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The progressive Portland, Oregon city council has been on
a green tech high of late, passing initiatives for an electric
car infrastructure and encouragement of its citizens to buy
into local renewable energy programs.
It has now taken an even more ambitious step, endorsing a
very grand scale green building - which, if built, could very
well be one of the world's most eco-friendly commercial skyscrapers.
The so-called Oregon Sustainability Center (OSC)
will have $450,000 of Portland's money put towards it as part
of a design study for the building's development (another
$450,000 is coming from Oregon's university system).
The city council voted unanimously to support this use of
funds as well as pledging to make use of some of the OSC's
office space.
The design itself will be drawn up starting next month by
a team led by Sera Architects, Gerding Edlen Development and
GBD Architects. Another $300,000 is being put towards it via
an appropriation in the Senate Energy and Water bill.
The building itself will be a grand masterpiece in green
building design if completed - scaled towards triple net-zero
performance in energy and water use and carbon emissions.
It has also been said that the OSC will be 'a technological
model and a hub for sustainable practices, policy, education,
research and entrepreneurship' - bringing together 'academic,
government, nonprofit and business sectors to advance the
region's innovation in sustainability'.
Through this synergy, it is believed, strong connections
will be able to be made 'between the research agenda and
the businesses that can turn research into marketable products
and services'.
"The Oregon Sustainability Center is a pioneering project.
We're doing something here that's never been done before at
this scale," said Portland Mayor Sam Adams in a statement.
"We're seizing an opportunity to show the world that Portland's
engineers, architects, developers, contractors and building
professionals are at the forefront of green-building innovation.
By becoming a tenant and investor, the City of Portland again
demonstrates we can be the leading city in clean technology
innovation."
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