OHSU’s 320,000 square foot Knight Cancer Institute research building is taking shape on Portland’s South Waterfront, with construction slated for completion in late summer 2018.
Brian Druker, M.D., director of the OHSU Knight Cancer Institute, and Tiffani Howard, Ph.D., program director of research strategy and operations for the institute, recently gave reporters a sneak peek.
“We want this to be the building where we end cancer as we know it,” said Druker. “We’re trying to bring a collaborative spirit to defeating cancer.”
The seven-story building is on track to receive Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, Platinum status and exceed the 2030 Energy Challenge.
“We thought, if we are going to build a cancer research building, we’re not going to put things in it that cause cancer,” said Howard. “There aren’t surfaces where any of our workers would come into contact with carcinogens. We took that seriously and did our best to have that standard all the way through construction.”
The building team uses Integrated Project Delivery, or IPD, a tri-party process that optimizes budget, timeline and resource efficiencies during the design and construction process, in close collaboration with architect SRG Partnership, Inc. and the construction joint venture team, McCarthy Building Companies, Inc. and Andersen Construction.
The building, which broke ground in June 2016, will house up to 650 cancer researchers and staff focused on the early detection of cancer.