista said privacy is an important consideration in a building like this, particularly in the training clinic and research areas. There were strict requirements for sound isolation between rooms, from intervention rooms to telehealth spaces.

Baptista said the building’s location was chosen from the master plan, which ZGF helped with, that will create the fourth defining edge to the central quad of the campus. Baptista said it will be kitty-corner from the library, which currently acts as a center piece of the campus.

Landscaping includes a sensory garden and other areas of respite.

The project is expected to cost $83 million. Funding includes $53 million from the state, a $15 million lead gift by the Tykeson Family Foundation and additional gifts of $5 million from other donors, according to the UO.

Construction broke ground June 11 and is expected to be complete in early 2029.

On the Boards is a 91��Ƶ feature offering a look at projects in Oregon and Southwest Washington being tackled by local architecture firms. To have your firm’s projects considered, contact 91��Ƶ reporter Hilary Dorsey at hdorsey@djcOregon.com.

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ZGF Architects garnered little from precedents when designing a seismically resilient, six-story, 183,000-square-foot hospital expansion in Astoria’s tsunami inundation zone.

“As far as the resiliency side of it, there isn’t a precedent for this kind of facility,” project architect Michelle Checkis said. “At least in the United States, we weren’t able to find another medical facility that was doing this or had this kind of resiliency.”

Resiliency is paramount for Columbia Memorial Hospital, a federally designated Critical Access Hospital that is pinched between the Columbia River and Coxcomb Hill in Astoria. The hospital nearest to Columbia Memorial is 18 miles away in Seaside, and U.S. Route 101 between them is linked by seismically vulnerable bridges.

Now a major expansion is under way at Columbia Memorial. Crews led by general contractor Skanska are erecting steel.

“We’re getting out of the ground,” Checkis said.

And, crucially, above water.

Columbia Memorial officials issued a request for proposals in July 2020 after a 2017 report on 11 coastal hospitals from the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries reached an alarming conclusion: “Due to expected damage to pre-1995 hospital buildings including structural systems and non-structural components of hospital buildings … none of Oregon’s coastal hospitals are ready to operate immediately after a Cascadia disaster.”

Columbia Memorial was built in the 1970s and later received several expansions. Hospital officials worked with University of Washington researchers to precisely model the effects of a tsunami in the area. The results: The bottom two floors of Columbia Memorial are expected to be inundated in a worst-case earthquake and tsunami.

So ZGF — with the help of Degenkolb Engineers — went vertical. Building on lessons learned from the Gladys Valley Marine Studies Building in Newport, ZGF designed a staircase leading to a rooftop shelter. Overall, safe refuge areas at the hospital expansion will be able to protect up to 1,900 people, ZGF estimates.

Acute patient care rooms were moved to higher floors, except for the emergency department, which must remain on the ground floor for everyday access. The greatly expanded emergency department will meet a crucial need for more ER capacity on the North Coast.

Also, mechanical and electrical systems are located above the projected maximum tsunami inundation line. So is a rooftop helipad; it replaces a landing spot at ground level, only 20 feet above the grade of the Columbia River.

A swooping mass-timber entry pavilion provides an entry to the existing hospital structure and a nod to Clatsop County’s timber heritage.

Perhaps the project’s biggest hurdle came in April 2025 when Trump administration officials canceled a previously awarded $20 million resiliency grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The status of the 2023 grant remains unclear. In March, FEMA sent the state Department of Emergency Management a letter indicating it could still be funded.

Meanwhile, the hospital’s foundation has raised nearly $8 million of a $10 million goal to support completion of construction.

Hospital officials “have stayed hopeful that the grant program would be revived, while also searching for other avenues of funding, as well as cost savings in the project,” hospital spokeswoman Sarah Bello stated in an email. “There have been no major design changes, and the resiliency aspects remain part of the expansion despite the uncertainty with the BRIC grant.”

On the Boards is a 91��Ƶ feature offering a look at projects in Oregon and Southwest Washington being tackled by local architecture firms. To have your firm’s projects considered, contact the 91��Ƶ at newsroom@djcOregon.com.

