SERA Architects, Galleria Headquarters

Building on a long-term relationship of 30+ project collaborations that includes SERA Architects’ prior headquarters, the design firm directly awarded Fortis this 42,000sf headquarters on the penthouse floor of Portland’s downtown Galleria Building. The new office is designed and built to be a healthy and supportive workplace environment that nurtures employee growth, development, and well-being; this goal is accomplished through flexible personal- and collaborative-work spaces, tech strategies to support hybrid-work, art installations, and biophilia that connects the built environment to nature. The Galleria Headquarters includes a mix of open-office spaces; phone, conference, and training rooms; food service space with large kitchen; model shop; library bike storage, changing rooms, storage, and all-gender restrooms. The spacious food service area also functions as a community gathering space to further support SERA’s mission on urban integration and thought leadership. To push the envelope with sustainability, the Headquarters is built to achieve LEED-CI Platinum, WELL, and Living Building Challenge (LBC) certifications. This includes added emphasis to LBC’s Materials Petal, which requires all materials are environmentally friendly in very specific ways, which in turn also helps in creating a materials economy that is non-toxic, ecologically restorative, and socially equitable. During preconstruction, Fortis worked with the broader team for a full eight months targeting this cutting-edge LBC certification. Closely aligned with SERA, Fortis provided intensive review of product-specification documents and communicated with manufacturers to vet all materials (down to the screws). In addition, for subcontractors, the LBC requires a minimum of 10% diversity utilization, which was surpassed with the inclusion of several women-owned businesses.