SERA Architects plan to cover Portland's main federal building with an eco-facade.
Portland, already famous for its green cityscape, is about to become even greener. The city plans to makeover the austere concrete of the main federal building by adding a facade of plants that will rise vertically along the exterior. The proposed project was recently featured in The New York Times showing that Portland and the green architecture trend is catching national publicity.
The “vegetated fins” would cover up to 200 feet of the western side of the building. An eco-facade of that magnitude would, in my opinion, certainly surpass our own wind turbines as downtown’s most grandiose display of green architecture. The vegetation would bloom in the summer, creating cooling shade, and die back in the winter to allow sunlight into the building. Hopefully, we will soon see a notable uptick in projects like this one. I believe that the city could seriously benefit, both environmentally and aesthetically, from a trend like this. I look forward to eating lunch in the park looking up at a building like this. Here’s to a greener city.