Portland-based TVA Architects nears completion of adaptive reuse of

Daily Journal of Commerce (Portland, OR), Jul 17, 2006 by DJC Staff

Portland-based TVA Architects Inc. is nearing completion of the adaptive reuse of a 1940s-era warehouse to host a new Social Security Administration call center in Auburn, Wash., about 25 miles southeast of downtown Seattle.

TVA was selected as the lead architect on the Federal government project through a national competition held by the General Services Administration in 2003.

As part of the GSA's Design Excellence Program, the project became an exercise in reclaiming and recycling a minimally used federal asset and converting it into first-class, contemporary office space.

The facility is scheduled for completion in mid-July with silver designation from the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program.

The original building consisted of an 80,000-square-foot timber- framed warehouse supported by bare trusses and columns.

The addition of a 39,000-square-foot mezzanine in the high bay area expanded the project to a total of 119,000 square feet and increased the occupied area by more than 50 percent. Sustainable highlights include recycling more than 80 percent of the demolition and construction debris and creating a bio-retention swale that treats and infiltrates 98 percent of surface stormwater runoff and captures and diverts 100 percent of roof stormwater via site percolation.

Overall water usage is projected to be reduced by more than 30 percent, while energy performance will be increased by introducing natural light to 75 percent of the space.

TVA also incorporated an underfloor air distribution system, allowing each workstation to have an independent source of variable- volume conditioned air.