The world’s largest commercial Living Building recently opened in Portland, Ore. The PAE Living Building, a five-story, 58,000 sf mixed-use structure, is also the first developer-driven Living Building. The Living Building Challenge (LBC) is the most stringent green building certification process that exists today, according to a news release from ZGF Architects, the building’s design firm. “The building uses less energy, water, and material than comparable buildings while delivering superior levels of occupant comfort and productivity,” the release says.
The PAE Living Building is one of the first buildings in Portland to install a PV-powered battery storage system and uses just one-fifth as much energy as a comparable building. It is projected to operate up to 100 days off-grid. Onsite and dedicated offsite solar generate net positive energy. A connection to the city grid enables the structure to give back surplus energy.
To meet LBC standards, all the building’s water needs are met via rainwater capture and treated onsite. A 71,000-gallon cistern holds rainwater, and a multistory-vacuum-flush toilet system transforms waste into a nutrient rich resource. It produces liquid fertilizer and agriculture-grade compost onsite.
Construction included healthy material selections using 100% Red List Free materials. A mass timber structural core reduces the project’s embodied carbon emissions by 30%. The design features daylighting, biophilic elements, and ventilation strategies to support a productive, low-carbon workplace. The fifth floor features a “deckony,” (a term coined by the project architect) occupying 1,500 sf in the southeast corner, giving users year-round access to an open-air lounge area.
Over the next 12 months, the building will record, track, and report its performance data. The project is expected to earn a full Living Building Challenge certification in the summer of 2023.
The PAE Living Building, designed to last 500 years, was privately developed and funded as a speculative office building through a partnership between Downtown Development Group, PAE, Edlen & Co., ZGF Architects, Walsh Construction Co., and Apex Real Estate Partners. “Its success shows the private sector that meeting the highest sustainability aspirations for new buildings is truly achievable in a developer-driven model,” the release says.
“Developer-driven and market-rate, the PAE Living Building demonstrates that similar projects are not only technically possible on a dense urban site, but they are also financially viable opportunities for private investors,” said Jill Sherman, Co-Founder, Edlen & Co. “Our early investor commitments helped mitigate the risk for the third-party cash investors who could have viewed this project as too risky during the initial phase of financing.” The team projects a 10% internal rate of return over a 10-year hold and a 10% rent premium.
Building Team:
Owner and/or developer: Developer: Edlen & Co.
Design architect: ZGF
Architect of record: ZGF
MEP engineer: PAE
Structural engineer: KPFF
General contractor/construction manager: Walsh Construction
Related Stories
| Nov 2, 2010
A Look Back at the Navy’s First LEED Gold
Building Design+Construction takes a retrospective tour of a pace-setting LEED project.
| Nov 2, 2010
Yudelson: ‘If It Doesn’t Perform, It Can’t Be Green’
Jerry Yudelson, prolific author and veteran green building expert, challenges Building Teams to think big when it comes to controlling energy use and reducing carbon emissions in buildings.
| Nov 1, 2010
Sustainable, mixed-income housing to revitalize community
The $41 million Arlington Grove mixed-use development in St. Louis is viewed as a major step in revitalizing the community. Developed by McCormack Baron Salazar with KAI Design & Build (architect, MEP, GC), the project will add 112 new and renovated mixed-income rental units (market rate, low-income, and public housing) totaling 162,000 sf, plus 5,000 sf of commercial/retail space.
| Nov 1, 2010
Vancouver’s former Olympic Village shoots for Gold
The first tenants of the Millennium Water development in Vancouver, B.C., were Olympic athletes competing in the 2010 Winter Games. Now the former Olympic Village, located on a 17-acre brownfield site, is being transformed into a residential neighborhood targeting LEED ND Gold. The buildings are expected to consume 30-70% less energy than comparable structures.
| Oct 21, 2010
GSA confirms new LEED Gold requirement
The General Services Administration has increased its sustainability requirements and now mandates LEED Gold for its projects.
| Oct 13, 2010
Editorial
The AEC industry shares a widespread obsession with the new. New is fresh. New is youthful. New is cool. But “old” or “slightly used” can be financially profitable and professionally rewarding, too.
| Oct 12, 2010
University of Toledo, Memorial Field House
27th Annual Reconstruction Awards—Silver Award. Memorial Field House, once the lovely Collegiate Gothic (ca. 1933) centerpiece (along with neighboring University Hall) of the University of Toledo campus, took its share of abuse after a new athletic arena made it redundant, in 1976. The ultimate insult occurred when the ROTC used it as a paintball venue.
| Oct 12, 2010
Cell and Genome Sciences Building, Farmington, Conn.
27th Annual Reconstruction Awards—Silver Award. Administrators at the University of Connecticut Health Center in Farmington didn’t think much of the 1970s building they planned to turn into the school’s Cell and Genome Sciences Building. It’s not that the former toxicology research facility was in such terrible shape, but the 117,800-sf structure had almost no windows and its interior was dark and chopped up.
| Oct 12, 2010
The Watch Factory, Waltham, Mass.
27th Annual Reconstruction Awards — Gold Award. When the Boston Watch Company opened its factory in 1854 on the banks of the Charles River in Waltham, Mass., the area was far enough away from the dust, dirt, and grime of Boston to safely assemble delicate watch parts.
| Oct 12, 2010
Building 13 Naval Station, Great Lakes, Ill.
27th Annual Reconstruction Awards—Gold Award. Designed by Chicago architect Jarvis Hunt and constructed in 1903, Building 13 is one of 39 structures within the Great Lakes Historic District at Naval Station Great Lakes, Ill.