Sustainability Center | dead

[vjoe]

Originally Posted by NewUrbanist

For those interested in hearing more information on the sustainability center and possibly see some more graphics, please attend this open house at PSU.

http://oregonsustainabilitycenter.fi...openhouse1.jpg

I went to the presentation, it was pretty cool from a layman point of view. I live nearby so I want to see what the plan was. Seem pretty ambitious, net zero water and energy, and all the attention on local materials and off limit materials like PVC.

I think the big cap makes the building look lob sided, but it sound like the only way to get enough energy to power the building. All in all a great plan, this would definitely be a tour stop when visitors come to town if they can get it together.

I like it

[urbanlife]

this would definitely be the first building on PSU that is actually somewhat aspiring and unique....which something PSU seems to currently lack.

[scottyboi]

agreed...the area (and honestly, the whole city) could use something different...and hopefully some of the awkwardness would be addressed

[urbanlife]

Originally Posted by scottyboi

agreed...the area (and honestly, the whole city) could use something different...and hopefully some of the awkwardness would be addressed

actually the biggest form of awkwardness that I see in the building is that the PVC roof plane was designed in plan and not section. They need to look at this building vertically as well to design something that is inspiring. If they looked at it in section, it might better address how the roof should be apart of the building.

[crow]

Originally Posted by urbanlife

actually the biggest form of awkwardness that I see in the building is that the PVC roof plane was designed in plan and not section. They need to look at this building vertically as well to design something that is inspiring. If they looked at it in section, it might better address how the roof should be apart of the building.

just to keep our nomenclature straight, PV is the Photvoltaic, and PVC is actually something not allowed by the Living Building Challenge.

[urbanlife]

Originally Posted by crow

just to keep our nomenclature straight, PV is the Photvoltaic, and PVC is actually something not allowed by the Living Building Challenge.

my bad, you are right...seems I accidentally hit the C there.

[vjoe]

I forgot to mention that there are no car parking in this building. The basement will have a bunch of bike parking and shower. The basement also house the computer servers and gray water tank.

I wonder how this will work with no garage. There will be a lot of people working here, I guess they'll have to take public transport or bike.

[tworivers]

Also went to the presentation and came away impressed despite my initial skepticism about the choice of developer/designer team. Now we'll see if they can actually go forward with construction. I have to admit that I like the roof and the negative space between it and what looks like the 10th floor or so.

[urbanlife]

well it definitely stands out among all the box buildings around it.

[Sioux612]

If this is approved, when could this break ground?

Btw, the roof reminds me of the Rose Garden Arena.

[pylon]

Article from the Trib...

http://www.portlandtribune.com/news/...63002451962800

Sustainability Center ready to rise to ‘green’ future
Legislature’s $80 million bond lays groundwork for new downtown building
BY STEVE LAW
The Portland Tribune, Jul 14, 2009

Downtown Portland looks like it’ll get the world’s greenest large building, near Portland State University.

The trail-blazing Oregon Sustainability Center appears to be viable, after the Oregon Legislature granted $80 million in construction funding and consultants decreed that it’s possible for the 13-story building to produce all its own energy and recycle its water and sewage.

The project, a collaboration between the Oregon University System, city of Portland, Portland Community College, environmental and other groups, aims to be the world’s first large-scale “Living Building,” a self-sustaining structure producing no net carbon emissions and putting no demands on the community’s water and sewer systems.

In the waning days of the legislative session, lawmakers OK’d an $80 million bond that would be paid off more than 30 years from building rents. Gov. Ted Kulongoski supports the project and will sign the funding bill, spokesman Rem Nivens said Tuesday.

The money “provides the resources that we need to make this project happen,” said Andrea Durbin, Oregon Environmental Council executive director, and part of a working group putting the project together.

