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The demand for multi-family housing has shot up in Portland,

Ore., over the past few years, driven by a rapid growth in the city’s popu-lation. Hundreds of young profes-sionals are flocking to developments in Downtown Portland to be closer to its nightlife and many shops, res-taurants and micro-breweries.

In 2005, Seattle developer Unico Properties observed a need for more high-end apartment developments to serve downtown, which was quickly filling with condominium developments. The firm bought a plot of brownfield land on the north end of Portland’s growing Pearl District neighborhood—a former industrial section of the city—and made plans for a mixed-use residential and retail development, built to stringent green building specifications.

Unico Properties hired renowned Seattle design firm GGLO LLC, to draw up plans for the develop-ment, which would eventu-ally be named Asa Flats + Lofts, after Portland’s founding father Asa Lovejoy. The “industrial urban” design called for a 16-level building, with 20,000 square feet of mixed retail space on the ground level and the second and third levels contain-ing structured parking for 200 vehi-cles. The fourth level is a transition point, with 18 two-story loft units in the building’s southwest corner and an L-shaped tower in the building’s northeast corner, which houses the remaining 13 floors and 213 apart-ment units. The unoccupied space on the fourth level is built out to create a garden terrace, with landscaping and public gardening space for residents.

PACIFIC FLATSFollowing the guidelines of the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leader-ship in Energy and Environmental Design program is vital for any new construction project in Portland, which is known for its environ-mentally friendly climate. The Asa Flats + Lofts project is targeted for

LEED Gold certification—the sec-ond highest LEED certification level. In its efforts to achieve LEED Gold, GGLO included several green com-ponents in the development’s design, such as energy-efficient mechanical and electrical equipment; water-efficient fixtures; VOC-free paints; use of local and regional materials, whenever possible; natural daylight-ing; construction waste recycling; and use of building products with recycled content.

“Due to the environmentally con-scious climate of the Pacific North-west, sustainable building and design practices are more commonplace

here,” says Sean Ludviksen, project manager for GGLO on the Asa Flats + Lofts project. “We want this structure to stand as a strong example of this.”

Unico Properties hired Andersen Construction Co. Inc., of Portland, as general contractor for the project, and broke ground in February 2007. The Andersen Construction team

erected steel-stud fram-ing, using various gauges throughout the building. The majority of the building incorporated 16-gauge steel-stud framing at the exterior walls; however, the 18 lofts were a different construc-tion than the tower.

“We had 12-gauge steel studs at the lofts that were incorporated into a shear wall assembly for seismic restraint, a requirement in our region,” says Jerrod Kowalewski, interior proj-ect manager for Andersen Construction. “The first

three levels were a combination of steel studs and CMU back-up.”

Interior walls throughout the building were typically framed with 25-gauge steel studs.

STRONG RESISTANCEThe exterior wall assembly at the tower is a rain screen for deterring the intrusion of rainwater into the build-ing envelope. Rain screen systems shed the majority of rain and manage the evacuation of the rest, prevent-ing mold growth and decay inside a building. The wall assembly con-sists of, from inside to out, 5/8-inch CertainTeed ProRoc Type X Mois-

Portland development aims for LEED Gold with green components. By Amy Y. Lee

Loftsinspace

ture and Mold Resistant Gypsum Board with M2Tech; steel-stud fram-ing; 5/8-inch CertainTeed GlasRoc Sheathing Type X with Embedded Glass Reinforced Gypsum (EGRG) technology; a weather-resistive bar-rier; R-10 extruded polystyrene (XPS) rigid foam insulation; a 1-inch air gap; and either brick or metal siding.

Studs were in place by May 2007, and Performance Contracting Inc., an interior contracting company based in Lenexa, Kan., with an office in Portland, then installed the sheathing. Since the sheathing was available in 4-foot-by-9-foot panels, the contractor was able to install the sheathing vertically to accommodate the building’s 9-foot ceiling heights. This helped minimize job site waste for the contractor.

“There probably would have been 20 to 25 percent more job site waste if we didn’t have the 4-foot-by-9-foot sheets,” says Brian Sherette, senior project manager for Performance Contracting. “It saved us time and money, too, because we didn’t have to remove excess waste, carry it down on the hydraulic lifts, or pay for additional waste disposal. It was also easy to handle and install.”

“When cutting the GlasRoc Sheath-ing, we were able to score, snap and back cut with typical drywall tools instead of having to use skill saws and hole saws,” Sherette says.

The sheathing provides long-term protection from weather exposure, important during the construction phase of a building, with the help of its EGRG technology. EGRG is

the combination of a paperless gyp-sum surface and reinforcing glass mats that are fully embedded into a water-resistant gypsum core. The sheathing protected the building from rain as insulation and brick and metal cladding were installed on the building.

After the sheathing was installed, Performance Contracting moved inside the building to install ProRoc Gypsum Board on the interior walls. ProRoc’s M2Tech technology gives it moisture resistance and enhanced protection against mold growth, uti-lizing a water-resistant core and a moisture- and mold-resistant paper facing. The product also offers important fire resistance, and all of the face and back paper used in Pro-Roc gypsum board is made from pre- and post-consumer recycled paper, with 100-percent recycled content. All of these features can contribute to LEED credits.

The sheathing and drywall was supplied by the Portland branch of building products distributor GTS Interior Supply Inc. Installation of the products ran very smoothly, with on-site technical support from Cer-tainTeed Gypsum’s regional sales representative Sean Langton.

Asa Flats + Lofts began welcom-ing residents in November 2008, and the project completed in December. The lofts are one half of Unico Prop-erties’ Lovejoy Block development, which also includes an adjacent nine-story building, The Lovejoy, designed by Portland’s LRS Archi-tects and built by Andersen Con-struction. Also, targeted for LEED Gold status, The Lovejoy opened at the same time and features a two-story grocery store at the ground level, four levels of parking and three levels of office space. w&c

Amy Lee is manager of marketing commu-nications, North America for CertainTeed Gypsum, a subsidiary of Saint-Gobain. She is a member of the company’s Sus-tainability Committee, and holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from University of Florida and an M.B.A. from University of Wisconsin. CertainTeed Gypsum is a member of both the U.S. Green Building Council and the Canadian Green Building Council. She can be contacted at (813) 286-3932 or amy.lee@saint-gobain.com.

Loftsinspace

Reprinted from Walls & Ceilings Architect, www.wconline.com, Copyright January 2009