Edith Green/Wendell Wyatt Modernization Project
An American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Project
The U.S. General Services Administration’s commitment to sustainable federal workplaces is evident in the modernization of the Edith Green/Wendell Wyatt Federal Building into a landmark high-performance green building. “The state-of-the-art technologies we’ve incorporated into the design for this project will allow GSA to be a green proving ground for others seeking to develop sustainable and energy-efficient buildings,” said Regional Administrator Northcroft. “At the same time, we’re creating much needed construction jobs. At our peak construction phase, over 250 construction workers will be employed on this project.”
Funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the modernization of the 35-year old facility is designed to achieve LEED Platinum certification from the U.S. Green Building Council for its use of cutting-edge sustainable design and technology. A new shading system consisting of a series of aluminum rods will replace a previously proposed series of vegetative fins. In addition, a new solar array on the roof will offset up to 6% of the building’s energy consumption, with solar power produced on-site.
Other modernization green features include:
- A 40% reduction in lighting energy usage through advanced, optically-enhanced light systems that automatically adjust to the amount of daylight available;
- A 65% reduction in potable water consumption through the use of low flow fixtures and reuse of rainwater for toilets, urinals and irrigation;
- Modernized elevators that regenerate power when they descend.
In order to speed up construction, GSA emptied the building of all 1240 federal employees. Real estate services firm Jones Lang LaSalle was hired to procure leases in four different Portland buildings, totaling 323,000 square feet of space. These leases absorbed a major portion of available space in downtown Portland and with the accompanying build-out will provide significant secondary job and financial benefits to the local real estate and construction markets.
As the Construction Manager on the project, Howard S. Wright Companies of Portland has worked with SERA Architects, also of Portland, and Cutler Anderson Architects for all aspects of design and construction. The design and construction team has done over 215 LEED certified projects and contains over 225 LEED accredited professionals.
SERA was recently presented the first ever "Portland 2030 Challenge Design Award" in the “As-Designed” category by the Portland Chapter of the American Institute of Architects and Architecture 2030, in recognition of design excellence towards meeting the 2030 Challenge reduction targets for greenhouse gas emissions.
