Efficiency Expert: Opsis Architecture Helps a College Get Greener

After a 2008 voter-approved bond, the team at Opsis Architecture was tasked with updating Portland Community College’s Rock Creek Campus. In line with a city known for green initiatives and smart growth, the bond stipulated that the 1970s buildings be updated and expanded while also reducing sprawl and becoming more efficient. Cascade Architectural worked closely with the Opsis team to find the perfect wire-mesh materials for practical energy saving without sacrificing a specific design vision.

“PCC Rock Creek Campus is unique as it’s located in a rural setting and includes an onsite working farm,” says Opsis Architect Aaron Schalon. He and his team held extensive listening sessions with faculty, students and staff to understand what Building 5 needed to provide but also what everyone loved about Rock Creek: “It’s different from all the other PCC campuses, and we found out that the stakeholders placed a really high value on the campus’s rural location and character.”

More than anywhere else, Opsis needed to showcase that character with Building 5, the “front door” to the campus. PCC hoped to completely recreate the previous inefficient structure with an updated space centralizing student services like dining, leadership and a bookstore. Some 40,000 square feet of the original building was demolished and replaced with a 62,000-square-foot addition perfect for Rock Creek. “The inspiration for the building was the agrarian setting,” Schalon says. While the interiors feature reclaimed oak paneling, Schalon says theme was realized primarily through a cantilevered corner element that, “we call ‘The Box.’ It’s a nod to the traditional big red barn.”

The other driving theme — sustainability — played into both demolition and design. 95 percent of demolished materials were diverted from landfills, and the addition’s net sprawl was limited to just 20,000 square feet, even with more open, airy floor plans. However, for the building’s daily functionality, Opsis had to balance those open spaces with energy-saving solutions. Schalon turned to Fabricoil to keep their ideas efficient. “Harvesting natural daylight was a primary strategy to achieve the LEED gold status as well as to give these spaces the quality that we wanted. We knew that deploying Fabricoil could achieve these goals.”

Cascade’s Fabricoil offers architects and designers a huge selection of materials, gauges and finishes to complement, delineate and shade spaces like the second-story student lounge, the focal point of the barn-inspired box. “The sunshades needed to be elegant, durable and transparent,” Schalon says. A ⅜-inch raw stainless steel mesh offered the best shade for the space, and Cascade’s custom-engineered products ensured it would stay true to the specific aesthetics. “Sunshades are only as good as their support system,” says Schalon, “so we worked directly with Cascade to create a low-profile tensioning system that met our design vision.”

Exterior shading was not the only customized solution Fabricoil provided Opsis on this project, though. For the interior, the desire for a large open space meant the cafe would need to somehow be separated from student lounge and study spaces after business hours. To fix the problem, Cascade created a second Fabricoil system of aluminum and bronze finish that could slide into place as a security partition. “Cascade supplied the entire coil mesh security system, including the roller track and hardware. It was a nice turnkey solution,” says Schalon.

Also based in Portland, Fabricoil became an ideal local partner to Opsis, finding new ways their unique products could help. “They actually brought a mockup out to the site, which was invaluable to making decisions. You can draw it on paper, but until you see it you don’t know what you’re getting in terms of proportions and transparency. Having a partner that is able to do something like that is important for this kind of work.”