News

Portland State University and PAE Consulting Engineers have won Project of the Year, the American Council of Engineering Companies of Oregon's top award, for last year's remodel of Shattuck Hall. Judges were most impressed with the electrical and mechanical upgrades to the 1914 former grade school and the exposure of those systems as a "teaching tool for the architects of the future." The award was presented at the council's Jan. 13 awards dinner.

The new HVAC system includes approximately 1,000 aluminum, 3-feet-by-5-feet, radiant ceiling panels laced throughout the building. Serpentine tubes connected to the back of the panels circulate some of the building's hot and cold water, helping to cool or heat rooms, according to project manager Nick Collins of PAE Consulting Engineers. The three-story, 66,000 square-foot building still has heating and air conditioning, but the panels help limit their usage, lowering total energy costs, Collins said. He noted that in a seminar room, the panels are flipped upside down, allowing students to examine the tubing network.

The remodeled building's open floor plan, large windows, skylights, and light wells also impressed the judges, as did the numbers: Shattuck Hall consumes 45 percent less water and 19 percent less energy, and provides 30 percent more fresh air than required by national standards.

Project partners also included SRG Partnership, architecture and interior design; Catena Consulting Engineers, structural engineering; and Howard S. Wright Constructors, general contractor. The project team worked closely with PSU's Architecture faculty and Barbara Sestak, dean of Fine and Performing Arts, to increase the educational value of the building as is was seismically and mechanically improved.