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As mass timber pushes into more project types, contractors and advocates are pursuing its inclusion in designs for one of the few construction sectors showing growth: health care.

Mass timber has long been used in office buildings and residential structures as supporters credit it for appealing aesthetics, faster tilt-up times, and competitive costs and performance. Health care is a tougher sector to crack, with strict code requirements for hospitals and unique considerations related to patient health.

Yet those hurdles have done little to dissuade mass-timber backers, who see a growing health-care sector that comprises one-sixth of the $30 trillion U.S. economy while commercial real estate has pulled back dramatically.

“We’re going to see more (mass-timber) projects that are health care, and we’re going to see larger portions of the projects that are mass timber,” said Dean��Lewis, director of mass timber and prefabrication at��Skanska, one of the large contractors working with the material.

Health care was a central topic at this week’s International Mass Timber Conference in Portland. Lewis covered health care as an emerging market for mass timber, while University of Oregon researcher Mark Fretz discussed “Mass Timber in Health Care and Infection Control.”

It makes sense for contractors and other industry insiders to pursue health care projects, said Iain Macdonald, director of the Tallwood Design Institute, a collaboration between Oregon State University‘s colleges of forestry and engineering, and the UO College of Design.

“Commercial is kind of a stagnant construction sector, and life sciences is one that’s growing,” he said.

While clients continue to rely on traditional concrete-and-steel construction for key hospital functions, the use of cross-laminated timber (CLT) and similar products in health care facilities is growing.

On the Oregon Coast, ZGF Architects‘ design for the Columbia Memorial Hospital expansion in Astoria uses mass timber for the entryway’s roof and other structural elements. The 183,000-square-foot facility will also include safe refuge areas in the event of a tsunami and acute care patient rooms on upper floors. The expanded hospital is slated to open in 2027.

The foyer of the new St. Charles Cancer Center in Redmond, a 53,000-square-foot facility that will open later this month, is made from mass timber.

The University of Oregon’s $71 million Ballmer Institute for Children’s Behavioral Health, a 54,000-square-foot building under construction in Portland and designed by ZGF, will feature mass timber extensively, as does a $47 million building designed by Hacker for Mosaic Community Health in Bend.

In Lakewood, Washington, a behavioral health facility designed by HOK topped out in March.

“The mass-timber design serves a number of goals,” Loren Supp, HOK’s design principal in Seattle, stated in a news release. “It highlights the natural beauty of western Washington and its evergreen forests. It reinforces the state’s commitment to environmentally friendly design, and it creates a warm and calming environment that benefits well-being.”

Advocates point to the well-studied psychological benefits of inhabiting timber buildings. UO researchers last year published a study finding CLT had fewer viable bacteria than a plastic sample. The researchers also found that volatile organic compounds in CLT decreased over time.

Industry and UO researchers are studying the possibilities for expanding use of mass timber in hospitals.

“You’re not going to have it in the (operating rooms), but there are distinct advantages to having it in patient rooms, waiting areas and that sort of thing,” Macdonald said.

Industry officials are also studying mass timber’s potential for other uses, including warehouses, data centers and military bases.

Portland has long been the epicenter of mass-timber construction in the United States. Portland is home to notable projects such as the Mississippi Building, an all-wood office structure designed by Waechter Architecture; the 12-story Julia West House, designed by Holst Architecture; and Carbon12, an eight-story mixed-use building designed by Kaiser + Path.

Extensive use of CLT in the new Portland International Airport terminal marked a new chapter for mass timber in major public projects. And even some never-built concepts, including Framework and the Spar, led to important research for building tall wood structures.

In health care, Skanska’s Lewis said clients don’t need to be persuaded — they’re eager to build with mass timber.

“A lot of the clients, especially in the Pacific Northwest, harken back to our affinity for wood,” Lewis said.

Clients point to sustainability and valuing the experience of being inside the building.

