Category: Design Process

biotech building design by Hennebery Eddy Architects

Lessons Learned: Advancing Embodied Carbon Reduction Through Structural Innovation

A Case Study of the NIR Center

By Erica Thompson

For a new lab development with a mission to accelerate innovation and prioritize sustainability, it’s fitting that the structure itself should embody these values. Summit Development’s New Industrial Revolution (NIR) Center is a 10-story commercial biotech laboratory building and one of Portland’s first proposed projects under the new building code for Type IV-B mass timber construction. Breaking free from the mold of “business as usual” (BAU) building methods, NIR Center is an innovative example of how mass timber can be hybridized with concrete and steel to reduce environmental impact while remaining cost-effective and decreasing the duration of construction.

The project team established embodied carbon reduction as a key net-positive impact area and aspired to significant reductions in the carbon footprint of the building materials. Incorporating mass timber was a first step to achieving this, but consideration of embodied carbon permeated all aspects of the design process. SORA Design Group led the team in performing a Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) to quantify the environmental impact of the proposed design and found that NIR Center will reduce its embodied carbon footprint by 39.3% compared to a BAU building.

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Net Positive Intern Helps Firm Progress Toward 2030 Challenge Goals

By Eugene Leung, Design Intern

As part of our commitment to the Architecture 2030 Challenge, Hennebery Eddy welcomed a net positive intern to our Portland office earlier this year to support our design staff in creating project energy models and submitting energy performance data to the AIA 2030 Design Data Exchange (DDx). Here, Eugene Leung, a student at the University of Oregon, reflects on his experience. For more information about our internship program, please visit our Opportunities page.

Net Positive Intern Eugene Leung works with the Net Positive Committee
Net positive intern Eugene Leung worked with the net positive committee to help the firm in our progress toward the AIA 2030 Challenge.

It has been an overall fabulous experience working as the net positive intern with Hennebery Eddy for the past five months. The internship experience has broadened my horizons and inspired me to continuously learn and achieve.

For the last couple of months, I was given a variety of opportunities to work closely and learn proactively with the firm’s net positive team. I primarily worked with them to coordinate the firm’s AIA 2030 Design Data Exchange (DDx) portfolio by recording and producing energy models that can better help the firm to understand the overall energy performance of all the eligible projects. During the time I was producing energy models for various projects, I was assisted by project teams to better understand how to achieve lower energy consumption by improving building enclosures and building material. These fundamental relationships are effective in reducing heat gains within the building designs. The use of energy modeling helps predict and evaluate potential energy use through climate simulation and addresses the overall pEUIs data for project teams to alternate and achieve better energy savings in the design. As a result, I helped project teams to illustrate better energy-saving strategies through consistent testing and development.

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virtual construction site visits

Conducting Site Visits During a Pandemic

By Camilla Cok and Mike Meade

The new 800-foot extension of Portland International Airport’s Concourse E is slated to open this summer, the culmination of six years of design and construction. In Oregon, construction is designated an essential activity, allowing projects like these to move forward. But along with construction comes construction administration, or CA, by the design team — an in-person activity. How do you conduct safe site visits while practicing physical distancing?

CA is an inherently collaborative process that requires constant, clear communication. Our team is very large — much larger than many projects, with a design team of more than 30 consultants, including our Denver-based design partner Fentress Architects, and more than a dozen airport stakeholders. So, keeping people engaged and in the loop about what is happening on site each week has always been important.

During CA, owner/architect/contractor (OAC) site walks allow for efficient real-time quality control and problem-solving. When physical distancing guidelines were first rolled out, the OAC site walk was immediately limited to once a week, with a smaller-than-typical group all wearing masks and staying 6 feet apart. To include more team members, we incorporated a virtual meeting component broadcast via iPad and Microsoft Teams. Participants join remotely and interact with the on-site team from their home office.

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University of Cincinnati Co-op Gives Student Practical Design Experience

By Coly Tabberson, Design Intern

Coly is an undergraduate architecture student and joined Hennebery Eddy in 2020 through the University of Cincinnati Co-op program, where students work full-time at a professional architecture practice. Learn more about Hennebery Eddy’s internal internship program here.

