Before I moved to Portland, I was wary of living in a big city, afraid it might be dirty and ugly.  Not Portland!  The city’s commitment to the environment is incredible, making Portland a beautiful place to live.  For example, Portland’s extensive public transit system is powered by biofuels, and the city is consistently ranked among the greenest cities in America.  Treehuggers like me can be proud to call Portland home.  Now, the City of Roses is about to get a little bit greener.

As part of a $135 million remodeling project, the 35-year old Edith Green-Wendell Wyatt Federal Building in downtown Portland is getting some major updates, including a 250-foot vertical garden, or green wall, on the building’s west wall.  The goal of the remodeling is to create a “landmark high-performance building,” according to The U.S. General Services Administration.  The 18-story garden, in addition to being a unique attraction, would function to keep the building cool by shading the building from the sun’s most direct rays.

Architects and gardeners are still working out the details — what to plant and how to water, weed, and prune the garden — but while this might be the largest green wall project so far, it’s not the first time it’s ever been done.  Architects suggest that gardeners could care for the green wall the same way window washers clean the windows of the building, hoisted and lowered on platforms.

Other green updates to the building include elevators that generate electricity on their way down, smart lighting systems that adjust to daylight, solar fixtures on the roof, and a rainwater collection system to water the plants and flush toilets in the building.

The remodeling project is estimated to take about three years to complete.  When it’s done, this Portland federal building will have transformed from an aesthetically boring high rise to a Portland landmark and it will be yet another way Americans and American cities can look to Portland as an environmental leader.

When I’m home, I’ll be sure to document the progress of the renovations — I’m excited to see the finished product!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 19th, 2010 at 9:04 am and is filed under Going Green. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.