“It seems like the ones that want to do timber are really invested in trying to create a space that they feel is above what they’ve seen in the market,” Lewis said.

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A master plan proposal for redevelopment of the Lloyd Center mall received the Portland Design Commission‘s unanimous approval on Thursday.

The 27.1-acre site, in Northeast Portland, consists of the mall and a Regal Cinemas parking lot. The master plan divides the parcels into 14 areas with approximately 7 million gross square feet of allowed development, buildings as tall as 225 feet, and approximately 6.18 acres of public open spaces and new public rights-of-way.

ZGF Architects designed the master plan for owners Urban Renaissance Group and KKR Real Estate Finance Trust.

The vision of the master plan “transforms an aging mall that is no longer economically sustainable into a vibrant, mixed-use neighborhood with housing, retail, and open space where Portlanders can live, work, and play,” Tom Kilbane, managing director of Urban Renaissance Group’s Portland office, stated in an email.

“Lloyd Center will always hold a special place in the hearts of Portlanders,” he stated, “and now it’s poised to play a leading role in the city’s revitalization.”

Redevelopment will occur in phases. No specific plan for demolition exists yet, but it would likely be full demolition rather than a phased approach, because the mall shares centralized infrastructure for utilities. Because these utilities are fully integrated, it is not feasible to isolate or maintain services for one portion of the property while decommissioning another, according to a letter from the applicant’s attorney.

During the previous Design Commission hearing for the master plan, more than 50 people spoke, many in opposition. They lamented plans to demolish the mall and its indoor ice rink.

Commissioner Tina Bue addressed that public testimony, stating that the demolition aspects are outside of the commission’s purview. But she added that she believes the master plan has great potential in open spaces and neighborhood extensions.

“The community spoke loud and clearly about having a year-round ice rink and the importance of the mall being a third space,” she said. “I believe Portlanders will create something new.”

Commission Vice Chair Joe Swank added, “The Lloyd Center has really been de facto public space — public realm — for 65 years in the city. It really has, I think, a following and an ability to captivate people in that way.”

The small business space and the ice rink now in the Lloyd Center mall are community assets, Swank added. He encouraged stakeholders who are passionate about those spaces to follow the process of the Lloyd-Holladay TIF District with the city and track where funds are being spent.

Public art and facade expressions were not part of the master plan and should be considered as aspects of the development of the 14 individual parcels, Commission Chair Chandra Robinson said.

The master plan was approved by the commission unanimously, with conditions of approval attached. Conditions include proposed open spaces being subject to public access easements and allowing public access, designs of each proposed open space and accessway being evaluated through a type II design review process, and buildings in areas shown to have 50 percent ground floor use meeting city code. Several other conditions related to transportation, environmental service and water service were also added.

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The vision for redevelopment of Lloyd Center drew testimony from more than 50 people during a Portland Design Commission hearing on Thursday, and many expressed their opposition.

Most testifiers spoke about the value of the communities created at the mall in recent years. They asked for preservation of both the existing building as an indoor space out of the rain and the year-round indoor ice rink.

However, the project team is proposing to replace the building with interconnected mixed-use buildings and open space, including a seasonal outdoor rink.

“In light of all the testimony, most of it had to do with what happens inside of these buildings,” Commissioner Zari Santner said.

Thursday’s hearing was the Design Commission’s third look at redevelopment plans for the 27.1-acre site that consists of the mall and the Regal Cinemas lot south of Northeast Multnomah Street. Next month, the group is expected to vote on the proposal.

Both the Nordstrom building and the sky-bridge were demolished to accommodate construction of a new music venue. The mall will close later this year.

ZGF Architects designed the master plan for owners Urban Renaissance Group and KKR Real Estate Finance Trust. The project team also includes civil engineer DOWL, structural engineer KPFF, and landscape architect Field Operations of New York.

When Lloyd Center opened in 1960, it was exposed to the elements. Glass ceilings were added in the late 1980s, according to the project team’s report. The goal of redevelopment is to reverse the inward focus and build a neighborhood around open space, said Nolan Lienhart, a ZGF principal and its director of planning and urban design.