University of Cincinnati Co-op student

Before the University of Cincinnati co-op process even began, I knew that I was looking for an opportunity to live in the Pacific Northwest. I visited the region several years ago, and I was certain that I would one day find my way back. I greatly admire the regional focus of the firms in Portland and their genuine concern for the communities they serve. Further, the commitment to comprehensive sustainable design in the Pacific Northwest is seemingly unmatched in other areas of the country. Ultimately when it came time to choose a firm for my first co-op experience, I looked for one who embodied the qualities I admired most. Before even setting foot in the office, it was apparent that Hennebery Eddy was committed to sustainable, well-crafted, and regionally responsible design. Since beginning work here, my respect for the firm-wide commitment to Hennebery Eddy’s core principles has only grown, as I continue to learn more about the people and procedures that make great design possible.

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Digital Collaboration: Designing During COVID-19

By Michelle Vo, Vice President

Working in isolation is a strange feeling for architects and designers. Our discipline is, forgive the pun, built on the concept of iteration: sharing and critiquing ideas, revising our work, learning from one another, and turning moments of inspiration into viable designs solutions. At its best, the practice of design causes a buzz of excitement and collaboration; in our most frustrated moments, the support of colleagues to critique and question our work can make all the difference in driving ourselves to dig deeper for innovative solutions.

Though the Hennebery Eddy team is working remotely, we definitely aren’t isolated. In fact, we became a fully remote workforce in a single business day and smoothed out minor wrinkles in about a week. To do so, we drew from lessons learned by our aviation projects team, which has a field office at Portland International Airport (PDX), and digital collaboration with partner architectural firms in Denver, Chicago, and the Bay Area and other consultants across the United States and internationally.

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design-build trends discussed at an educational event

Lessons Learned: Design-Build Trends & Best Practices Discussed at DBIA Event

In February, the Design-Build Institute of America (DBIA) Oregon chapter hosted its first regional education event to encourage use of the delivery method and provide resources for the A/E/C/ industry throughout Oregon and Washington. Hennebery Eddy associate principal Jon McGrew serves as the Oregon chapter president and helped conceive of and organize the event along with Steve Tatge, president of the DBIA Western Washington chapter. A panel of experts discussed design-build trends, best practices, and positive experiences with the aim of advancing the conversation around design-build delivery. Below are takeaways from the event shared by Jon and Hennebery Eddy associate Nick Byers, who also sits on the DBIA Oregon board.

What was the goal of the conference?

Jon: We wanted to host a regional convocation of owners, builders, and designers interested in progressive design-build project procurement and delivery from across the Northwest. Sharing good information and experiences helps advance the conversation on best practices for progressive design-build. I always say the DBIA is the best professional social club in the region — you won’t find this blend of owners, builders, designers, and associated industry partners in any other organization.

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Hennebery Eddy Architects COVID-19 Procedures (Updated)

Updated 11/18/2020:

Hennebery Eddy is committed to supporting the health of our staff, families, business partners, and the greater community while continuing to provide a high level of service during the ongoing pandemic. In compliance with orders by Oregon Gov. Kate Brown, Hennebery Eddy implemented the following measures related to COVID-19. As of Nov. 18, Multnomah County is in a re-opening “freeze.” Because of these careful health and safety measures that we have followed for many months, our current protocols remain unchanged.

  1. Hennebery Eddy’s Portland office is closed to the general public but open for staff members on a very limited basis. Staff do have the option to work in the office on scheduled days; however, most staff continue to work remotely and are encouraged to do so. All staff are required to follow the firm’s safety guidelines to reduce risk when in the office and maintain a healthy work environment.
  2. Hennebery Eddy-coordinated meetings will continue to be conducted as phone/video conferences, unless there is a business need to meet in person. Office visitors are required to follow Hennebery Eddy’s guidelines for office entry, including wearing a face covering at all times.
  3. Wherever possible, we will encourage the use of virtual construction site visits.
  4. If in-person meetings or construction site visits are required, we will limit the number of staff in attendance and follow a set of safety procedures, including those for physical distancing.
  5. Business travel is limited and evaluated on a case-by-case basis. Staff who must travel for business will follow a set of safety procedures, including those for physical distancing and possible self-quarantine.
  6. We will make the necessary personal protective equipment available to our staff for in-person meetings, site visits, and travel, including face coverings, portable barriers, sanitizer, and gloves.

