The ASHRAE Journal recently featured the Oregon Health & Science University Knight Cancer Research Building in Portland, Oregon, in a March 2021 article detailing the project by PAE’s Associate Principal and mechanical engineer Ned Greene.

The high-profile publication is a peer-reviewed journal that publishes insight into topics around building and system design, installation, and operation. The journal also presents annual awards from ASHRAE’s membership: this year, the Knight Cancer Research Building had the honor of receiving the 2021 ASHRAE Award of Engineering Excellence. In fact, it is only the seventh time in the 40 year history of the ASHRAE Technology Awards that the Award of Excellence has been given as typically they only have First Place awards in different categories.

As a lab and research building, which are historically notorious for consuming large amounts of energy, the award speaks to the unique solutions the design team implemented to tackle that issue. The end result was that actual energy use was better than they even predicted, totaling 95.4 kBtu/ft2·yr (1083 MJ/m2·yr) for the first year of operation (data was taken prior to the COVID-19 pandemic). The research building includes 260,000 sf of wet lab space and computational lab space and houses 650 elite scientific researchers.

As Ned writes,

“The success of this project stems from the cohesive team environment and shared focus on one unifying goal. By using a “Big Room” co-location strategy, open communication, and collaborative knowledge sharing, engineers and designers were able to select and vet systems in real time, designing a landmark LEED Platinum laboratory building to support cancer researchers. Ultimately, the goals of this project were realized because of the team’s dedication to the larger mission, and the recognition that they were one component to a broader goal: to detect cancer earlier, improve the health and morale of patients, and in the words of the building’s namesake, Phil Knight, “to end cancer as we know it.""

Read the full Journal article: Innovations Help Lab Achieve Low Energy Use By Ned Greene, PE, and Christine Sandall.

Learn more about the Knight Cancer Research Building on the PAE project profile.

The Knight Cancer Research Building integrated design team included:
Architect: SRG
General Contractors: McCarthy / Andersen
Mechanical Contractors: JH Kelly, TCM Corp
Electrical Contractors: Cherry City Electric

The PAE project team included the following leads:
Principal in Charge: Conrad Brown
Project Manager: Nick Collins
Project Financial Analyst: Terry Hirt
Project Coordinator: Chelsea Cassady
Mechanical Engineers: Marc Brune, Ned Greene
Electrical Engineering: Steve Turina, Brandon Watt, Steve Diffenderfer
Building Analysis and Modeling: James Cullin
Building Information Modeling: Dany Rachi
Plumbing: Dan Somlea, Luke Hendricks
Lighting: Zach Suchara, Daren Vandeberg