The vision for the area calls for integrating new residential, retail, entertainment, and employment space with a dynamic and connected public realm. Community gathering spaces would be accessible to all.

Approximately 20 percent of the master plan area must be dedicated open space for the public, senior city planner Ben Nielsen said. The master plan envisions high-density residential and commercial buildings framing a network of diverse but complementary connected open spaces, the applicant’s report states. It includes more than 6 acres of parks, open space, and plazas, said Tom Kilbane, managing director of Urban Renaissance Group. There would also be two pedestrian-oriented promenades. Any proposed open spaces will need to go through a design review process as part of a condition of approval for the master plan, Nielsen said.

The Design Commission’s vice chair, Joe Swank, asked where the team proposes to locate the seasonal ice rink.

“The market square seems like an obvious area, but it could be other places as well,” said Allison Rouse, a ZGF landscape architect.

The master plan area is expected to gain up to 7 million square feet of mixed-use buildings, including both affordable and market-rate housing. Utilities to support these uses would be located underground.

The project team is requesting two adjustments are requested with the master plan review. One is to remove the general required building line standards from three areas. Another is to remove required building line standards for sites with frontage on a street, except for three other areas. City staff recommend approving the two requests.

Santner asked the project team, when it returns before the commission, to give a general sense of what residential, commercial, retail and community spaces they will try to accommodate in the development.

The project team will return before the Design Commission on March 5.

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Plans for the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) District are moving forward, with construction of the first project in the master plan set to begin next year.

The Portland City Council on Wednesday authorized a term sheet to serve as a guide for project agreements for the OMSI Master Plan District. The city council also authorized a $16.9 million intergovernmental agreement between Prosper Portland and the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) to construct the New Water Avenue project.

Last week, the Prosper Portland Board of Commissioners approved the term sheet and IGA, moving it on to the Portland City Council.

Approving the term sheet affirms cooperation between OMSI, the city of Portland and Prosper Portland to achieve the goal and policies of the Central City Master Plan. The master plan establishes an urban design framework and determines adequate utilities.

The project includes 24 acres of transit-oriented, mixed-use development, 1,200 new market rate and affordable housing units and the restoration of Tribal presence on the Willamette River through the creation of a Center for Tribal Nations and the waterfront education park. Native American-led architecture firm Earthwise Design is leading the design of the Center for Tribal Nations. OMSI and the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission will issue a request for proposals for design of the waterfront. The project is scheduled to reach 30-percent design by March 2027 and funding by spring 2028.

The city funding is allocated for the first phase of the project. This includes the New Water Avenue, a sewer systems project, design and planning for a new waterfront education park and Center for Tribal Nations, Tract A, and Tract C/D. This phase is expected to take 10 years to complete.

Phase two will include private development projects and the feasibility of district parking. Affordable housing projects will take place during phase two or phase three, depending on funding availability. Construction of the waterfront education park is also likely to take place during phase two. Phase three will include private development projects, Loop Road and city infrastructure, and planning and development of district parking.

Prosper Portland will invest $10.9 million in Central Eastside Tax Increment Finance (TIF) resources into the New Water Avenue Project and will transfer another $6 million in State of Oregon funds, once received from Business Oregon. PBOT has budgeted $500,000 in Transportation System Development Charges that can be made available for eligible improvements within the project.

The total project cost is estimated at $90 million and includes $30 million for New Water Avenue, $40 million for the waterfront education park and $15.9 million for Old Water Avenue and Loop Road.

The project is now 75 percent funded for phase one, with continued efforts to secure public funds to close the remaining gap, OMSI stated in a press release.

The New Water Avenue project, which will include a two-way cycle track, will be the first project to break ground and is scheduled to start in November 2025 and be complete in July 2027.

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The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry’s (OMSI) plans for a new neighborhood district are moving forward.