Solar panels, energy efficiency
The feasibility study, released in late June by the project development team, showed that the technical requirements for the building can be met, she said. That report, by Gerding Edlen Development, GBD and SERA architects, Hoffman Construction and others, concluded that a 222,800-square-foot building can be erected on the infill site that meets a 2006 open challenge by green building proponents to create the world’s largest and most advanced green building.

The development team concluded the building could produce all its own energy using a geothermal system and photovoltaic solar panels, plus energy-saving office practices such as laptop computers instead of desktop computers, said Lisa Abuaf, co-project manager for the Portland Development Commission. The building would use existing technology to treat and reuse all water and sewage from the building, she said.

The Oregon Sustainability Center would house a variety of public, academic and environmental groups on the site of an existing parking lot on Montgomery Street between Southwest Fourth and Fifth avenues.

Not surprisingly, the feasibility study determined that the special features in the project would be costly, for a total estimated $102 million price tag. At that rate, there’s a sizable funding gap, and tenants would pay sky-high rents of nearly $32 a square foot.

Planners asked the project development team to work over the summer to get the costs down to $90 million, without reducing the building’s size, Durbin said.

That would still leave a funding gap of about $5 million, which backers hope to raise through a combination of federal money procured by the Oregon congressional delegation, federal stimulus grants and fundraising by nonprofit groups. The goal is to get rents down to the mid- to high-$20s per square foot.

A waiting list
Many government and nonprofit environmental groups are anxious to co-locate in the building, where they’d hope to work jointly on sustainability-oriented projects, including university research. Tenants would have lower operating costs because there would be minimal utility bills, and they’d expect to share conference rooms, computers and other facilities.

There’s a demand from participating groups for 250,000 square feet of office space, more room than is envisioned in the building, Abuaf said. There also is a waiting list.

However, even rents in the mid-$20s will be a stretch for many tenants. That’s close to what many downtown Class A high rises charge.

Oregon Environmental Council now rents space for $15 a square foot in Old Town, Durbin said.

Environmental groups hope to ultimately own their own spaces in Oregon Sustainability Center, via some form of condominium structure.

The project could break ground by next fall, with construction to last through 2012, Abuaf said.

Backers expect it will enhance Portland’s competitive advantage in the green building, technology and services sectors, providing economic development opportunities as other communities seek to replicate the building.

stevelaw@portlandtribune.com

[Valentij]

Wow. Can anyone explain to me how the sewage and water recycling works? That seems pretty intense.

[crow]

Originally Posted by Valentij

Wow. Can anyone explain to me how the sewage and water recycling works? That seems pretty intense.

first greywater has to be optimized. With that, then the only potable water needs are served by treated rainwater collection - on site. This is for sinks, showers, drinking fountains. For the sewage - it is treated by an on-site "living machine". This is done through a series of digestion tanks that break down the blackwater and the effluent is then pumped and treated through an active wetland (garden - usually subtropic or tropical plants) that then create greywater. In some cases this can reach a point of being potable (though a stretch for codes). With the living machine there still is a compost that has to be removed from the building. The process is very similar to how nature treats it's own waste. A similar installation is going into the new Port of Portland building at the airport.

[maccoinnich]

I'm familiar with the concept, but I don't think I've ever heard of it done in a dense urban context? Is there room for a network of reed beds or whatever on the site? And even if there is, is that the best use of land in the middle of a city?

[Valentij]

Thanks Crow. That's pretty amazing. I wonder if the active wetland will emit odors, or where it will be placed in relation to outdoor patios and opening windows. It seems like a lot of internal space will be devoted to these systems. That's not a bad thing, but seems contrary to the normal development goal of utilizing every square inch for saleable property. Also, will the building consume water (albeit much, much less) during drier months? Could it add water to "the grid" during rainy months?

People have been so hung up on the design, but I'm just amazed at the utility of this building. Even if these practices aren't adopted wholesale, it will pave the way to innovation in mainstream building and design. I mean, shouldn't every building in Oregon process rainwater? Shouldn't every building in California have PV on the roof?

