Clackamas County
Business and Community Services Department
150 Beavercreek Road
Oregon City, OR 97045
503-742-4399
Clackamas County is building a new 215,000 square foot courthouse to better serve the community and is expected to break ground in 2021. Funding for the new courthouse is provided by the county general fund, bonds, and the State of Oregon via the Oregon Courthouse Capital Construction and Improvement Fund. Currently, an example of a mass timber-built courthouse does not exist in the United States. To better determine mass timber’s compatibility with a courthouse facility, a number of designs will be created to illustrate how mass timber can meet specific safety, security, and operational requirements. The top design will undergo a life-cycle analysis (LCA) comparing the mass timber courthouse design to a similar design utilizing conventional steel and concrete. The LCA will measure life-time environmental impacts such as energy and carbon-emissions of the two structural building materials and determine the most economical and sustainable design type. The results will be included in a communication and marketing plan promoting stakeholder input and support for the new courthouse. By expanding the range of capability, mass timber will become a viable building material for public buildings needed by other municipalities and agencies in Oregon and across the U.S.
Project objectives include:
1. Produce a number of design to illustrate a mass timber courthouse meeting judicial needs and requirements of the county’s stakeholders and constituency.
2. Conduct a materials life-cycle analysis comparing a mass timber courthouse to a concrete and steel structure of the same design.
3. Develop a marketing and communications plan incorporating the designs and life-cycle analysis.
Oregon, courthouse, LCA, life cycle analysis, mass timber, CLT, cross laminated timber, design, carbon emissions
