 Green
Building Breakthrough:
Engineering A Sustainable World
Interface Engineering, Inc.'s 48-page illustrated
guide reveals engineering secrets of Oregon Health
& Science University’s River Campus Project
“Achieving such high levels of sustainability
and performance at a first-cost savings will inspire
new ways of thinking …”
Christine Ervin, First President
& CEO of the U.S. Green Building Council
Former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Energy
 Interface
Engineering Inc.’s 48-page, full-color illustrated
book Engineering A Sustainable World shares
the principles and secrets behind its green building
breakthrough. This complimentary document, offered
as a public service by Interface Engineering, provides
the engineering insights as to how a Platinum LEED
project (expected) was created on a conventional budget
for Portland, Oregon’s Center for Health
and Healing at Oregon Health & Science University’s
new River Campus.
 “We’re
delivering champagne on a beer budget,” said
Andy Frichtl, Interface principal and lead project
engineer. “The key to achieving more with less
is integrated design.” From the start, the developer
Gerding/Edlen insisted on a sustainable design that
would reduce operating costs, improve occupant comfort,
health and productivity, and reduce consumption of
natural resources. Those goals meshed with the owner’s
mission of promoting health and the building’s
purpose as a mixed-use facility.
Interface Engineering’s green building team
realized many of its health and comfort goals, as
well as cost-savings, by utilizing natural resources.
For example, rainwater falling on the building is
reclaimed for use in toilets and landscaping, and
the building’s 15th and 16th floors are topped
with a “Trombe wall” solar collector,
which assists in water heating. In total, the net
mechanical and electrical systems costs are 10 percent
under the $30 million allotted based on a conventional
design.
Among many other accomplishments detailed in this
book, this project’s engineering design achieves:
 61%
more energy efficiency than required by Oregon code
and LEED standards- 56% reduction in potable water use vs. a similar
conventional building
- 100% on-site sewage treatment with rainwater and
wastewater being harvested for toilets and landscaping,
saving 15,000 gallons a day from reaching the city’s
overburdened combined sewer system, and cutting
the owner’s future water and sewer bills
- Innovative features such as sunshades that double
as solar power generators; the first large-scale
on-site micro-turbine plant in Oregon to generate
electricity; natural ventilation; displacement ventilation;
radiant cooling; the first U.S.-use of chilled beams
to replace air-conditioning in a large building;
and other measures.
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