Knight Cancer Research Building, Portland, OR

GeoDesign provided geotechnical and environmental support for the $160 million, seven-story, 320,000-square-foot Knight Cancer Research Building (completed in 2018). This groundbreaking new facility will house 650 researchers and administrators, and has two entire floors dedicated to the early detection of cancer.

Due to subsurface soils conditions at the site, liquefaction and lateral spreading toward the Willamette River were major geotechnical considerations for the project. GeoDesign completed a liquefaction analysis to determine the presence of liquefiable soils and completed a site-specific seismic evaluation to provide the structural engineer with realistic seismic design parameters.

GeoDesign also completed a robust lateral spread analysis and, working with the structural engineer, determined that the lateral movements toward the river were within tolerable limits and that an expensive buttress was not required. Services also included evaluating adequacy of installed shafts and conducting compaction testing.

Environmental services involved working as a regulatory liaison and providing construction and post-construction services, including development and implementation of a Remedial Design/Remedial Action (RD/RA) plan and environmental construction observation of earthwork activities.