Mass Timber is Getting Traction, Awards
The Portland Design Commission recently named a mass timber office building as a Design Excellence Award recipient, with its construction that achieves larger spans, exposed structure and lower environmental impact.
PORTLAND, OR—The District Office site, once home to the Portland Music Company, will be transformed with a new six-story creative office building featuring ground-floor retail, open office floorplates, generous ceiling heights and double-height indoor/outdoor deck spaces. In addition, the building will be built with cross-laminated timber manufactured in Oregon, which is a highly durable and resilient type of mass timber construction that achieves larger spans, beautiful exposed structure, lower environmental impact and benefits the rural Oregon economy.
The Portland Design Commission recently named the mass timber building in the Central Eastside of Portland as a Design Excellence Award recipient.
“It’s a great honor for the Design Commission to recognize the work that went into this project,” said Beam Development principal Jonathan Malsin. “Through the efforts of the entire team, District Office offers a new perspective on workspace that reflects the ethos of the Central Eastside.”
In its second year, the Design Excellence Award recognizes one outstanding project for the previous year that represents what the commission considers to be the strongest response to the approval criteria of the type III design review process. During 2017, the commission approved 37 type III cases, including District Office.
“As we review projects together, we look for consensus among the commission and District Office was at the top of everyone’s list,” said Julie Livingston, chair of the Portland Design Commission. “The design understands and responds to the context and historic character of the Central Eastside, and creates an environment for the 21st century with simple and effective building technology.”
District Office is within walking distance of more than 30 restaurants, public transit and numerous retailers. The addition of this office building is expected to anchor the center of Grand/Stark corridor as well as foster neighborhood growth.
“The enthusiasm for District Office by the Portland Design Commission echoes what we’re hearing in the marketplace,” said Jake Lancaster, managing director with JLL, the project’s broker. “Beam Development has been a catalyst driving the transformation in the Central Eastside, making the vision for District Office a reality.”
With 72,000 square feet of office space, District Office offers features such as highly efficient mechanical systems, indoor/outdoor lounge space with operable windows and abundant natural light. The design includes a 40-foot column-to-window span to maximize floor plan flexibility and allows for efficient open or private office layouts. The project’s completion date is late 2019.
Project partners–
Developer: Beam Development and Urban Development + Partners
General Contractor: Andersen Construction
Architect: Hacker Architects, on hand at the annual Design Commission report to the Portland City Council, where this year’s award winner was announced.
“In reviewing the design, the commission places an emphasis on what will make a higher impact on the quality of the environment. It’s a good urban building and the materials fit the district with proportions from the turn of the century,” Corey Martin, principal with Hacker Architects, tells GlobeSt.com. “The submission process is stressful and it might take many hearings but we’ve gotten good at it. This project was approved at the first hearing with a unanimous vote, which is kind of a big deal. We’re getting good at designing these types of buildings and this is the second year we’ve won this award.”
Martin says that the building feels like a historical brick warehouse made of cross-laminated timber, which is getting traction in the US. The construction process employed a mortar wash on the recycled brick.
“Portland is one of the most thoughtful cities in terms of urban environments,” Martin tells GlobeSt.com. “This was the best example of design the commission saw.”
Thanks to a recent addendum to Oregon’s building code, the state is the first in the country to allow timber buildings to rise higher than six stories without special consideration. Statewide alternate method number 18-01 provides prescriptive path elements for tall wood buildings of mass timber construction. This alternate path includes scientific conclusions established by the International Code Council’s ad hoc committee on tall wood buildings that were incorporated into 14 national proposals and utilizes concrete, steel or masonry for the vertical elements of the seismic force-resisting system, GlobeSt.com learns.