Framework - CLT | 130' | 12 floors | Dead

[MarkDaMan]

Bank mulls 11-story wood building in the Pearl District
Jan 22, 2015, 11:05am PST
Matthew Kish and Jon Bell
Portland Business Journal

http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/...t.html?s=print

Beneficial State Bank is considering an 11-story wood building in the Pearl District that would include two bank branches, B-corporations and affordable housing.

The building would be at 430 N.W. 10th Ave., the site of an Albina Bank branch. Beneficial State Bank, which was previously known as One PacificCoast Bank, acquired a majority stake in Albina in 2013.

Oakland, Calif.-based Beneficial State Bank owns the site.

"We are looking at redeveloping the site," said Beneficial State CEO Kat Taylor, who visited Portland Wednesday. "We have an application in with the USDA to see if we can explore the possibility of a tall wood building."

Taylor said the proposal calls for a mixed-used building between 10 and 11 stories. It would include a Beneficial State branch and an Albina branch on the ground floor. It would also provide space for B-corps, or socially responsible companies, a primary customer for both Beneficial and Albina.

The project also would include housing.

"Our mission would be to have a high proportion for the housing be affordable, if not all of it," Taylor said.

She said the bank is working with an architect and a project developer and plans to have "a bunch" of community input before proceeding with the project.

"It will be a while in the making," she said. "We're still gathering stakeholders. We'll have a big input process. But we own the site and I think we have in terms of impact a really high-quality product to offer."

The site is part of a city block that is also planned to be home to a new Hilton hotel. Menashe Properties is one of the lead partners on that project, which is scheduled to bring a Canopy by Hilton hotel to a quarter-block at Northwest Glisan Street and Ninth Avenue. The hotel, which is expected to have 153 rooms, is expected to break ground in September of this year.

Taylor was the subject for a Portland Business Journal cover story in 2013.

Check back for more from Taylor's interview with the Business Journal.

[urbanlife]

Originally Posted by MarkDaMan

Bank mulls 11-story wood building in the Pearl District
Jan 22, 2015, 11:05am PST
Matthew Kish and Jon Bell
Portland Business Journal

http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/...t.html?s=print

Good for them, this sounds interesting....though I am confused on what they mean by wood building. Are they wanting to build a wood 11 story building or a building with a wood facade?

[maccoinnich]

Cross laminated timber?

[Derek]

That sounds great, and I know that lot is home to a one story building right now, and I know the bank already owns the site, but why can't they start developing some of the surrounding parking lots first?! (lol)

[babs]

Originally Posted by urbanlife

Good for them, this sounds interesting....though I am confused on what they mean by wood building. Are they wanting to build a wood 11 story building or a building with a wood facade?

I thought there were city codes that limit wood buildings to 5 stories?

[eric cantona]

tall and wood together!:

http://www.archdaily.com/220779/mich...ood-buildings/

[Abide]

If a modern, wood frame tower is against city code, they need to reform that code fast. These kinds of buildings are very exciting. I would love to see something like Zürich's Tamedia building in Portland. That thing is fascinating.

[maccoinnich]

The City doesn't write the building code, the State does. And even then, 95% of what's in the Oregon building code is based on a model code that's used in some form throughout the US. Changing that is a slow, slow process.

[urbanlife]

Originally Posted by babs

I thought there were city codes that limit wood buildings to 5 stories?

I believe it is 6 stories if the first floor is a concrete platform and the upper 5 floors are wood, but it has been a while since I tried to keep up on building codes so I might be off on this one.

[zilfondel]

Originally Posted by maccoinnich

Cross laminated timber?

Originally Posted by babs

I thought there were city codes that limit wood buildings to 5 stories?

Most likely something like this:



http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2...05-timber.html

I don't know of any other "wood" structural system in use today that can allow buildings heights of 10-11 stories. At least one of these have already been built in London. Obviously, building codes have to be changed or exceptions created for the building to go ahead, but the construction technique will likely become widespread in the near future.

For those of you who aren't in the know, a CLT panel is like a piece of plywood, except composed of dimensional lumber. They can be as much as 2 feet thick, and up to 40 feet long. So you could build a building using 10' x 10'/20'/30' x 1' panels, then lay a subflooring of the same stuff. CLT's have incredible strength and are more resistant to fire than any other type of building. Knowing Portland, they would probably require additional fireproofing tho.

[urbanlife]

I would love to see Portland allow construction like that, could you imagine what that would do for the city if developers could build taller for less using wood construction. That would definitely take care of the expected growth and turn a number of neighborhoods into some really dense districts.

[2oh1]

How would a building like that handle a major earthquake?

[Rob Nob]

But cities interpret building codes for appeals and equivalent alternatives all the time. A few years ago Portland allowed 5 floors of wood over 1 story concrete anticipating revisions to the building code. Currently, Bellevue Washington is allowing 6 stories of wood over 1 story of concrete. I assume there are additional provisions to getting to 6 over 1, but it is happening already because cities that follow the IBC are making allowances.

