The Sustainability Hub
The Oregon Sustainability Center will be a dynamic hub to advance the region’s innovation in sustainability. It will be a replicable model for meeting the challenges of 21st century global economies by creating new industries and spawning green jobs.
Harnessing the Power of the Oregon University System
Oregon University System researchers are galvanizing around the opportunity to test their research questions in a real-world setting. From early in the design phase, nearly 40 engineering and social scientists have developed research projects ranging from "smog-eating" concrete, to building better models for tenant energy consumption, to occupant health and performance. Then, once built, OSC will come equipped with a monitoring system to track everything from stormwater management to available ambient light. Researchers will use the data to adjust and re-tailor the building's operation over time for even greater efficiency, while also exporting solutions for more sustainable construction worldwide, from industrialized nations to the developing world.
The private sector, too, has been an eager partner in creating smarter, more efficient buildings. Companies like Sanyo, Intel and Certain Teed are participating to identify technologies for OSC to pursue net zero goals.
Training the Next Generation of Green Economy Leaders
OSC's tenants will be a unique mix of for-profit and nonprofit organizations, government agencies, and university faculty and students, providing a hub of activity and ideas for visitors, researchers, and tenants alike. Everyday interactions between the public and private sectors will lead to unique solutions to the problems of governance and commerce. University students will benefit from real-world case studies examined every day at OSC, and will be trained in the technologies and modeling that will lead green building for decades to come, ensuring a strong, green workforce pipeline.
OSC's design and construction will immediately create more than 500 jobs in sectors as diverse as engineering, semi-conductor manufacturing, and finance. More important, these workers will gain first-hand experience working on an innovative prototype building, as will the student researchers for whom OSC will serve as a living laboratory.
A Front Door to Oregon’s Sustainability Community
The Oregon Sustainability Center is a showcase and portal for green building, green business, and community development. Visitors, students and delegations will come to learn what gives Portland and Oregon its reputation for sustainability — finding the ground floor a hive of activity and information. They will experience first-hand what sustainability looks like in practice and discover resources to integrate these practices into their work, studies and lives. A 3,000-square foot Education and Action Center will activate the lobby with interactive exhibits and interpretive signage describing the building’s systems. It will house connections to state and local sustainability resources, from municipal programs to green job training opportunities.
Also a home base for First Stop Portland, the ground floor of OSC will act as a centralizing facility to welcome, inform, and engage delegations visiting to learn about sustainability. First Stop Portland, a program developed by Portland State University’s Institute for Metropolitan Studies, promotes business-to-business exchange and peer networking between local and visiting delegations, and will use OSC as a launching pad for delegation visits to the city.
Classrooms and conference space will be devoted to education, training and collaboration. Sitting atop the ground floor hub and amid the building’s visual clean energy and water features, the second floor’s meeting space will be shared by building tenants, PSU academic programs, and small conferences and events hosted within the sustainability community.