[crow]

Originally Posted by maccoinnich

I'm familiar with the concept, but I don't think I've ever heard of it done in a dense urban context? Is there room for a network of reed beds or whatever on the site? And even if there is, is that the best use of land in the middle of a city?

I don't believe I heard it being on land? It is inside the building. Would you prefer sewer pipes leaching into the ground (avg 1% leakage) traveling out to the farm land to be treated rather than on-site within the place that created the waste? For the OSC it is my understanding that the Living Machine is not a wetland in the way you are describing with reeds and cattails, which i understand create oxygen at their roots to break down waste water in a more traditional waste water treatment facility. This is really a glorified greenhouse with a recipe of plants to break the waste water effluent into a resource of greywater. Valentij – I could not agree more. So much energy has been focused on "a" design that the real strength of this study is the knowledge to be gained by a community, by the local architects, and the city to really push forward another way of thinking about solving our continued waste and lazy way of business as usual with the buildings we build - whatever they look like. Unfortunately the first take is that these systems create a higher load on the building rents. Living machine, storage tanks, enclosed gardens, pump rooms, capital to build PV production aparatus and integrated PV all impact the cost and therefore the rent. With cheap utilities it has hard to justify with zero utility bills alone. It is a catalyst, and whatever happens there is plenty for others to take into their own work.

[crow]

Originally Posted by Valentij

Thanks Crow. That's pretty amazing. I wonder if the active wetland will emit odors, or where it will be placed in relation to outdoor patios and opening windows. It seems like a lot of internal space will be devoted to these systems. That's not a bad thing, but seems contrary to the normal development goal of utilizing every square inch for saleable property. Also, will the building consume water (albeit much, much less) during drier months? Could it add water to "the grid" during rainy months?

People have been so hung up on the design, but I'm just amazed at the utility of this building. Even if these practices aren't adopted wholesale, it will pave the way to innovation in mainstream building and design. I mean, shouldn't every building in Oregon process rainwater? Shouldn't every building in California have PV on the roof?

There is a component that emits odors, but those portions are usually enclosed. For water I understand that since the water has to be captured on site, the uses for it will be limited to true potable needs. All other water needs such as toilet flushing, and irrigation will be taken care of with greywater. The rule of thumb with the rainwater storage tank is to size it for the driest of driest years, so that you are hopefully covered. There are always safeties in place for water and waste connections if there are any miscalculations etc. I believe those are life safety and health measures.

[urbanlife]

From the Oregonian today....though I wouldnt bother reading the comments...which is filled with typical Oregonian crap.

sustainability center

A Portland sustainability center could sprout in 2010
by Dylan Rivera, The Oregonian
Friday August 21, 2009, 7:52 PM


After more than a year of technical studies, the greenest large-scale building in the world appears poised to start construction at Portland State University next year.

The $90 million Oregon Sustainability Center -- for several years a gauzy notion but this year funded by the Oregon Legislature -- will be a showcase of the state's green building innovation that draws visitors, researchers and designer-developers from across the world. It will rely solely on its own solar panels for energy and use no more water than falls on the site, among other major environmental feats.

That's according to its many partner-sponsors, among them the Oregon University System, the city of Portland and dozens of nonprofits promoting the green life in all its aspects.

The project could break ground as early as spring -- and has ambitions that extend well beyond Portland.

Those backing it want Oregon to own the green-building industry: Researchers inventing new energy efficiency products, nonprofits that promote those products, and policymakers that push for them would all be housed in the building. The building itself, a glass flower of a tower, would promote real estate-related firms and the companies that supply their Earth-friendly products.

The driving goal: to become a magnet for any business or government looking to meet its sustainability challenges while growing green jobs in Oregon.

"It's like a petri dish of sustainability," said Lew Bowers, central city division manager for the Portland Development Commission. "That's why the mix of tenants is very conscious."

Gov. Ted Kulongoski believes strongly that that kind of day-to-day collaboration is crucial to growing green jobs, spokeswoman Jillian Schoene said.