[urbanlife]

Originally Posted by Rob Nob

But cities interpret building codes for appeals and equivalent alternatives all the time. A few years ago Portland allowed 5 floors of wood over 1 story concrete anticipating revisions to the building code. Currently, Bellevue Washington is allowing 6 stories of wood over 1 story of concrete. I assume there are additional provisions to getting to 6 over 1, but it is happening already because cities that follow the IBC are making allowances.

That is just madness.

[Nunya]

The issue of CLT (Cross Laminated Timber) just went before the Oregon BCD recently, see linky:

http://www.bcd.oregon.gov/boards/bcs...11515_VIIe.pdf

[zilfondel]

Originally Posted by 2oh1

How would a building like that handle a major earthquake?

I've heard that the buildings are naturally extremely stiff (plywood doesn't like to bend or deform), so the steel connectors have to be engineered for increased ductility. I think they are still in development and testing...

I'm not knowledgeable on the topic to know at what point the rigidity becomes an issue in our seismic zone.

example research paper

SUMMARY
Multi-storey buildings made of cross-laminated timber panels (X-lam) are becoming a stronger and economically valid alternative in Europe compared with traditional masonry or concrete buildings. During the design process of these multi-storey buildings, also their earthquake behaviour has to be addressed, especially in seismic-prone areas such as Italy. However, limited knowledge on the seismic performance is available for this innovative massive timber product.

Valid, ductile joint assemblies were developed, and their importance for the energy dissipation in buildings with rigid X-lam panels became evident. The seven-storey building showed relatively high accelerations in the upper storeys, which could lead to secondary damage and which have to be addressed in future research.

[zilfondel]

Originally Posted by Rob Nob

But cities interpret building codes for appeals and equivalent alternatives all the time. A few years ago Portland allowed 5 floors of wood over 1 story concrete anticipating revisions to the building code. Currently, Bellevue Washington is allowing 6 stories of wood over 1 story of concrete. I assume there are additional provisions to getting to 6 over 1, but it is happening already because cities that follow the IBC are making allowances.

Think that's weird?

Here's a 4 over 3 U/C in Seattle:


Blake, The 2014-02-15 by planet_lb, on Flickr

Then there's this monstrosity, I can't figure out how they could get a 7 over 1 approved?!


3266 Avalon 2013-11-16 by planet_lb, on Flickr

[davehogan]

Originally Posted by zilfondel

Think that's weird?

Here's a 4 over 3 U/C in Seattle:


Blake, The 2014-02-15 by planet_lb, on Flickr

Then there's this monstrosity, I can't figure out how they could get a 7 over 1 approved?!


3266 Avalon 2013-11-16 by planet_lb, on Flickr

I thought the height limits were in part based on what equipment the local fire departments have available to them as well?

[CouvScott]

Sep 17, 2015, 9:58am PDT

Jon Bell
Staff Reporter
Portland Business Journal


A new 12-story wood high-rise will be built in the Pearl District thanks in part to a $1.5 million prize won by LEVER Architecture and project^.

Two Portland firms will spearhead the construction of a 12-story timber high rise in the Pearl District that will be home to workforce housing and office space for socially minded businesses.

The team of LEVER Architecture and project^, firms that have teamed up on projects before, was one of two teams to win the U.S. Tall Wood Building Prize Competition, a contest sponsored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Softwood Lumber Board and the Binational Softwood Lumber Council.

The win lands the team, united under the name Framework Project LLC, $1.5 million to embark on research and development needed to bring the 12-story building to fruition. A residential condominium project submitted by a team from New York also won a $1.5 million prize in the competition.

Tall timber structures that utilize cross laminated timbers and other engineered wood products have been built in other countries around the world, but they've yet to take off in the U.S. for a number of regulatory and other reasons.

"This will really enable us to align the regulatory framework and the technology that's already out there for these kinds of buildings," said Thomas Robinson, principal of LEVER.

The proposed building will rise from the corner of Northwest 10th and Glisan on a quarter block that's currently home to Albina Community Bank. The property owner is Beneficial State Bancorp, which acquired 90 percent of Albina's stock in 2013.

Also part of the project is Home Forward, a Portland-based affordable housing investor and developer.

The team expects to break ground in October 2016. When the building is completed, it will include ground-level retail — likely including space for Albina Bank — five floors of office space for B Corp businesses and social enterprises and five floors of workforce housing, which slides in somewhere between affordable and market rate housing.

"Workforce housing is something that we believe is missing from the Pearl District," said Anyeley Hallova, a partner with project^. She also noted that using engineered timber and wood, much of which can come from Oregon forests, in a project like this is a nice way to tie together the urban and rural economies of the state.

[maccoinnich]