GLUMAC - Engineers for a sustainable future

Bob Schroeder, P.E., LEED^®AP,
Portland Associate Principal

The State of Oregon North Mall Office Building, located on the North Capitol Mall in Salem, Oregon, was selected as the Pilot Project under the Executive Order on Sustainability in the State of Oregon.

Glumac provided mechanical and electrical, technology integration and sustainable design for this 115,000 sf, three-story building with one-level of underground parking. Yost Grube Hall provided the architectural services. The sustainable design focus for the building was developed utilizing computational fluid dynamics, energy modeling, daylighting computer analysis, lighting lab modeling, white papers and life-cycle analysis.

Utilization

A requirement for the building€™s overall utilization was that approximately 105,000 sf, or over 90% of the space, was usable. This, coupled with a raised access floor for both mechanical and electrical distribution, achieves the real efficiencies in design. The €L€™ shaped plan joins the three basic zones to a common atrium into one building, allowing the State agencies within the building to share a common space. The atrium features abundant daylight and uses natural ventilation without air conditioning. The window layout and shading was refined using computer modeling. Each side of the building was designed to enhance daylighting and reduce heat gain and glare.

LEED^®Process

The design team was under contract to produce a LEED^® certified building for the state. When completed, it was submitted as a LEED^® Gold project. The US Green Building Council (USGBC) submitted 20 pages of review documents, with 14 points anticipated, 19 points pending and seven rejected. After providing credit interpretation requests and clarifying additional items, the project was resubmitted. After review by USGBC, 39 points were granted and three were rejected. However, the rejected points were appealed and the project was finally awarded a Gold status.