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Fair-Haired Dumbbell

The Fair-Haired Dumbbell “stands out as embodying Portland’s knack for keeping things weird…”

Fair-Haired Dumbbell: Challenging the development status-quo

This six-story, two-winged, mixed-use office building project, for which its name is known, makes a bold statement in downtown Portland. The project façade features wrap-around art by Los Angeles artist James Jean with the building comprised of rarely used Type IV construction. The upper five floors, which serve as office and co-working spaces, are framed with glulam beams, glulam columns and T&G decking as the floor system. Below, one level of post-tensioned concrete houses retail space.

Both building wings are square in shape and grow in footprint with each level due to flaring walls and leaning columns.

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Location:
Portland, Oregon
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Square Feet:
56,389
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Stories:
6
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Service:
Structural
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Industries:
Commercial, Mass Timber
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Primary Material:
Wood

Project Highlights

  • Both building wings, which are connected by sky bridges on the upper five levels, perform independently as two separate buildings.
  • First crowd-funded building project in the State of Oregon
  • A heavy timber post-and-beam perimeter avoids a two-hour fire rating for the walls, as well as increasing the ductility in the event of an earthquake

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