The Prosper Portland Board of Commissioners on Wednesday authorized a term sheet with OMSI related to development plans for the OMSI District. The commission also approved an intergovernmental agreement with the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) for $10.9 million of Central Eastside Tax Increment Finance (TIF) resources, and up to $16.9 million if Prosper Portland and Business Oregon execute a $6 million grant.

Amy Nagy, development manager at Prosper Portland, said the term sheet provides the framework for private or public infrastructure and vertical development projects related to the OMSI District Central City Master Plan between Prosper Portland, the city of Portland and OMSI.

The intergovernmental agreement directs funding from Prosper Portland to PBOT for design, construction and management of New Water Avenue.

“OMSI has been a cultural attraction in the city since the 1950s,” Nagy said.

The museum moved from Washington Park to the Central Eastside in the early ’90s. It welcomes over 1 million visitors a year, hosts classroom and education opportunities for over 8,000 kids a year and partners with other museums in 15 different states, bringing different exhibits and learning opportunities, Nagy said.

In 2018, OMSI retained Edlen & Co. as its master developer and ZGF Architects to lead the Central City Master Plan process. In addition, Prosper Portland coordinated city bureau participation to support master plan development. OMSI’s plan for the District is intended to be an inclusive, vibrant new neighborhood and community destination. It includes a new waterfront education park featuring public green space, plazas, restored riparian and upland habitats, and outdoor science programming. Through its partnerships with the Indigenous and Tribal communities, a Native presence will be restored along the waterfront and within the built environment. The OMSI District will ultimately become home to 1,200 new residential units, with a goal of over one-third of them being affordable housing.

Prosper Portland partnered with city bureaus to negotiate the term sheet with OMSI to identify and invest in public and private infrastructure within the OMSI District over three phases. Construction of New Water Avenue and the Waterfront Education Park are key projects for Phase One. OMSI will also identify private development projects and build out 250,000 gross square feet of vertical development.

Phase Two is focused on feasibility, including a district parking solution and private development, and an agreement between the Portland Housing Bureau and OMSI to achieve the district’s affordable housing goals. Phase Three uses the feasibility findings to continue build out of the district

OMSI and the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission will issue a Request for Proposal for design of the waterfront. The project is scheduled to reach 30-percent design by March 2027 and funding by spring 2028.

Funding in the intergovernmental agreement (IGA) will support construction of New Water Avenue, which will become the primary multi-modal street dedicated to moving freight and accommodating a new two-way cycle track. Old Water Avenue will also require some street improvements to support the new alignment.

“New Water Avenue is going to be the nerve center of the district,” Nagy said. “It’s going to hold all new utilities, including water.”

OMSI, Prosper Portland and PBOT have been working to identify public resources to build the $30 million infrastructure project. Through the IGA, Prosper Portland is providing $10.9 million in Central Eastside TIF resources to PBOT for the design, construction and management of the project. The state of Oregon is providing an additional $11 million, including a recent allocation of $6 million through the State Infrastructure Fund.

The project partners will pursue money to cover the balance of the project cost through June 30, 2025. If unsuccessful, the term sheet identifies a waterfall approach to reduce infrastructure costs that culminates with OMSI agreeing to a local improvement district to cover the financial gap.

The estimated total project cost is $90 million, which does not include plans for parking.

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Each year, the 91��Ƶ 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 “Fremont Place”), 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 – 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 “brain” 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 – and more. Work includes Block 216, Oregon State University’s Gladys Valley Marine Studies Building (91��Ƶ 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 – 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��

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 “worst in class” materials, chemicals and elements concerning human health and the ecosystem. More than 2,700 materials were vetted for the project.

LMC Construction��

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 – Matthew Knight Arena. Most recently, the firm designed the Sutton (previously called “Fremont Tower”) – 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 – a six-story, a 214-unit development in the Goose Hollow neighborhood. Recently, R&H broke ground on Splash Apartments – 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.

��Mortenson��

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 – 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 – 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��

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.

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Five years ago, PAE Engineers, ZGF Architects, Edlen & Co., and Walsh Construction set out to construct a building able to meet today’s most advanced sustainability metrics.

In November 2021, they completed that building.

