Silica

Silica’s program consists of ground-floor retail, office and covered parking. The base, which houses five retail spaces, is clad in board-form concrete with large glazed openings. Cantilevering out from the podium sits a three-story box clad in a dramatic and highly efficient curtain wall with interstitial panels of pin-stripe fritted glass running top to bottom.

Along N. Williams, the cantilever provides more than 7’ of overhang to shelter a sidewalk cafe program. An outdoor terrace with a green roof and an extension of the office along the south at Level 2 serve to break down the building’s mass and scale and negotiate a transition to its residential neighbors to the south. Balconies along the west facade capture views of downtown Portland and the West Hills while providing shading and privacy to the large expanses of office window. Two concrete cores that house the vertical circulation support the building in shear while massive glue-laminated heavy timber beams with fir car-decking and a concrete topping slab span between to make up the floors.