Presenter:

Mark Nye, Principal, Nye Architecture

Chris Poole Jones, Project Coordinator, Piedmont Rose Connection

Andrew Colas, President, Colas Construction

Jill Sherman, President, Gerding Edlen Development

Lisa Abuaf, Senior Project Manager, Portland Development Commission

Kyle Andersen, Associate Principal, GBD Architects

Lisa Petterson, Associate, SERA Architects

John McMichael, Principal, Interface Engineering

Portland is considered by many to be a “hot bed” of green building.  This presentation will focus on one aspect of that story: Living Buildings designed and built in Portland by local teams. Two different projects will present the extremes faced by those pursuing the Living Building Challenge.

The Oregon Sustainability Center, a 200,000 square foot urban mixed-use high rise, is a unique public/private partnership between city and state government, higher education, non-profit organizations and the business community.  The project’s mission is to create a world-class center of excellence in sustainability.  The total project budget is over $100 million and the team includes the greenest developer in Portland, two local architectural firms and three local engineering firms. 
 
The June Key Delta House, a sisterhood of primarily African/American women, also has embraced Living Building in the design for their new community center. The 2700 square foot project aims to reuse a blighted gas station to demonstrate how the highest level of sustainability can grow from the grassroots.. The project budget is less than $1 million and the project team consists of a local architect, contractor and several design build subcontractors. 

This presentation will focus on comparing and contrasting the projects, focusing on how the scale of each affects its approach to LBC imperatives.  Net Zero energy is hardest in the high rise, but was easy in the smaller project.  For the Net-Zero Water the opposite is true.  Material sourcing is proving to be a challenge for both projects, but in very different ways.


Session format:  LECTURE

Presenter Bios

Mark Nye

Principal of Nye Architecture, Mark Nye has a passion for the full scope of architecture which includes design, community outreach, project management, and technical expertise. Over his 15 year career He has led award winning projects ranging from urban penthouses to laboratories. More recently Mark has been focused on community renovation projects that pursue a high level of sustainability. Mark has a Master’s Degree in Architecture from Columbia University and is a LEED AP.

Chris Poole-Jones

Chris Poole-Jones has had a long career in education rising from Librarian to Administrator of Educational Media for Portland Public Schools. Currently retired, Chris has been active both as an Educational Consultant and as a volunteer for many non-profit community organizations. Chris has been volunteering as the Project Coordinator of the June Key Delta Community Center Demonstration Project at its beginning in 2001.

Jill Sherman, Vice President, Gerding Edlen Development

Jill’s development work focuses on public-private partnerships and projects that use complex financing structures. Jill manages all development activities including design and budgeting, entitlements, neighborhood outreach, negotiating agreements and financing. She has developed a variety of project types including academic buildings, student housing, medical office, and mixed-use residential. She is managing the Oregon Sustainability Center project. Her development work includes five LEED Gold and two LEED platinum projects. She serves on the Portland Planning Commission.

Lisa Abuaf, Senior Project Manager, Portland Development Commission

Lisa Abuaf is a senior project manager for the Portland Development Commission, Portland’s redevelopment and economic development agency.  She has been with PDC since 2004, and was previously with the City’s planning bureau. Lisa’s work focuses on downtown revitalization, including both infrastructure and catalytic public-private partnerships. She leads PDC’s partnership efforts with Portland State University, and is the City’s project manager on the Oregon Sustainability Center.

Kyle Andersen, Associate Principal, GBD Architects

Kyle is an Oregon native whose path to architecture started while attending Benson Polytechnic.  He attended Oregon School of Design where he forged a deep sense of process.  He attended University of Oregon, and discovered a holistic design approach.  He studied urban design at UPC in Barcelona Spain.  He believes of a sustainable “technology”, so simple and clear it will revolutionize architecture.  The past 14 years he has been a lead designer at GBD Architects.

Lisa Petterson, Associate, SERA Architects

As part of her sustainable design focused work, Lisa serves as the Living Building project architect for the Oregon Sustainability Center.  She was the lead researcher in the recently completed Living Building Financial Study and was a co-author of the Living Building Code Barriers paper and the Water Independence in Oregon’s Mixed Use Buildings report.  Lisa regularly speaks on the Living Building Challenge at regional and national conferences including Living Future, LightFair, Greenprints and IntraSolar.

John McMichael, Principal, Interface Engineering

With nearly three decades of design and field experience, John draws on a unique perspective to solve design problems with cost effective solutions. He has designed award-winning, energy-efficient mechanical systems for a variety of project types. His projects have included leading-edge technologies for new structures and traditional applications for historical renovations. With several LEED certified projects in his portfolio, John’s design philosophy includes a practical approach to the owners’ needs, energy efficiency and sustainability.