Now, the team must wait for a full year of operation and data collection before receiving word if the PAE Living Building has successfully achieved the International Living Future Institute’s Living Building Challenge.

Systems inside the building allow it to produce its electricity, capture and treat all its water, operate efficiently, and more. But to solve big challenges, the project team first needed to turn to the little details.

One valve after another

In the back of the PAE Living Building, on the ground floor, is the mechanical room. In the far corner are two rows of tall, blue composting machines – each capable of holding five gallons of liquid waste. Above each of the 20 composters is a black-and-yellow valve.

After a 70-gallon sump fills with waste from toilets (about once per day from typical use), one composter’s valve opens for 10 seconds – waste pumps in – and then closes. The valve at the next composter then follows suit, and on down the line until the sump is empty. The system ensures that each composter fills evenly.

“If you use one composter too much, you can overload it, and then just like backyard compost would turn into a wet soggy mess,” PAE principal and lead engineer Marc Brune said. “It’s even worse here.”

The setup also allows the composters to be at the back of the building. The project team could have relied on gravity instead of pumps, ZGF principal Justin Brooks said, but that would have required alignment of the restrooms and the composters throughout the building and thus a restricted floor plan.

Project financing relied on investments, so it was important for the structure to perform not only sustainably but also economically. A 2,365-square-foot mechanical room did not help the cause. However, use of a nutrient recovery system created more leasable space.

All liquid from the urinals drains into the system, beginning with a 1,000-gallon collection tank. The liquid then runs through a distillation column (about once a month), which separates the leachate from the urine and creates both liquid and powder fertilizers that will be sold.

Without separation of the urine from the urinals and the waste from the toilets, the building would have needed 23 composters, Brune said. Each composter costs substantially more than $10,000, said Ed Sloop, chief estimator for Walsh Construction, so use of just 20 represented a significant cost savings.

As far as the project team knows, no other Living Building has a nutrient recovery system.

Nuances in materials

Holding the 58,000-square-foot structure together are cross-laminated timber panels, glulam structural columns, and beams with concrete shear walls in the center for additional reinforcement.

“It’s basically a wood building wrapped around a concrete building,” Sloop said.

So, when it came to the stairway that travels up the center of the building. Brooks said the team needed to make a design decision: Should the wood and the concrete touch? In the case of the stairway, they do not.

Also, by not adding finishes to connect the surfaces, Brooks said, the team limited its use of materials, energy, carbon … and money.

Similarly, CLT panels lay flat across the floor beams, and just a thin line separates them. But to ensure that it would be a thin line and not a gap, KPFF engineers and Walsh Construction team members needed to engage in hours of back-and-forth and prep work.

Each glulam beam is engineered to have a precise arch (camber) so that only a certain amount of it leaves when the CLT is placed. Then the rest of the camber comes out from the concrete’s weight from the roof, leaving a flat line.

A lot of the back-and-forth, Sloop said, was on how to pour the concrete and ensure the weight was proportioned correctly for the beams.

“We said, ‘OK, we’re going to pour it uniform thickness and trust the math,’” he added. “And it came out great. You can walk around … and you don’t see ‘smiles’ because it just landed flat.”

Hidden systems

Small vents scattered atop the building are the only visible markers of the unique system that allows the roof to “breathe.”

The day the roof was placed there was “bad weather,” Sloop said, and a vapor barrier had to go down. When the concrete top was poured, an abundance of moisture was left under it and within the exposed structure.

“We couldn’t get a warrantable roof unless we could do something with the moisture,” Sloop said.

That difficulty as well as the one posed by the Living Building Challenge‘s restrictive Red List of “worst in class” materials led to a new roofing system being invented for the project. A special waffle-pattern insulation allows air to circulate under the membrane. The vents atop the roof then let the air escape.

“You don’t see it; it’s not sexy,” Sloop said, “but it’s super important to how this building got built and the longevity of the roof.”

A few windows in the walls give peeks at the inner workings, but most of the systems are tucked away.

