Engineering
Awards and Rankings
August 30, 2024
University of Portland’s innovative new building brought home two Awards of Merit at the recent ‘2024 Regional Best Projects’ competition sponsored by Engineering News-Record Northwest.
The Shiley-Marcos Center for Design & Innovation—which opened to UP student innovators in January—earned ENR Northwest’s Award of Merit for Higher Education/Research, as well as the Award of Merit for Excellence in Sustainability.
An independent panel of Architectural, Engineering, and Construction experts reviewed 48 new construction projects from across Oregon, Washington, and Alaska. Basing their evaluations on safety and construction, design quality, and contribution to the industry and community, the expert panel selected 12 Best Project and 14 Merit Award winners. UP’s Shiley-Marcos Center for Design & Innovation was the only project to receive two ERN Northwest awards.
“The Shiley-Marcos Center for Design & Innovation is truly a game-changer for the University of Portland, and we’re thrilled that it has received these significant accolades,” said UP President Robert D. Kelly, PhD. “This beautiful center brings engineers, designers, entrepreneurs, creatives, and industry partners together under one roof to engage in cutting-edge, future-oriented work. The Shiley-Marcos Center will play a critical role as UP continues to pursue its mission of educating and forming the next generation of innovators, inventors, and leaders.”
Skanska USA Building, UP’s construction partner for the Shiley-Marcos Center, submitted the award entries. Skanska executed the design plans of Opsis Architecture to build four-story, 43,800 square foot structure that overlooks the Willamette River on the west side of the UP campus.
The building earns high sustainability marks for reusing an existing concrete foundation and structure — UP’s former Physical Plant facility — which reduced the amount of construction materials and lowered the project’s embodied carbon. Designed for LEED Gold Certification, the Shiley-Marcos Center houses the University’s first-ever solar array that powers nearly one-quarter of the building’s annual energy use. Waste heat from student and faculty research experiments in the Propulsion and Combustion Lab is repurposed to help heat the building.
“Shiley-Marcos is helping University of Portland advance sustainability on campus in exciting and innovative ways, starting with the commitment to reuse and creatively adapt an existing concrete building,” said Jennie Cambier, Associate Vice President for Campus Planning & Construction. “It sets a new standard for future embodied and operational carbon reductions on campus.”
Honoring the historic inventions of her late husband, UP Alumnus Donald P. Shiley ’51, esteemed philanthropist Darlene Marcos Shiley brought UP’s innovation hub to life with a $10.4 million lead gift. The Shiley-Marcos Center for Design & Innovation, which earned a Daily Journal of Commence Oregon ‘Top Projects’ award in June, now enters its first full academic year of enabling student discovery and collaboration—with spaces for ideation, prototyping, digital design, virtual and augmented reality, fabrication, and machining.
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