Burnside Bridgehead Block 75 - Phase 2 | 206'-6" | 19 floors | Dead

[urbanlife]

I really hope we see more of these CLT buildings going up in Portland and throughout the metro. It would be cool to have a little urban district off one of the MAX stops that was basically a CLT district, it would create an interesting skyline.

[Skagit]

There is a posting for a Design Advice Review at SE 3rd and Davis for the 19 story CLT

[innovativethinking]

The building I was talking about. Hopefully this tower can sort of mask the behemoth ugly building they call The Yard that will be next to this..

Ps with the addition of this tower and the 2nd phase of the Hassalo project, my goodness this area is getting pretty dense

[maccoinnich]

Drawings [PDF - 11 MB]. Of note:

Currently the project is investigating the use of heavy timber for the structural frame. If heavy timber is selected, this project will be in alignment to becoming the tallest wood commercial structure in the world. In the event the heavy timber is not deemed a good fit, post tensioned concrete will be substituted as the structural frame.

[Derek]

I love the initial design. It'll compliment it's neighbor very well.

[innovativethinking]

So pretty much based on the drawings this is looking like an all glass type of tower.. Looks fancy

[2oh1]

Originally Posted by Derek

I love the initial design. It'll compliment it's neighbor very well.

It certainly does. It definitely looks like a Phase II for that building. On first glance, I think I love it too.

[BrG]

Many regulatory hurdles to get this built in wood. Super cool if it were to happen!

Have to convince those that govern and enforce the fire code, that this is a valid strategy.

An ongoing issue. It will get solved, but it may not be fast.

[WestCoast]

God we need more of this type of stuff here. Devil will be in the details, but it's dead sexy sketching.


Also, not sure where the comment about the fire is coming from. My reading indicates CLT stuff like this is actually more fire resistant to steel or similar.
I'm not engineer, so I could be wrong, but I've read a number of articles that claim it's no different than any other building to make safe from fire.

[maccoinnich]

In theory, yes, CLT outperforms uncoated steel in a fire. However the building codes currently in effect in Oregon don't recognize this, having been written before CLT was even used in the USA. The building code does provide ways to gain approval for non-standard construction, but it requires jumping through a lot more hurdles than would be present for a more conventional building.

A friend of mine works for PATH, and I had a long conversation with her the other day about the issues she's dealing with for Carbon12, whose building permit is currently under review. They're working through it, but have to demonstrate a lot of things that they wouldn't have needed to if they'd just gone in for permit with 8 stories of post-tensioned concrete. That project is only 8 stories, and comes in just below the building code threshold for "high rise" construction. (This is significant because once a building is considered a high rise, the code assumes that a fire can only be fought from the inside of the building). At 19 stories Works Partnership will have significantly more issues to deal with. I hope they go for it and succeed, but it won't be an easy plan review for them.

[cailes]

Looks like a potentially great addition!

Off topic, but I love the rendering of full sidewalks at 3rd & Davis. That has to be the worst potential place for pedestrian activity with a substation across the street and a loud freeway flyover.

Also, hope they do something about those unsightly power lines that didn't make it into the renders

/snark

[maccoinnich]

Originally Posted by cailes

Also, hope they do something about those unsightly power lines that didn't make it into the renders

/snark

Looking at one of my photos of Phase I, it looks like they might have already undergrounded the high voltage lines along NE 3rd:



Compare to the same pole in April 2014:

[bvpcvm]

Originally Posted by maccoinnich

A friend of mine works for PATH, and I had a long conversation with her the other day about the issues she's dealing with for Carbon12, whose building permit is currently under review. They're working through it, but have to demonstrate a lot of things that they wouldn't have needed to if they'd just gone in for permit with 8 stories of post-tensioned concrete.

What's in it for the developer? Is CLT that much cheaper than concrete, that it's worth it to them to go through all these extra steps? Somewhere above it looked the developer would be willing to use concrete if CLT turns out to not be doable, which implies that the difference in price isn't that big. So given that, why bother?

[Abide]

They didn't underground the power lines. They put a pole in across the street by the Eastside Exchange and zigzagged the lines across the street to free up room to maneuver for Block 75 phase I construction.

[maccoinnich]

Originally Posted by Abide

They didn't underground the power lines. They put a pole in across the street by the Eastside Exchange and zigzagged the lines across the street to free up room to maneuver for Block 75 phase I construction.

Oh, too bad. The lines were undergrounded along N Fremont in front of One North, and it makes a huge difference.

Originally Posted by bvpcvm

What's in it for the developer? Is CLT that much cheaper than concrete, that it's worth it to them to go through all these extra steps? Somewhere above it looked the developer would be willing to use concrete if CLT turns out to not be doable, which implies that the difference in price isn't that big. So given that, why bother?

Right now CLT construction is more expensive than concrete, though the hope is that it will become cheaper as the industry matures.

[cailes]

Mac it looks like the pole you posted pictures of is midblock between Couch and Davis. The one I was looking at (albeit in google streetview) is right across from the substation. Maybe it was relocated, but the streetview makes it look like something from India...

[eric cantona]

Originally Posted by bvpcvm

What's in it for the developer? Is CLT that much cheaper than concrete, that it's worth it to them to go through all these extra steps? Somewhere above it looked the developer would be willing to use concrete if CLT turns out to not be doable, which implies that the difference in price isn't that big. So given that, why bother?

wood is a renewable resource. if CLT is adopted widely it could be a big boost to rural Oregon and the timber industry.

concrete production produces massive amounts of CO2, and I believe that some of the production waste is pretty nasty.

look for carbon taxes to cause the cost of concrete to rise in the next decade which will make CLT an extremely attractive option. getting in on the ground floor of this could be a very successful strategy for architects, engineers and general contractors. developers will market the poop out of the "green" buildings they're putting up. they will lease faster than conventional buildings. especially here.

[maccoinnich]

Memo to the Design Commission.

[daroon]

A must watch TED talk about CLT construction:

https://www.ted.com/talks/michael_gr...rs?language=en

[ORNative]

So, based on the drawings this building should be about 220' tall?