“I just think about how much is contained in a relatively small container,” Sloop said. “There are more systems on this building than any building I have ever participated in.”

Completion of the PAE Living Building is realization of a dream, Brune said, especially since it holds the engineering firm’s new headquarters.

“I’m hoping we’ve pushed the bar a little further and (we’re) a lot closer to seeing a lot more of these because of this project,” he said. “To me, it’s just an inspiration to work in here every day that I come in.”

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More than 7,000 construction jobs will be created by the 3 million-square-foot mixed-use development proposed by the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry.

The master plan, designed by ZGF Architects, was formally submitted to the city of Portland for approval in December after roughly 14 years of planning. The site will span over 10 city blocks from Clay Street to Caruthers Street in the city’s lower east side.

The new neighborhood expects to produce more than $11 million in annual property tax revenue at full buildout and generate $22 million in annual income tax revenue, based on a report by EcoNorthwest.

Edlen & Co. is advising as the developer for the site.

What will the site include?

Little details are known about the projects that will appear in the district as it is still early in development. However, two main aspects of the district have been unveiled, one of which is a third-of-a-mile waterfront park along the Willamette River. The other is housing — the site expects to have up to 1,200 units, where at least 20 percent will be for low-income families.

The vision behind the district is centered on innovation, culture and science. OMSI’s CEO Erin Graham said it expanded from the museum’s mission and hours of community listening.

A direct output of those conversations, Graham added, was the park.

OMSI is working with Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians and the Columbia River Intertribal Fish Commission on the park concept to recenter the tribal presence on the Willamette River. It will include a public green space, plazas and hands-on outdoor science programs around indigenous ecological knowledge and culture. The project also aims to restore the riverfront habitat.

The land, the river and the tracks

Unlike the Broadway Corridor and the Conway master plan in Northwest Portland, which fit seamlessly into Portland’s grid, OMSI is in a tricky spot. The 18.5-acre site is separated from nearby neighborhoods by bridges on either side and the river and the Union Pacific Railway tracks surrounding it.

ZGF’s Nolan Lienhart, director of planning and urban design, said this distinguishes its form from other urban networks around town. Graham added it will make the site feel more organic.

However, developer Jill Sherman said the site’s location is a challenge the district will have to overcome. In many ways, she added, it is a great site, especially with the access to the river, but there is a disconnect that will hopefully change over time.

The project already had two significant wins in this department and potentially a third on the way. In 2015, TriMet completed the MAX Orange Line and Tilikum Crossing connecting the OMSI site to the greater Portland Metro area. In addition, last year, the state of Oregon committed $5 million toward the construction of a new Water Avenue, a critical infrastructure piece of the plan.

The new street would run the length of the site and parallel to the train track connecting the entire east end of the district to an arterial.

Currently, the only roads in and around the site are Water Avenue, which swoops past a Portland Community College building and goes straight to the OMSI parking lots, and Loop Road that circles a parking lot.

In the proposal, the current Water Avenue would stay (listed on site plans as Old Water Avenue), and the new arterial would bound the street with Loop Road.

The third win may come in a bicycle and pedestrian pathway. The city of Portland included the OMSI District Masterplan in the for the future Green Loop. A portion of the 6-mile bike and pedestrian way would run through the south end of the OMSI District and over Tilikum Crossing. A pedestrian and bicycle bridge over the rail tracks is also under consideration by the city.

The future phases of buildout

The entire buildout will likely take 10 to 20 years – dictated mainly by the market.

As the developer, Sherman said she’s hoping to see a relatively balanced amount of housing and commercial office uses within the district. The key will be to have people around during the day, primarily workers and residents, in the evening, so the neighborhood is active, and the ground-floor retail is supported.

The neighborhood plans to be a hub for innovation, art and learning.

“I think that can make it a really exciting place for businesses that work in STEM industries or who are makers,” Sherman said.

Process of Approval

According to a representative for OMSI, the first land-use hearing is scheduled for March 31. From there, it could take at least six months with city planners before a vote of approval occurs.

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