Hennebery Eddy is dedicated to our clients, the quality of our project work, our project teams, and each other. We take to heart the value of making others successful, regardless of where we are physically working. We remain accessible via email and phone and can be reached at our main line (503.227.4860) and the direct lines or mobile numbers listed on our email footers and business cards. We thank you for your patience as we collectively navigate business during the global pandemic.

Please contact us with questions or if you require any assistance, and be well.

adaptive reuse

Hennebery Eddy Designs Adaptive Reuse of 1911 Building into Hip KEX Hotel

At one of the most trafficked corners in Portland – the intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. and Couch, just past the Burnside bridgehead – sits a three-story, wood-framed structure with a brick exterior. The building has anchored this spot for more than 100 years, but only recently has it become a destination. With much fanfare, the KEX hotel opened here in November 2019, offering a unique experience that was many years in the making.

Hennebery Eddy designed the rehabilitation and adaptive reuse of this historic building, which formerly housed The Vivian apartments, into a hostel with a ground-floor gastropub for the Icelandic brand KEX and local restaurant group ChefStable. Guest rooms on the second and third floors offer a variety of private and shared accommodations, while the open ground floor hosts casual dining and a constant stream of musical acts — a key focus of the KEX model. The hostel also features a courtyard with exterior seating and a stunning red neon sign, a rooftop bar and a community gathering room – Gym & Tonic – and conveniences for travelers like a sauna, shared kitchen and laundry rooms, and bike storage.

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PAM Rothko Pavilion Hennebery Eddy Architects Portland Oregon

Designing a Showpiece for Accessibility

Making the Portland Art Museum’s New Rothko Pavilion a Space for All Through Universal Design

The Portland Art Museum has long held accessibility at the core of its mission and offered a variety of services to assist visitors of all types. But the museum itself comprises two buildings, each with portions constructed in different eras and incrementally updated and expanded over several decades. Navigating the existing galleries across the various historic buildings has become increasingly problematic, and the need to create better connections has become a priority.

Hennebery Eddy, in partnership with Vinci Hamp Architects of Chicago, is designing the new Rothko Pavilion and campus renovations, which will connect the museum’s two existing buildings at every level, add 30,000 square feet of community and exhibition space, and establish a new, more accessible main entrance.

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Firm Promotes Sustainable, Equitable Design Through ‘Net-Positive Awards’

Hennebery Eddy’s second-annual Net-Positive Awards capped a month-long celebration of all things sustainability and honored internal teams for their achievements in healthy, efficient, and adaptive design. Project teams in design and construction were encouraged to share the story of how their designs are creating net-positive solutions responsive to clients, users, and the environment. A panel of five judges from among our staff had their work cut out for them. Ultimately, they selected the following projects, which represent the range of net-positive impacts achievable through our design process.

Rendered image by Hennebery Eddy Architects of PDX Terminal Balancing & Concourse E Extension, viewed from Airport Way

First Place: Net-Positive Project of the Year – PDX Concourse E Extension

This project (which garnered an honorable mention in last year’s awards program) is targeting completion next summer — and when complete, will offer a remarkable new passenger experience informed by resiliency, equity, and biophilia. The unique, column-free space with high, canted ceilings and a sweeping curtain wall will feature abundant daylight (lighting loads reduced 70%) and views of Mount Hood and the Columbia River. Durable, sustainably sourced, and locally produced materials are also designed to equitably serve a broad population. The project is on track for LEED Gold certification — no small feat for a facility that essentially operates 24/7.

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