E-Newsletters: Summer 2003
In This Issue:
How to Design A Fast-Track Advanced Technology Facility
 Featured in the October 2002 issue of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties magazine, Interface Engineering worked with a design/ build team to provide "fast track" services to Sun Microsystems new facility in Hillsboro, Oregon. From start of design to occupancy in six months, the project taxed principal Andy Frichtl's team to come up with creative solutions for handling the energy-intensive facility. "Whereas most projects use less than 5 watts per square foot," said Frichtl, "this project uses more than 150 watts. As a result, our greatest challenge was getting all the heat out of the building so that the cooling system could work efficiently." The building's final design included enough electrical capacity to power 8,600 homes, but the project's timeline was even more challenging.
Insignia/ESG's Beaverton office, under the direction of Monte Haynes, got the project award by promising to get the job done in record time; and the contractors who were asked to bid were also required to include a time commitment and schedule to build the approximate 25,000-square-foot corporate office and approximately 50,000-square-foot concrete tilt-up manufacturing building, including all interior improvements and substantial mechanical and electrical requirements. Not much information for a contractor to guarantee a schedule! The RFP also stressed that no matter how much the building size or the scope of work changed, the schedule would remain fixed.
Sun assigned Jacobs Engineering's Portland office to act as its project representative. Insignia followed suit, bringing Jacobs onboard to complete the building's interior design. Insignia immediately initiated weekly design meetings attended by Jacobs Engineering, P&C Construction, Soderstrom Architects and its mechanical and electrical engineering consultant Interface Engineering, as well as VLMK Engineering, the structural and civil consultant.
Because the new Sun facility would be designed to accommodate the assembly of a new generation of Sun's servers, it took additional effort to identify the technical requirements. However, within three weeks, the design team completed a preliminary building shell design for a 90,000-square-foot facility, which Sun approved.
Please click here to view a PDF Case Study about this project...
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Our Office: A National Pilot for LEED
 Continuing its pioneering green building work, Interface's own tenant improvements for its new headquarters (occupied in November 2002) have been selected by the US Green Building Council to be rated against the new LEED® criteria for energy-efficient and environmentally responsible interiors. Less than 50 projects nationally were selected for "beta testing" this new green building rating system. In the fall of 2003, Interface will submit its documentation for certification under this new LEED-CI(tm) program.
For further information on the LEED-CI program, go to www.usgbc.org.
Click here to view a PDF case study on this project...
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365 Questions for Your Next Green Building Project
 Co-authored by Jerry Yudelson, PE, and the staff of Interface Engineering is a 40-page booklet with all the information that you've been searching for on how to approach the task of designing, building and operating a green building -- and it's all in one handy publication! Organized by design phase, from initial concept through construction and startup, every one of the 365 questions is a "yes or no" question. If you can answer "yes," you're one step closer to designing and building a sustainable building. "No," and you might want to consider re-examining your strategy. Beyond the 365 questions, there are four green building case studies to show you strategies, tools and techniques that disprove the myth that green buildings cost too much!
This booklet is available now, for $29.95, postpaid. To order, send a check (only) to:
Sustainability Department
Interface Engineering
708 SW Third Avenue, #400
Portland, OR 97204.
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Salem Courthouse Square: Another LEED® Certification
 Interface Engineering provided full mechanical and electrical design services for a new office building serving Marion County, Oregon, and the Salem Transit District. In the fall of 2002, this project was certified under the US Green Building Council's national LEED® version 1.0 pilot program at the "Bronze" level. The building also received the Earth Advantage® award from Portland General Electric for its energy efficiency measures. This is the second Interface-designed building to receive LEED® certification, along with the Gold-certified Ecotrust project.
A complete PDF case study is available via this link...
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Our Lighting Designers Win Multiple Awards
Interface's award-winning lighting design team has continued
its stretch of awards with a Portland chapter IES award
in 2003 to Benjamin Watson, lighting designer, for the
interior lighting of our new headquarters, two IES regional
awards of merit for the Portland State University Bookstore
and the ODS Milwaukie Plaza office building. Robert
Dupuy, head of the lighting department, received the
highly coveted International Award of Merit from the
Illuminating Engineering Society (IES) of North America
for the daylighting/lighting integration at Clackamas
High School in the Portland area.
For details on Robert's accomplishments at Clackamas
High School, see the article in the national green building
trade magazine, Environmental
Design & Construction's March/April 2003 edition.
Interface's lighting design approach at The Dalles Middle
School in The Dalles, Oregon, also received coverage
in American
School & University's October 2002 issue.
Please contact us to
get details of these projects or to contact our lighting
team & Robert Dupuy, LC, IALD
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Happily Settled in Our New Headquarters
As of November, 2002, Interface Engineering is working
happily in 20,000 sq.ft. on two floors of a National
Register historic building in downtown Portland.
We are now conveniently squeezed between two light rail
lines and within walking distance of many shops, restaurants
and other services. Best of all, since many of our Portland
clients are downtown, we can now walk to meetings and
provide better service! More than 85% of the staff has
signed up for company-subsidized mass transit, so that
we're also reducing the environmental impact of auto
travel to and from work. Our new contact information
is: Interface Engineering, Inc., 708 SW Third Avenue,
Ste. 400, Portland, OR 97204, telephone: 1-503-382-2266
Click here to contact
us.
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Sustainability in Higher Education
On another environmentally-friendly front, Integrating Technology with Sustainability Concerns in Higher Education, was the topic of Jerry Yudelson's presentation at the Pacific Regional Society for College & University Planning conference in San Jose, CA, at the end of March.
Click here to view Jerry's PowerPoint presentation
(5MB, Requires PowerPoint)
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