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  #121  
Old Posted Jan 20, 2010, 9:56 AM
maccoinnich maccoinnich is offline
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I'm glad I waited a bit to form judgement, because the first render really didn't sell it to me. But it's definitely growing on me, and I think the detailed design process will result in a more nuanced building than the renders suggest. (ie, not a monolithic wall of 'green'.)

That said, I don't understand why only the west elevation is covered? I understand that late afternoon sun is low and causes overheating on west facades in the northern hemisphere... but is the south elevation really not in need of any solar shading at all?
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  #122  
Old Posted Jan 20, 2010, 10:57 PM
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hmmm....
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  #123  
Old Posted Jan 21, 2010, 12:31 AM
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dynamite & start over
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  #124  
Old Posted Jan 31, 2010, 5:36 AM
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now the NY Times does have it's own article, by it's NW reporter/contributor:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/31/us...tland.html?hpw

In Portland, Going Green and Growing Vertical in a Bid for Energy Savings
By WILLIAM YARDLEY
Published: January 30, 2010

PORTLAND, Ore. — Urban gardening used to seem subversive. People planted tomatoes in public parks, strung their hops to rooftops to make homebrew and reclaimed empty lots as community farms, never mind the property owner.

Yet here in one of the more thoroughly tilled cities in America, subversive has come full circle: the federal government plans to plant its own bold garden directly above a downtown plaza. As part of a $133 million renovation, the General Services Administration is planning to cultivate “vegetated fins” that will grow more than 200 feet high on the western facade of the main federal building here, a vertical garden that changes with the seasons and nurtures plants that yield energy savings.

“They will bloom in the spring and summer when you want the shade, and then they will go away in the winter when you want to let the light in,” said Bob Peck, commissioner of public buildings for the G.S.A. “Don’t ask me how you get them irrigated.”

Rainwater, captured on the roof, and perhaps even “gray water” recycled from the interior plumbing are both possibilities, the architects say. But they concede that they are still figuring out some of the finer points of renovating the Edith Green-Wendell Wyatt Federal Building, which was completed in 1975 and is currently 18 stories of concrete, glass and minimal inspiration.

Who will prune the facade? Maybe the same folks who wash skyscraper windows, the architects say. Perhaps the exterior concrete panels removed in the renovation could be reused as salmon habitat in a nearby river.

The G.S.A. says the building will use 60 percent to 65 percent less energy than comparable buildings and estimates a savings of $280,000 annually in energy costs. Solar panels could provide up to 15 percent of the building’s power needs. The use of rainwater and low-flow plumbing fixtures will reduce potable water consumption by 68 percent. And energy for lighting will be halved.

“It will be one of the more energy-efficient high-rises in America, possibly in the world,” said James Cutler, whose architecture firm, Cutler Anderson, led the design work.

The building has long been in line for renovation and improvements in energy efficiency, but money did not come through until the passage of the federal stimulus package last year, with its emphasis on environmentally friendly projects. That intensified the environmental ambitions; the building, the largest federal stimulus project in Oregon, is being renovated under the G.S.A’s new Office of Federal High-Performance Green Buildings.

Not everyone is enthusiastic about the plan. In December, Senators John McCain of Arizona and Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, both Republicans, criticized the cost of the project and ranked it second on a list of what they called the 100 worst stimulus-financed projects. The G.S.A. has said that report relied on incomplete data, but the project’s cost has also raised eyebrows here.

Joe Vaughan, a longtime commercial real estate broker here, said that the building’s office space would ultimately cost more per square foot than some other environmentally-conscious projects that are built new.

“As a taxpayer, I think it’s a horrible waste of money that no private developer would undertake,” Mr. Vaughan said.

G.S.A. officials said the cost of constructing federal office buildings cannot be compared to private buildings because of security and other government requirements. Nor, they said, should the construction costs of the building be viewed in isolation.

“The idea is that the cost savings are in the energy efficiency,” said Caren Auchman, a spokeswoman for the G.S.A.

There are questions about whether the efficiency efforts will work as designed. “Most of what we put in our buildings is tried and true,” said Mr. Peck, of the G.S.A. “On some part of it, we’re prepared to be a beta tester.”

“My dream,” Mr. Peck added, “is we will find a technology that needs a test and we will make the market for it.”

The renovation is scheduled to be completed by 2013, said Donald Eggleston, the president of SERA Architects, which is overseeing the project for the G.S.A. This summer, he said, landscaping experts will experiment with vines and cover plants that can endure Portland’s wet, mild winters and its dry, hot summers — and do so at varying heights.

