The Courtyard by Marriott Portland City Center opened for guests May, 2009 in the Portland, Oregon downtown urban core. Designed by BIM-focused Portland-based SERA Architects and developed by Sage Hospitality, the hotel stands where a vacant and deteriorating once bank/office building stood. As SERA’s market partner and source of software solutions, Ideate, Inc. assisted SERA in this achievement.

SERA Courtyard

The building achieves efficiencies in energy consumption and water use, provides travelers with excellent comfort and amenities, minimizes impact on the environment and embellishes the aesthetic of the city. This eco-friendly renovation project has been awarded the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. It is the first hotel in the Pacific Northwest to receive this level of recognition and Marriott’s first LEED Gold of any of its brands.

The Challenge
Select-service hotels cater to a mix of business and leisure travelers and are commonly located in low density areas. This project proposed an intriguing innovation – to open a new Marriott Courtyard as a pioneer select-service hotel in the heart of downtown.

The project would benefit from an architectural firm with a ‘whole building’ integrated design process, one dedicated to yielding long-term economic benefits, healthier communities and environmentally sound solutions. SERA blends the traditions of urban revitalization and sustainable design into what the firm dubs sustainable urbanism. The approach dovetailed with the client’s goals.

The first eco-conscious decision was the choice of restoration over demolition. In the interest of renewal and revitalization, the hotel would be located in the former Toronto National Building, a 1970s era office/bank building and adjacent site.

Location was a deciding factor. The existing underutilized space offered easy access to downtown and to Portland State University via public transportation. The Oregon Convention Center and Portland International Airport are accessible, too. Portland’s Green Max Line stops directly in front of the hotel. The location was squarely in the heart of Portland’s business district and one block off the shopping district.

SERA Courtyard Lobby

“Guest comfort is the first consideration,” says Gary Golla, Associate and Architect, SERA, “And we believe sustainable design supports guest health and comfort.”

SERA goals for the project, in addition to guest comfort, included making the project indelibly and proudly Marriott, increasing the client’s market share, ensuring quick cost-benefit payback for the client from state and local incentives, water and energy savings, and putting the Portland stamp on the hotel.

In addition, SERA sensed the hotel needed life breathed into it. Revitalizing that specific corner would not only serve SERA’s sensibilities, it would enhance the cityscape, an idea enthusiastically received by the Portland Development Commission and the client. The feeling had to be urban. The client’s business sensibilities and brand had to be honored. Marriott International and the quirky yet unified melting pot that is Portland had to be linked.

The challenge, then, was to replace the entire facade, add three floors above the existing 13 story structure, redesign and replace the building skin, completely renovate the internal structure including new mechanical systems, demolish an adjacent three-story structure and replace it with a new three-story back-of-house support structure for the hotel, and tie the structures together to function as one building. SERA would also need to create a stunning and artful new interior.

Mapping the tendons within the post-tensioned concrete slab of the existing building would be very important, especially in view of the new plumbing for guestrooms on 16 floors, and tricky, especially in view of an irregular edge. Another challenge would be team coordination. This was the first time for SERA and the project consultants to employ Navisworks together.

SERA Ground Floor Render

The Solution:
Set LEED as a Goal
SERA Architects, led by Golla, saw designing with Autodesk Revit to LEED standards as a way to meet the ambitious objectives. As Golla explains, “We had to strip most of the building away, build back over the bones and give the new building skin. One building had to be demolished and a new structure built in its place.” 

Use BIM-focused Solutions and Technical Back-up
In addition to Revit Architecture, the firm used Navisworks. Navisworks allowed the team to share, combine, review and refine the 3D Revit model for 4D planning, photorealistic visualization, dynamic simulation and analysis. They also used its clash detection and management capabilities.

As SERA Principal Joe Pinzone says, “The team really worked well together. They could find conflicts and resolve them early instead of later in the field.” And as for SERA’s technology, Pinzone explains, “When we do have challenges, Ideate is very helpful in getting the software to produce better results and better designs.”

Revit and Navisworks averted what could have been costly problems. In the ballroom, the team encountered a potential clash between mechanical and structural. Had the clash been detected during construction, it would have been expensive. As it was, says Golla, “We could be proactive during the design process instead of reactive during construction.”

Revit enabled the design team to get down to a tighter scale, ¼," far faster than would have been possible with traditional design technologies and to detail the skin more quickly than they expected. The project was on a tight time frame with an aggressive schedule, yet along the course of the project the team was often ahead of schedule and in the end right on schedule. That enabled them to be more flexible and to pick up gains working with consultants. Having the 3D model also helped SERA with coordination of delivery schedules.

SERA Courtyard Lobby Screen

Other advantages had to do with visualization. The model could do dual duty for rendering and visualization. The client was able to grasp the firm’s vision quickly, easily and at frequent intervals. As an example, SERA leveraged the model they had been using for construction documents to show the client interiors.

The Revit model helped the contractor visualize challenges. Snapshots from the model let the contractor see how the complex roof went together. It was possible to evaluate clearances, existing conditions and assess how the new structure would integrate with the street front.

As Pinzone says, “Things used to be assumed but not shown. If you were working in the traditional method, you would have had symbols that didn’t tell you anything. In Revit, when you drag a wall six inches, you can see the effects much more clearly.”

