Columbia Clinic

Project: Columbia Clinic
Location: Portland, Oregon

Architect: Tuan Q. Luu Architect

7426 SW 54th

Portland, Oregon

97219

General Contractor: Perlo Construction

Square footage: approx. 5,500 sq. ft. 1st Floor/ 5,220 sq. ft. 2nd Floor

Status: Completed Fall 2010

A two story building located in southeast Portland on 82nd Avenue near SE Powell Blvd. The majority of the construct consist of open-web steel joists and steel girders and columns. The roof was metal decking and the floor was metal decking with a concrete slab. One large HVAC unit was placed on the roof instead of several smaller units. To reduced noise and vibration the unit was placed over a concrete tub.


The lateral system was all supported by masonry walls. The south side of the building was in the property line therefore the footings could not extend beyond the wall. The beam line which supported the joist ran parallel to the south wall and was not centered with the width of the building. Therefore a combined footing was used to support a grade beam which supported the masonry wall and the column loads inside. The west wall was also all masonry with the exception window and door openings and was not on the property line.

The north wall of the building was laterally supported with masonry piers. The areas between the masonry piers were infilled with steel beams and metal studs. The east exterior was not supported laterally in that a masonry wall was built at the stair well and the diaphragm was cantilevered off that wall

The construction phase went smoothly with the exception of a small blow out on a masonry pier. Design and fabrication wise, the entry portion of the building was the most complex feature. Large 24 inch deep steel beams supported the floor edge and steel tubes were sliced and fitted on the wide flange beams to cantilever out to pick up the canopy and fake glass tower. In the end it came out rather appealing.

Check out their website: www.columbiaclinic.com/

NCSD Administration Building

Project: NCSD Administration Building

Location: North Clackamas School District

Architect: Barrentine Bates Lee, AIA

                    200 North State Street

                    Lake Oswego, Oregon 97034

General Contractor: NA

Square footage: 22,500 sq. ft.

Status: Cancelled 2008.

This project was at the 95% complete level at the time it was cancelled. Some of the cancellation was budgetary matters and neighborhood input.

This project was a 2-story office building for the school district's administration department. It was a steel construction roof and composite floor along with 12 inch thick tilt-up panels to resist lateral loads. The layout was, for the most part, symmetrical, which made the design fairly straight forward. For the floor, steel-concrete composite girders ran in the east-west direction and smaller steel-concrete composite joist in the north-south direction. The roof had steel joist and girders which matched the oreintaion of the floor framing. On the roof, on either side of the entry core, were mechanical units for the building. They sat on concrete pads to help reduce noise levels.

The shape of the building was rectangular with the entry on the east side of the longitudinal face. It was partially open to the roof above providing a spacious entry. They wanted to avoid moment frames, to keep the cost down so concrete tilt-up panels were designed to act as a resisting element. The architect wanted the corners exposed, meaning they wanted glass store fronts at every corner. They also did not want columns to be seen. So the steel beams cantilevered from the inside face of the tilt-up panels. These 12" thick panels were attached to the steel framing and the steel framing acted as a drag strut. The most difficult portion of this building was the connection of the panels to the steel framing.