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PORTLAND SPACES MAGAZINE
December 2008Root Awards 2008 :: Sustainability Award Winner
Maybe our green ethos began with the Oregon Bottle Bill, the 1971 legislation that mandated statewide recycling of pop and beer bottles. Or maybe it reaches much further back—to the 1930s, when architects like John Yeon developed a light-on-the-land form of regional Modernism. No matter when it began, however, Oregon was at the forefront of green design before much of the country knew that architecture and products could even have such a tint.
Portland has more LEED Gold certified buildings per capita than any other US city, many of them firsts of their kinds—the first LEED historic renvation with the Jean Vollum Nautral Capital Center; the first LEED Platinum certified condominium with the Casey. Portland started the first city-level Office of Sustainable Development in the United States. Urban planners and designers are deeloping sustainability initiatives in places as far-flung as Abu Dhabi and Taipei.
So how to select one Root Award for sustainability? The nominations spanned the spectrum from the largest medical facility in the country to earn LEED Platinum certficiation to a redesign of the common steel stud. Our jurors grappled. The scoring was close. But the Choices testify to the depth of what Portland designers deem possible.
WINNER
HELYX HE-40
Developed by Portland-based Oregon WInd, the Helyx HE-40 is designed to overovercome the challenges of using wind turbines in urban areas—noise, vibration, an ddanger to birds, among others—while maximizing the power generated from the turbulent wind patterns in cities, which are less predictable than those in rural areas. Compact and lightweight, the Helyx can be easily deployed, allowing power to be generated close to the user, which reduces demand on the aging power grid. The first versions are being tested at the south end of the newly refurbished transit mall, and Oregon Wind's plan is to manufacture the Helyx in Portland, using locally recycled materials and generating "green-collar" jobs.