Sustainability History Project

The proposed Oregon Sustainability Center (OSC) will be to the Living Building Challenge™ guidelines, “which would qualify it among the most sustainable buildings ever designed and constructed.” When it is built, it will be “home to Oregon’s leaders in sustainable business, government, and education. It will act as a laboratory for green technology regionally and globally, designed to be the greenest high-rise ever built—sourcing its materials locally, creating its own energy, and collecting and treating its water on-site” (Source).

The OSC will be built “on the eastern edge of Portland State University campus in downtown Portland, Oregon. It will form the nucleus of the Portland State University Ecodistrict, a neighborhood strategy to develop and integrate smart buildings, infrastructure, transportation, and community connectivity along sustainable lines” (Source).

Some people wonder if this project is worth the cost. As journalist Nigel Jaquiss wrote in November 2010:

If a starry-eyed and unusually broad coalition gets its way, Portland will soon become home to the world’s tallest “living building,” a revolutionary structure that will generate all its own electricity, capture and process its own water and leave no carbon footprint.The building’s price tag reflects proponents’ ambitions. The most recent “all in” construction cost estimate is $462 per square foot—perhaps the most expensive office space ever built in Portland. It will require $65 million in public funds, mostly from the Oregon University System and City of Portland—and propel Portland into the lead of a green arms race with cities such as Chicago, Seattle and Austin . . . While few critics challenge the worthiness of the project’s goals, some question the practical realities of proceeding at a time when the city struggles to provide basic services”[1].

Is the OSC worth the time, effort, and resources? Why or why not?

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[1] Nigel Jaquiss, “Green Giant: How much is sustainability worth? Try $65 million in public money.” Willamette Week Nov. 24, 2010.

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