...Union-’rebuilt’
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low-flow toilets and irrigate native
plant landscaping.
• Natural light is augmented by en-
ergy-efficient LED lighting systems
with automated controls.
“Symbolically, it’s an image of our
government committed to sustainabil-
ity,” said architect James Cutler. “This
building was built by hard-working
Americans, not only in 2013, but in
1974.”
Some of the original steel welded
columns were left visible — as were
the original concrete floors, which
were cut through in portions to allow
light. “Hopefully this building will rep-
resent the best of our sustainable future,
and the best of our hard-working past,”
Cutler said.
All the craftspeople and other indi-
viduals who worked more than 100
hours on the project have their names
listed in glass at the building’s entrance.
Members of 24 local unions took part
in the project, covered by the project la-
bor agreement.
The building also has new art, in-
cluding Louie Louie — a three-dimen-
sion depiction of the sound waves that
make up the popular song which was
Clockwise, from upper
left: A utility room shows
pipes for hot, cold, and
rainwater; construction
workers names are
memorialized in glass at
the front entrance; a
brightly-colored art
installation, Louie, Louie,
represents the sound
waves of the famous song;
and on the building’s west
face, aluminum reeds
project outward to
provide shade.
originally recorded in Portland.
And the remodel increased usable
space. Replacing precast concrete with
a glass curtain wall pushed out the
perimeter 22”, which in a city-block-
sized 18-story building added 18,000
square feet of usable space.
The 536,000 square foot building
will serve as a regional headquarters for
the U.S. Forest Service, which will
have the top four-and-a-half floors. Be-
low that, three floors will be used by
the Bureau of Land Management, and
three-plus floors by the Internal Rev-
enue Service. Altogether, the building
will provide office space for 1,200 fed-
eral employees in 16 agencies. Tenants
begin moving in in August, and the art
and other features on the main floor
and ground level will be accessible to
the public starting Aug. 1. The National
Labor Relations Board will occupy a
sixth floor office starting in September.
The building is named for Edith
Green and Wendell Wyatt, who repre-
sented Oregon’s Third and First Dis-
tricts as members of Congress in the
1960s and early 1970s.
(Editor’s Note: To see more photos
of the finished project, go online to
www.nwlaborpress.org.)
TriMet has cut our passengers’ service and raised fares. Each day, we hear from our passengers how these changes have
made their lives more difficult. At the same time, TriMet intends to cut our family income in at least 80 different ways.
Whenever the question, “Why are TriMet’s workers and passengers being asked to make such deep sacrifices?” is raised, the
response is always the same: “TriMet has terrible financial problems.” We started investigating, looking for the cause of those
“financial problems.” This investigation raised a number of questions. Below are just two of them.
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