Albina Yard is a new 16,000 sf speculative office building with ground floor retail located in North Portland. The building utilizes mass timber construction, with a glue-laminated timber frame and CLT panels manufactured and prefabricated in Riddle, Oregon.

The project’s primary goal was to utilize domestic CLT in a market-rate office building that would pave the way for broader market adoption of renewable mass timber construction technologies in Portland and the US. The design approach reflects a commitment to this sustainable technology by developing an architecture focused on economy and simplicity, material expression, and the careful resolution and integration of all M/E/P building systems to foreground the beauty of the exposed Douglas fir structural frame. 

At the street level, the floor plan is organized around activating a small l-shaped infill site in a mixed residential/light industrial neighborhood. The side-loaded structural core connects the public entry to a day-lit CLT egress stair that opens onto a private south-facing courtyard. The retail space also connects to the street with a café/bar adjacent to the courtyard space. The upper floors have expansive views of Mt. Hood and downtown Portland, and are also divisible into four smaller units.