Oregon Convention Center: Expansion & Rain Garden

I originally posted the PORTLAND PLACES: Oregon Convention Center page on my old website on October 10, 2008.

…Continued from “The Dream” Statue.

Oregon Convention Center Expansion on September 7, 2008

An expansion of the Oregon Convention Center was completed in April 2003, bringing the center's total space to over 1 million square feet, making it the largest convention center in the Pacific Northwest. More than 3,000 people were involved in the design and construction of the expansion, with Hoffman Construction Company as general contractor. The expansion was dedicated "to increasing economic opportunity in the Metro region" on April 16, 2003.

Rain Garden Diagram on August 31, 2008

Part of the 2003 expansion was the installation of the Rain Garden on the south side of the convention center. The Rain Garden was designed by Mayer/Reed to mimic natural ecosystem processes and serves as a demonstration project of the use of natural sustainable practices integrated into public gardens for the on-site management of stormwater in an urban environment. Steel scuppers and concealed downspouts on the south facade carry untreated stormwater by gravity from the 5.5-acre roof's drainage system and the east side of the building into four spillways leading into the garden of flowering plants, woody riparian shrubs and herbaceous plants like sedges, rushes and water irises that thrive in an urban streamside environment. Many of the plants used in the garden are drought tolerant reducing the need for irrigation during the dry summer season of June through September. Pond edges are fabricated of oxidized marine steel.

Oregon Convention Center Rain Garden on August 31, 2008

During the wet season of late October through May, water flows from the spillways into a series of seven terraced sediment retention basins contained by basalt stone weirs, or small dams with spillways, that introduce some aeration, control water levels and the rate of flow from basin to basin. The basins allow polluted sediments to be trapped by plants and cobbles and absorbed into the ground and cleaned by microorganisms while the root systems of plants absorb undesirable nutrients, metals and oils.

Oregon Convention Center Rain Garden on August 31, 2008

Water that is not absorbed into the ground is naturally filtered by the Rain Garden to cleanse it before it is released into the Willamette River, reducing the impact on the city's combined stormwater/sanitary sewer system. The Rain Garden received a 2003 BEST Award for Water Conservation from the City of Portland Office of Sustainability.

Oregon Convention Center Rain Garden on August 31, 2008

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