Oregon architects go green in China

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LRS rendering of the Shanghai Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park

Portland-based LRS Architects is closing in on the first LEED Platinum Core & Shell project certification in China for its work on the Shanghai Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park, expected to open in January 2011.

The project was pre-certified last week for the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design designation by the Green Building Certification Institute, the certification branch of US Green Building Council. The Core & Shell specification covers the skin of the buildings as opposed to interior spaces.

Features of the design for the buildings — the project includes two office buildings, a hotel and a convention center — which sit at the entrance of the sprawling Shanghai technology park include:

— A system that collects rainwater from hard impervious surfaces and diverts it to a pond for use in flush toilets and on-site irrigation.

— An ice generator, which will make ice during the night (during less-expensive off-peak hours) and use that ice for cooling the building.

— A thermal energy storage heating plant.

— A solar domestic hot water heating system.

— Solar photovoltaic panels and vertical axis wind turbines to generate electricity.

— A 70,000 sq. ft. eco-roof.

LRS, which recently completed the Lovejoy Block in the Pearl District, beat out architects from Germany and Japan to win the Zhangjang contract in 2007. Eeshoo Rehani, LRS project designer, said learning the cultural differences of doing work in China has been a challenge. For example, construction practices are about 10 years behind those in the United States, he said.

LRS design team partners on the project include Interface Engineering and HDR Inc.