“We may train them on some vines in the nursery,” Mr. Eggleston said. “About 50 percent of the windows we need to shade every summer. You can’t take little seedlings up there in Year 1, because you won’t have anything up there for five years.”

A version of this article appeared in print on January 31, 2010, on page A16 of the New York edition.
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  #125  
Old Posted Jan 31, 2010, 7:22 PM
Tykendo Tykendo is offline
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I like the idea. Seems kind of expensive to retrofit such a bland building. What would be the difference in price to retrofit or raze and build new a building of this size? One thing i think would add to the look is to put some sort of decorative screening under the solar panel. I don't like the look of the empty space design wise.
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  #126  
Old Posted Jan 31, 2010, 11:51 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sowat View Post
now the NY Times does have it's own article, by it's NW reporter/contributor:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/31/us...tland.html?hpw
As of right this moment (3:51 PM) it's the lead story on nytimes.com.
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  #127  
Old Posted Feb 3, 2010, 3:00 AM
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It has been reported that the Feds have signed leases for 250,000 sq. ft. in this tower.....I understand the Feds will "also" be long term tenants...
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  #128  
Old Posted Feb 3, 2010, 3:53 AM
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It has been reported that the Feds have signed leases for 250,000 sq. ft. in this tower.....I understand the Feds will "also" be long term tenants...
The Feds signed leases for 250,000 sf of space in First & Main, as they have to move out of the Federal Building during renovation (that word just does not seem to do justice to what is planned for the building).
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  #129  
Old Posted Feb 3, 2010, 4:04 AM
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aargh, it seems as if this is going to happen. Meh.

at least it faces Portland's other monument to 'innovation' across the park, appropriately, the Portland Building.

(hey, the Portland Building is crap, but at least they tried, so 100% credit due. I guess I may warm a bit to this mildewy shower curtain someday)
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  #130  
Old Posted Feb 3, 2010, 5:52 AM
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mildewy shower curtain)


I like the shower-curtain side, it's the roof that bothers me - it really looks out of place to me.
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  #131  
Old Posted Feb 3, 2010, 10:57 PM
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I like the shower-curtain side, it's the roof that bothers me - it really looks out of place to me.
I don't believe it is a net zero building, but the roof is capturing and providing energy for I believe 15% of the building load. Post captial investment, this is free energy that falls on the building. I think we will see many evolutions of what a top can look like and still be functional (i.e. energy and water collectors). Maybe a big ass tracking parabolic reflector would be more interesting...?
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  #132  
Old Posted Feb 4, 2010, 5:03 AM
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it's the roof that bothers me - it really looks out of place to me.
Funny, I thought the drawing showing the raised solar roof from across the river provided a welcome diagonal line to the skyline. Anything to add some visual interest!
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  #133  
Old Posted Feb 4, 2010, 5:42 AM
bvpcvm bvpcvm is offline
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Funny, I thought the drawing showing the raised solar roof from across the river provided a welcome diagonal line to the skyline. Anything to add some visual interest!
i think i'd like the diagonal line - but somehow it looks somewhat awkward. maybe they'll refine it or something.
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  #134  
Old Posted Feb 4, 2010, 6:41 AM
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Funny, I thought the drawing showing the raised solar roof from across the river provided a welcome diagonal line to the skyline. Anything to add some visual interest!
HA! That's EXACTLY what I thought. I really like the roof, both design-wise and in terms of its function - I just hope it doesn't send rain flying down onto the street. I'm going to assume they've thought to prevent that.

I probably ask this question a lot here, but, what's the timeline on this project?
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  #135  
Old Posted Feb 24, 2010, 4:32 AM
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  #136  
Old Posted Feb 24, 2010, 4:56 AM
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Would you mind elaborating a bit more, please?
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  #137  
Old Posted Feb 24, 2010, 5:39 AM
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Would you mind elaborating a bit more, please?
value engineering?
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  #138  
Old Posted Feb 24, 2010, 7:37 PM
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Downtown definitely needs more fencing.
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  #139  
Old Posted May 7, 2010, 12:15 AM
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http://djcoregon.com/news/2010/05/04...eral-building/

Looks like the Asparagus Wall may be scrapped. I hope it is. That god-awful thing is/was a stuipd, fugly, dumb waste of money.
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  #140  
Old Posted May 7, 2010, 2:21 AM
philopdx philopdx is offline
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Oh green pandora

sayonara soaring walls

of arugula
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