Train and Engage the Professional Community
SERA design team members regularly receive training from Ideate, Inc. and participate in professional community events. According to Pinzone, “Ideate understands architects better than a lot of other resellers.” Jon DeLeonardo, Job Captain, SERA Architects, for example, has attended a number of Ideate courses including Ideate Revit Fundamentals and a more advanced Revit Architecture Families class to help him gain implementation ease and speed with Revit.

The SERA team also participates in Revit user groups and other community facing events with Ideate because the user groups increase their ability to creatively utilize software solutions. The information sharing and answers come not only from consultants but also from other architects.

Emphasize Renewable Energy
SERA Architects designed the property to consume about 30 percent less energy overall than a building of comparable size, a savings that could power 42 households per year. Much of this savings is attributable to efficient air handling systems and heat pumps in guestrooms and meeting spaces. Carbon emissions are reduced, as well.

As Golla notes, “We want to make better hotel buildings for guests. By providing better ventilation, a sense of fresh air, we can make a huge difference in guest comfort.”

The design also includes a number of energy-wise approaches. First, use of natural light is maximized to reduce lighting-related energy costs. All light fixtures use compact fluorescent bulbs. And, with cooperation of local energy providers, the hotel draws 100 percent of its electricity from renewable sources including wind and hydroelectric.

DeLeonardo notes that this intensive focus on energy conservation required substantial MEP coordination, and he says, “Revit and Navisworks made the tight coordination we needed possible.”

Encourage Conservation and Recycling
Conservation and recycling gained important points toward the LEED Gold designation. More than 75 percent of the construction waste was recycled and reused. Water consumption was reduced by 26 percent through the use of dual flush toilets. To encourage guests to reduce waste, recycling containers stand available in each guestroom and on every floor.

Even the kitchen grease from the hotel’s restaurant is recyclable into biodiesel fuel and food waste from the restaurant can be composted.

According to Golla, the construction cost premium to build the hotel to the LEED Gold standard was just 1.2 percent. The water and energy cost savings will cover that small premium in just 18 months. After 10 years, the property will have saved more than $600,000 in operating costs. For an overview of the project’s sustainability factors, see the “Green Highlights” that follow.

SERA Courtyard NW Corner

Express Location
SERA Architects shared a vision for a unique approach to the hotel’s interior design with Paige Powell, a noted Portland area art consultant and long-time friend of Andy Warhol, and with Walter Isenberg of Sage Hospitality. Their intent: bond the Marriott brand with the spirit of Portland. Their adhesive: art. They put a Marriott-atypical stamp on the property with original artwork by local Portland artists. The result blends the premium Marriott brand with Portland’s distinctive personality and showcases local art talent.

In homage to the rivers that have been the lifeblood of Portland, a river motif courses through the custom-designed carpeting in the property along with other natural themes in fabrics and wall coverings. The design conveys the textural, abstract and varied landscapes of Oregon in a contemporary, open-hearted, distinctly Portland style.

Indoor air quality contributed to the LEED Gold designation. The hotel is a 100 percent smoke-free environment. Green housekeeping products are used for cleaning throughout.

Non-PVC wall coverings were used and only low VOC paints were employed. For casework in the guestrooms, SERA utilized furnishings below limits for urea-formaldehyde. As Zangerle says, “The details really kick it up a notch for guest health and comfort.”

Pinzone notes that the architects’ role transforms. “When the keys are turned over and the staff operates the building, you hope they share your intent. In this instance, it appears they do. Everything about The Courtyard by Marriott Portland City Center has been all about the green building. They are proud and want to operate as green as they possibly can.”

 SERA Courtyard NW Corner Aerial

At the inception of the project, SERA approached this design with LEED Silver in mind. Throughout the process, SERA refined and developed strategies to achieve LEED Gold. Naturally, with sustainable development there is some up front investment, but there is also a payback and costs fell along lines SERA anticipated.

The vacant end-of-disco era office building and adjacent site was renovated into 256-guest rooms, meeting and convention space, ballroom, fitness center, and a new restaurant-diner. The development revitalizes a site that had long been in need of a mend in the urban fabric. The building is projected to save the client $600,000 in operating costs over 10 years and hasten client payback thanks to state and local incentives.

The Courtyard by Marriott Portland City Center
Design: SERA Architects
Construction: Hoffman Construction
Developer:  JER Portland Hotel LLC
Management: Sage Hospitality
Location: Portland, OR
Completed: 2009
Size: 256 guestrooms; approximately 6,000 sf meeting space
Construction Cost: $39,000,000
Type of Project: Renovation of office building into hotel

Green Highlights

- Sustainable Sites

• Located at epicenter of Portland transit system
• Employee bicycle storage
• Heat island reduction
• Light pollution reduction

- Water Efficiency

• 26% water-use reduction
• $124,000 reduction in city System Development Charges

- Energy and Atmosphere

• 30% energy-use reduction (equivalent to consumption of 42 households)
• $637K state grant and tax-credit incentives
• 100% green power
• Enhanced commissioning

- Materials and Resources

• 75% waste diversion

- Indoor Environmental Quality

• Low-emitting adhesives/sealants, paint and carpetS
• Low-VOC wall covering

- Innovation in Design

• Green housekeeping, including recycling separation of guestroom trash

- Cost/Benefit Analysis

• 1.2% hard and soft cost premium to pursue LEED
• $0 premium to pursue LEED after factoring in Oregon incentives
• In 10 years the property will save over $600,000 in utility costs