"It's this level of partnership that Oregon needs to continue the state's leadership in sustainability and green job creation," Schoene said.

Kulongoski included $80 million in bonds for the project in his budget, and the state Legislature approved it, giving the project huge momentum. The bonds must be paid back by building tenants, including the universities that place professors and classrooms there.

But until recent weeks, it was not certain whether the building could actually be built to meet the environmental goals the organizers had set for it.

The sustainability center is intended to meet the Living Building Challenge, a new green building certification program that lays out the most all-encompassing green standards in the industry.

Among the many requirements, the building has to use no more energy over the course of a year than it can produce with renewable energy made on site. Buying credits for wind power made elsewhere doesn't count.

That might not be very hard to accomplish in a relatively flat, one-story building or a small home in the woods, said Lisa Abuaf, senior project manager for the PDC.

Sprawling industrial centers can have acres of roof space where you could plop hundreds of solar panels. One-story construction can cost as little as $50 a square foot.

Not so in a downtown high-rise setting. The sustainability center's roof would cover half a city block, about half an acre. High-rise construction costs as much as $350 a square foot.

"You just have a smaller footprint and a similarly large energy demand and water demand," Abuaf said.

The sustainability center would attempt to grab all the solar power that naturally hits the site. A rooftop solar array, angled southward towards the sun like a flower, could total up to 22,000 square feet. That alone would generate nearly 40 percent of the building's energy.

Solar-powered sun shades, canopies -- even solar power integrated into the structure itself -- would cover the rest.

Still, the building could not generate enough power to cover its costs if it weren't for massive energy conservation measures. The latest in energy-efficient heating and cooling systems are assumed in the building. Additionally, the tenants have agreed to a wider range of temperatures -- hotter in the summer and cooler in the winter -- than most office buildings.

All those efforts will help reach a target of about 75 percent less energy use than a standard office building, said Dennis Wilde, principal with Gerding Edlen Development Co., which did a feasibility study of the project for the PDC.

A few months ago, the building appeared to cost $105 million, far higher than the $80 million in bonds the university system has authority to use.

So the design team cut costs to $90 million. They made it 11 stories instead of 12 and planned for a thicker building to make each floor more efficient, Wilde said.

"We just kind of squeezed hard on it until we figured out how we could do it," he said. "Now, we're confident we're in striking distance."

In coming weeks, the PDC hopes to have more details of financing options for the project. Donations from foundations and grants from federal economic stimulus and energy-efficiency programs could lower the cost. Donated materials from local companies also could drive down costs.

The Oregon Environmental Council and the Earth Advantage Institute are leading the group of mostly nonprofit tenants and plan to hire a professional fundraiser for the project soon.

State higher education authorities still need to issue the bonds. The Portland City Council will be asked to approve housing some city offices in the building and potentially help pay for a long-planned $5 million streetcar realignment through the block.

The building's many challenges will make it one of a kind and pioneering, but it's fundamentally an urban office building, Bowers said. That means there's a large market of office construction-related industries that could learn from the center and spend money on the Oregon-made expertise that it exhibits.

"We could learn from this, but it is a prototype," Bowers said. "It will be more expensive (than a conventional building). Any prototype is."

-- Dylan Rivera; dylanrivera@news.oregonian.com

[Sioux612]

This is an angle I haven't seen before

[RoseCtyRoks]

^ that's a good viewing angle....I remember seeing it before, but it's been a while.

What are they proposing for the height again? Around 12 floors & 200 ft, or more? I know currently that site has a height restriction limiting new construction to 125 ft, so a zone change would be required.

At any rate, I hope this project moves forward and will start in the fall '10, as the plan currently calls for. With so many buildings getting the axe lately, this could really be a nice shot in the arm for downtown, and putting more people to work. I hope they can meet the Living Building Challenge.....tough task.

The world's greenest large building has a nice ring to it.....it would put really put Portland on the map, and it would have widespread impact in this area!