October 2018 Monthly Meeting

When
-
Meeting Title
Multnomah County Central Courthouse
Location

Aceh Community Room
Mercy Corps, 45 SW Ankeny St
Portland, OR 97204

Presenters
Dave Young
Steve Vinci
SRG Partnership
Description

Multnomah County’s central courthouse was built between 1909 and 1914, when the county had only 250,000 residents and long before modern building code standards for the region’s risk of earthquakes were in place. The new Central Courthouse Project is a swiftly rising, 17-story-structure at Southwest First Avenue and Madison Street, and is slated for completion in the spring of 2020.

The beginning of the exterior envelope can be observed as the installation of the façade exterior window is ongoing. Leading up to the current stage of construction, the team engaged in numerous studies for cladding systems and curtain wall assemblies. During the design phase, 3D modeling was used not only to design and conceptualize the project but also to create prefabricated materials and choreograph different systems.

A free-standing mockup has been used extensively by the team to coordinate transition of the panels forming the moisture barrier with the fenestration systems and cladding.

The Architect, Exterior Envelope Consultant, and Building Envelope Commissioning Authority will present as a panel to offer insight into the design of the envelope and also methods used to verify installations in the field.

SRG Partnership
SRG Partnership, Inc., was founded in 1972 as the dream firm of three young and ambitious architects: Jon Schleuning, Dave Richen and Fred Gast. The three principals began their practice in the basement of the Portland Art Museum, adjacent to the outdoor sculpture court. Their first project was the John’s Landing Master Plan, establishing precedence for SRG’s planning expertise that continues to this day. Within several years, SRG added numerous K-12 public school projects to its portfolio. These projects served to establish a niche in the education market which has today grown to include more than 40 community colleges and public and private universities. In 2002 SRG teamed with Rick Zieve, Dennis Forsyth and Ralph Belton to start the Seattle office, which began with large-scale public projects such as Bellevue City Hall and the Washington State Capitol Building historic restoration. Today SRG is a regional practice with projects across the western United States and beyond.

Dave Young
Dave is a Senior Building Science Specialist and principle of RDH Building Science, working within its Portland office. He specializes in enclosure consulting for both new buildings and existing building investigation and rehabilitation projects. Dave has extensive practical experience with exterior wall, window, above-and below-grade waterproofing and roofing systems from conceptual design through the building enclosure commissioning process. Prior to his nearly 20 years practicing in this arena with RDH, Dave practiced for 10 years as a structural engineer in Ottawa, with the last 3 as manager of that firm’s Restoration, Investigation, and Retrofit Division.

Steve Vinci
Stevan Vinci joined Morrison Hershfield in 2002 and is a Building Science and Building Envelope Commissioning Specialist in the U.S. Building Consultation Group. He serves as the Building Envelope Commissioning Practice Lead for MH. Stevan has over 19 years of building science experience. His many years of experience completing forensic investigations have informed his recommendations for new construction projects.